This is an important book on an important topic. While one may disagree with some of his conclusions as to “why”, the data and overall picture is  bleak. And as both natural disasters and warfare continue to displace millions of people every year, it will continue to get worse. Already over one billion people live in slums – and that figure will double over the next decade. And although we in the US have a relatively small (under 6 percent of the urban population) percentage in urban slums, in absolute terms it is still more than many of the poorer countries have.

From the sprawling barricadas of Lima to the garbage hills of Manila, urbanization has been disconnected from industrialization, even economic growth. Davis portrays a vast humanity warehoused in shantytowns and exiled from the formal world economy. He argues that the rise of this informal urban proletariat is a wholly original development unforeseen by either classical Marxism or neo-liberal theory.

via Planet of Slums.