tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7394091530012769761.post2030059611627041374..comments2024-03-27T04:02:47.206-04:00Comments on Old Urbanist: Slums, Titles and the World's Simplest Zoning CodeCharlie Gardnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07317335121565650040noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7394091530012769761.post-44997888217231229562011-12-21T04:53:34.046-05:002011-12-21T04:53:34.046-05:00I wanted to thank for this great read!I really enj...I wanted to thank for this great read!I really enjoyed readingzip code look uphttp://cityndeals.com/area-codes/zip-codesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7394091530012769761.post-75572528300004680822011-07-07T01:27:37.660-04:002011-07-07T01:27:37.660-04:00You should really think of it as a 2*2 grid, with ...You should really think of it as a 2*2 grid, with planned vs. organic an independent dimension from formal vs. informal. New York, Paris, and many other industrial cities are planned and formal; Tokyo and London and organic and formal; the favelas are organic and informal. But the fourth square in the grid used to exist as well: in the 19th century, much of New York consisted of squatter settlements, often right along the street grid, all of which were demolished.<br /><br />This is one of the topics discussed in Neuwirth's book, which dedicates an entire chapter to New York. Neuwirth points out that it was especially easy to evict squatters in the US, because under common law it is very difficult to establish adverse possession: it used to require 20 years on private land and 40 on public land, and requires the possession to actually be adverse, e.g. it's voided if the squatter ever pays rent to the legal owner. In contrast, civil law jurisdictions gave more protections to tenants, making regularization easier. Turkey represents an extreme case: due to rules carried over from the Ottoman era, tenants have more protections than owners (the equivalent of adverse possession requires only 5 years), and as a result the gecekondu settlements of Istanbul have been very easy to regularize.Alon Levyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12195377309045184452noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7394091530012769761.post-1214635709628895182011-07-06T22:34:20.387-04:002011-07-06T22:34:20.387-04:00Steve -- good point. There is no bright line betwe...Steve -- good point. There is no bright line between a "slum" and a "proper (but organic) neighborhood," but more of a gradual continuum. The non slum-labeled neighborhoods around Dharavi share its organic form but may simply represent a later stage of growth and development. The newest "slum" dwellings in Rio appear to be of approximately the same quality as that of the regional vernacular (reinforced concrete skeleton enclosed with clay block), and compare quite favorably with some of what is to be found in the outlying planned neighborhoods.Charlie Gardnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07317335121565650040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7394091530012769761.post-56186040642021611152011-07-06T02:53:56.191-04:002011-07-06T02:53:56.191-04:00Nathan Lewis:
Typically, what makes these places a...Nathan Lewis:<br />Typically, what makes these places a "slum," besides the low income aspect, is problems with public utilities. What if you had a place like this with fully modern water, sewage, electricity, and garbage collection, and at least a little attention paid to basic public works (for example, some sort of pavement on the roads, adequate drainage, a few public parks, and so forth).<br />- - - - - - - - - - - - - - <br /><br />How would that be implemented while providing the flexible ownership described here?<br /><br />Physically you need to define lots, and provide service to each one.<br /><br />Financially you need someone undertaking to pay for services delivered.Ben Davidnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7394091530012769761.post-72262775090518281022011-07-05T22:29:10.521-04:002011-07-05T22:29:10.521-04:00Something else to ponder: there is enormous variat...Something else to ponder: there is enormous variation in what is called a "slum". Johannesburg's Soweto, Brazilian <i>favelas</i>, and Turkish <i>gecekondular</i> tend to be significantly more well-built than Kibera, say.<br /><br />Actually, the more well-built organic "slums" tend to be about as well built as an American dingbat...and a whole lot more urban to boot.Steve Stofkahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14825368520377993845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7394091530012769761.post-26515689529762264122011-07-05T22:10:35.160-04:002011-07-05T22:10:35.160-04:00Alon: have not read it, but will add it to the rea...Alon: have not read it, but will add it to the reading list. The idea in Recife that a government can secure property rights not only by monopolizing a system of titling and recording but also by simply providing a blank slate upon which a variety of property ownership models can coexist is to me one of most interesting aspects of this whole topic.Charlie Gardnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07317335121565650040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7394091530012769761.post-21401627554350299612011-07-05T16:54:53.389-04:002011-07-05T16:54:53.389-04:00I don't know about the favelas in Recife, but ...I don't know about the favelas in Recife, but in Rio many buildings are higher than two floors. Squatters build 1-2 floors for themselves, and then sell air rights to other squatters, who then build subsequent floors.<br /><br />The maximum lot size is also an issue, though at least in Recife it's high enough to not turn the middle class off. In Mumbai, the government's attempt at regularization includes a stringent floor area limit (I believe 38 square meters per apartment), and this ensures that squatters who are evicted for urban renewal can only get access to substandard housing.<br /><br />By the way, have you read Robert Neuwirth's book Shadow Cities? It does not go into Recife, but it does go into Rio and Mumbai, and talk about how the property model there is different from the one favored by Western capitalists.Alon Levyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12195377309045184452noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7394091530012769761.post-55086542580169371982011-07-05T10:49:42.644-04:002011-07-05T10:49:42.644-04:00Nathan: I ought to have mentioned, infrastructure ...Nathan: I ought to have mentioned, infrastructure upgrades frequently accompany these titling or "regularization" initiatives. Nonetheless even in the absence of state action the slums seem to naturally <i>improve</i> over time -- the opposite of the planned neighborhood which starts out fully provisioned and gradually decays. The Rio slum pictured may have started out as a collection of ramshackle huts but today is mainly built of concrete and block-and-mortar. <br /><br />I do wonder, though, whether it's possible to reconcile an emergent design process with immediate access to basic utilities. Laying out power lines, water mains and sewers before development arrives is essentially a speculative process requiring existing rights-of-way (i.e. a planned street network), whereas the growth of the slums, though incremental and non-speculative, defies predictability.Charlie Gardnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07317335121565650040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7394091530012769761.post-84005061746461023332011-07-05T08:10:09.712-04:002011-07-05T08:10:09.712-04:00Typically, what makes these places a "slum,&q...Typically, what makes these places a "slum," besides the low income aspect, is problems with public utilities. What if you had a place like this with fully modern water, sewage, electricity, and garbage collection, and at least a little attention paid to basic public works (for example, some sort of pavement on the roads, adequate drainage, a few public parks, and so forth).<br /><br />I think the Don Muang district near the airport in Bangkok is an interesting neighborhood. It has a layout similar to these "slums," and incomes are not high, but the basic utility infrastructure is good and the end result is quite clean and pleasant.<br /><br />Historically, especially in the U.S., the provision of modern utilities has been accompanied by a 19th or 20th Century Hypertrophic layout, so we now assume that they go together. However, especially in Asian cities, they have kept the old layout but added the modern utilities. Most of the streets of Tokyo weren't even paved in 1950.Nathan Lewishttp://newworldeconomics.comnoreply@blogger.com