Robert Neuwirth
Writer
New York City

Link: Squatter City Blog


Start with discarded cardboard boxes. Move to sticks covered with plastic sheets. Then, maybe, to mud-patty
walls. A few years on, to scavenged metal and brick.  Finally, bring in concrete, rebar, plastic pipe and prefab windows.

This is the natural progression of the architecture of some of the most vibrant neighborhoods on earth.

We live in a world obsessed by a vision of technological utopia. Frank Gehry designed the set for Michael Eisner’s new cable-TV talk show from titanium. Santiago Calatrava uses high-tech metals to mimic birds flying and hands opening. Other high-end architects are experimenting with molded sandwiches of metal and plastic.

The world’s squatters, who are the most active builders of housing in the world, do things just a little differently. They make their homes from the prosaic, the mundane, the everyday. Yet, somehow, their communities also soar.

The world may little note nor long remember their homes. But still the squatters build. They are like a force of nature, building and rebuilding and building again, one wall at a time, until they create homes that once seemed unimaginable. Solid, stable, snug. Places where other dreams can be born.

A natural history of the architecture of the squatter house.


Bio:

Robert Neuwirth is a writer who spent two years living in squatter communities in four continents. These neighborhoods--which dominate most of the cities of the developing world--are vibrant and energetic, but horribly misunderstood. His new book, Shadow Cities, is an attempt to humanize these maligned settlements. His articles on cities, politics, and economic issues have appeared in many publications, including The Nation, The Village Voice, Newsday, The New York Times, Metropolis, and City Limits. Before becoming a reporter, he worked as a community organizer and studied philosophy. Mr. Neuwirth resides in New York City.




"4,000: new homes needed/hour to accommodate worldwide urban influx"
United Nations Human Settlements Programme, Financing Urban Shelter – Global Report on Human Settlements 2005 (Fremont, CA: Stylus, 2005), p.5.