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It
may be a slum, but it's a slum with an escalator! Officials in Medellin,
Colombia, have inaugurated a giant outdoor escalator in one of its poorest
slums:
The only thing missing now is a giant slide to go down! Link (Photo: Luis Benavides/AP)For generations, the 12,000 residents of Medellin's tough Comuna 13, which clings to the side of a steep hillside, have had to climb hundreds of large steps authorities say is the same as going up a 28-story building.
Now they can ride an escalator, in what the mayor of Medellin said is the first massive, outdoor public escalator for use by residents of a poor area. [...]Comuna 13 residents came out to celebrate and study the $6.7 million escalator which officials say will shorten the 35-minute hike on foot up the hillside to six minutes. Use of the escalator is free.
Slums are nothing new in big cities around the world, but what makes China different is that they are not populated by uneducated and poor people, rather by college grads:
Once a small village of farmers and laborers, Tangjialing emerged as a cut-rate bedroom community in 2003 after the opening of massive software parks nearby, including the headquarters of computer-maker Lenovo Group and the widely used Internet search engine Baidu.com.
Now four- to six-story cement buildings in pastel hues dot the village. Most rooms contain little more than a wardrobe, a bed and a nightstand. There’s no air conditioning in weather that can reach above 100 degrees (38 degrees Celsuis). Rent is $45 to $100 a month. Those willing to pay $15 more get a bathroom. Others use the public bath.
Professor Lian Si of the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing described these people as the "ant tribe."
"Unlike slums in South America or Southeast Asia, these villages are populated with educated young people as opposed to laborers or street peddlers"
And yes, these are the people who make your iPhones.
Chi-Chi Zhang of AP has more over at MSNBC: Link
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Tin House in Gamalakhe Tintown in Margate
If you’ve seen Neill Blomkamp’s movie District 9, the tin house above should be familiar. Indeed, the slum that housed the alien prawns is similar to the Gamalake township in South Africa, down to its purported "temporary" nature.
John Gore of 360 Cities wrote:
“This is a typical Tin House after which this area of Gamalakhe township got its name: Tin Town. Originally erected as temporary housing for these displaced people, these tin houses have become permanent residences for over 20 years. This home owner has been fortunate enough to now have a brick house as well, but the old tin structure is still used as a residency.”
The poverty is palpable – the spartan house has bare walls and floor, and as far as I can tell, open windows (no glass panes). Yet, it’s not completely devoid of technology though the choice of what appliance to have is strikingly logical: a refrigerator. (Compare this to the poor in United States where 91% own color TVs!)
French street artist JR has just completed an art project in the slums of Kibera, Kenya, where he covered the rooftops of homes with a material printed with the pictures of eyes of the women who live in them.
The art does have a practical purpose: the material help protect the houses from heavy rain:
Today, after more than a year of planning, 2000 square meters of rooftops have been covered with photos of the eyes and faces of the women of Kibera. The material used is water resistant so that the photo itself will protect the fragile houses in the heavy rain season. The train that passes on this line through Kibera at least twice a day has also been covered with eyes from the women that live below it. With the eyes on the train, the bottom half of the their faces have be pasted on corrugated sheets on the slope that leads down from the tracks to the rooftops. The idea being that for the split second the train passes, their eyes will match their smiles and their faces will be complete.
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