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16 Aug 2009 04:58 pm
Rise Of The Megaslums
by Patrick Appel
An illuminating article on slums and disease. Snippet:
Not only are today's slums larger than in the 19th century, but
they are more dense. Though they are low-rise structures, the square
footage is tiny with a lot of people living in each shack. They are
built haphazardly along narrow footpaths, not the broad grids of the
inner city. A small fire can spread to destroy 1,000 units of housing
in 15-20 minutes. Infectious diseases travel rapidly in such an
environment. Slums as contiguous swaths of settlement are
largest in Latin America—the largest being on the southeastern edges of
Mexico City. There are similar settlement patterns
outside Bogota, Colombia, and Lima, Peru. Bombay has the largest slums
in South Asia, with about a 500,000 population.
(Hat tip: 3QD)
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