Half in the City

Sometime in the next few months the proportion of people living in cities will pass the 50% mark, if it has not done so already. (The Economist May 5th)

I am a confirmed urbanite. I love the brilliant untidiness that comes from shops, offices, courtyards, restaurants, schools and apartments piling up and competing with one another. I’ll take any form of public transport you throw at me and still find a way to enjoy the journey. Cities mean theatre, art, music, employment, restaurants, coffee and conversation.

Yet I am aware that behind the luxury hotels and shiny shopping malls, our world’s developing cities are home to around a billion slum dwellers. Take Kibera in Nairobi, Kenya, for example. Kibera is reported to be Africa’s largest, densest and poorest slum with a population of anything between 600 000 and 1.2 million people. (It depends on the season and how the population is estimated.) India boasts Asia’s largest slum with 600 000 people living in Dhavari, Mumbai.

Phnom Penh too has its share of suburbs that are made up of dense shacks with leaking roofs, muddy laneways, creative plumbing and crazy electrical wiring. I hope to be moving into one such community soon… guess the theatre will have to wait a little longer.