“THE CITIES OF THE future, rather than being made out of glass and steel as envisioned by earlier generations of urbanists, are instead largely constructed out of crude brick, straw, recycled plastic, cement blocks, and scrap wood,” writes Mike Davis, capturing the essence of his compelling new book, Planet of Slums, about the worst manifestations of growing poverty in the cities of developing countries.

Davis describes, in fascinating detail, the grim reality faced by slum dwellers every day all over the world. Planet of Slums is certainly timely — hot on its heels comes State of the World’s Cities, a report by the United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN-HABITAT), published on Monday as the third session of the World Urban Forum begins in Vancouver.

Davis identifies a number of important global trends, including the “burgeoning of megacities” and the emergence of “extended metropolitan regions” or megalopolises, especially in East Asia and Latin America. In many parts of the world, this rapid urbanisation is not accompanied by industrialisation and economic growth, forcing large numbers of poor people into slums and “informal” employment.

Among the trends highlighted by Davis is the existence of an “invisible real estate market”, even in informal settlements where land is supposedly free, as well as the preponderance of slum renters in many developing world cities. His conclusion is that: “The principal function of the Third World urban edge remains as a human dump.”

Planet of Slums is also a forceful and largely justified indictment of government attitudes towards slums and housing the poor. Colonial policies were designed to keep the natives either away from cities or within segregated and impoverished urban residential areas without basic services — the most extreme of which was apartheid in pre-democracy South Africa.

Davis is critical of today’s policies towards slum upgrading and shelter for the poor. He does not spare the self-help approach: “Praising the praxis of the poor became a smokescreen for reneging upon historic state commitments to relieve poverty and homelessness” — a conclusion likely to disappoint many passionate believers in the “slums of hope” thesis. According to Davis, while self-help has resulted in a number of local successes, it has not benefited most of the urban poor.

Davis reveals the way in which high-profile international events (including the Olympics) and visits have resulted in forced evictions. He also analyses the criminalisation of the slum, observing that some governments have literally declared war on slums in the name of fighting crime, including terrorism. Many cities all over the world have witnessed an “architecture of fear”, through which the urban rich barricade themselves behind “off worlds” of “fortified, fantasy-themed enclaves and edge cities”, including gated communities.

Slum dwellers are more vulnerable than most to hazards such as volcanos, floods, earthquakes, landslides, fires and road traffic accidents. Their health is constantly under threat from inadequate sanitation and low-quality drinking water. As Davis writes: “The most extreme health differentials are no longer between towns and countrysides, but between the urban middle classes and the urban poor.” This conclusion is echoed in the State of the World's Cities report, which describes how the poor are forced to pay an “urban penalty” that encompasses poor health, early death and vulnerability to both natural and human-made disasters.

Two of the most contentious issues in the book are the contribution of World Bank and International Monetary Fund structural adjustment programmes (SAPs) — economic policies that countries must follow in order to qualify for new loans — to urban poverty; and the relationship between the informal sector and slum livelihoods.

Davis asserts that “urban poverty’s big bang” is directly attributable to SAPs implemented since the mid-1970s, which resulted in increased urban poverty and slums. He quotes striking UN statistics that suggest that informal workers constitute two fifths of the economically active population of the developing world and that informal employment will absorb 90 per cent of new workers in African cities over the next ten years.

Davis concludes, however, that the informal sector is very often highly exploitative and results in the extreme abuse of female and child employees.

While Planet of Slums is a fascinating book, it is frequently too negative and fails to recognise recent achievements in slum upgrading, some of which provide a basis for believing that the Millennium Development target on slums (a UN scheme to improve the lives of 100 million slum dwellers by 2020) can be achieved.

It is true that many shelter and slum upgrading programmes have failed to reach most of the urban poor. But, as the UN-HABITAT report highlights, a number of countries, including Egypt, Thailand, Tunisia, Brazil, Colombia, the Philippines, Indonesia, South Africa and Sri Lanka, have managed to both reduce slum growth in the past 15 years and to invest significantly in slum upgrading.

However, there can be no doubt about the achievement of Planet of Slums, especially because it forces us, angrily, to confront the deplorable realities of slum existence and the limitations of slum policies in many developing countries.

Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka is Under-Secretary-General and executive director of UN-HABITAT

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