In the middle of the night they quickly build houses and seize land before the police destroy their fragile
homes. They're squatters--families that risk the wrath of governments and property owners by building dwellings
on land they don't own--and they represent one out of every ten people on the planet.
Investigative journalist Robert Neuwirth lived among squatter communities from Rio to Bombay to Nairobi to Istanbul
to give us an impassioned, inside view of squatter life and a glimpse into the urban future. He met people in Nairobi
who built homes with their bare hands, Turkish families who plot land invasions, and children in Rio whose parents
justify outfoxing the authorities as the only path to a better life. And he shows us that in cities like Rio, squatter
settlements have become decent places to live for formerly landless people. Tracing the notion of private property
from the enclosure movement in Europe to the settlement of the U.S., Neuwirth shows how squatting rights may actually
be seen as more "natural" than the current laws practiced in the U.S.
In almost every country of the developing world, the most active builders are squatters, creating complex local
economies with high rises, shopping strips, banks, and self-government. As they invent new social structures, Neuwirth
argues, squatters are at the forefront of the worldwide movement to develop new visions of what constitutes property
and community.
Table of Contents
Time Present
Rio de Janeiro
Nairobi
Mumbai
Istanbul
Time Past
The 21st Century Medieval City
Squatters in New York
Issues on the Way Forward
The Habitat Fantasy
Are squatters criminals?
Proper Squatters, Improper Property