Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This unique urban research project examines the often overlooked areas known as "barrios," "shantytowns," or "slums" and assesses their validity as an architectural phenomenon in their own right. The hills outside Caracas are dotted with transient, dilapidated structures which are home to thousands of people who create their own socio-economic environment, one which has a unique place in the city's infrastructure. This publication can be understood as a handbook of informal urban and cultural practice. Its validity extends far beyond Caracas and encompasses nearly all Latin American metropolises. Its essays question the value of traditional Western-style socio-economic and socio-political structures, present a new form of urbanism as a subject for discussion, and show the need for a profound change in our understanding of urban culture, especially in today's era, which is characterized by increasing insecurity and uncertainty. This project was jointly initiated by the "Federal Cultural Foundation" of Germany and the "Urban Think Tank" in Caracas, Venezuela.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

The German Federal Cultural Foundation and the Caracas Urban Think Tank sponsored this project in which architects, writers, photographers, artists, sociologists, and barrio dwellers studied the slums of Caracas, Venezuela. More people live and die in this "informal city" than in the formal city, but the barrios are represented by blank spaces on many urban maps. The authors urge architects and planners to study the organic growth of slum areas around the world. Neither government nor private enterprise but poor people themselves have provided their own shelter and created communities of these ostensibly impermanent neighborhoods. Planners should seek effective ways to improve the slums rather than ignoring or bulldozing them. In the absence of water and sewerage systems, for instance, an experimental modular dry toilet can solve the problem of waste. The book's numerous photographs, art works, and lavish use of color combine in an unconventional design that suggests the informal, organic nature of the slums themselves. The result may be more provocative than informative, but planners who take the informal city and its inhabitants into consideration may enrich the urban spaces of the future. Summing Up: Recommended. All level/libraries. J. Ewell emerita, College of William and Mary