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The Planet Of The Slums Summary

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6.1
In The Planet of the Slums, Mike Davis using the definition made by the US Department of Labor, describes slums as “an area of dirty back streets, especially when inhabited by squalid and criminal population” (Davis: 22). Brasilmar Ferreira Nunes and Leticia Veloso, similarly explain the definition of “favelas”, as a “marginalized urban space” (Nunes & Veloso: 225). In other words, a slum is an underprivileged, underdevelopment, and often dirty and overpopulated “neighborhood.” I personally prefer Nunes and Veloso’s definition of favelas to the US Department’s definition of a slum. I agree that a slum is looked at as dirty and can contain a criminal like population, yet I disagree that these slums are always in the “back streets.” As …show more content…

In certain circumstances they are out in the open, as also seen in Seattle and in Downtown LA. Furthermore, in both Nunes and Veloso and Davis’ arguments, slums or favelas are not always just homes to impoverished peoples. Nunes and Veloso point out that favelas commonly enough encompass more people that do have the means to live elsewhere and choose not to due to cultural or emotional ties to their homes in these slums.

6.2
According to Mike Davis, there are multiple factors and actors responsible for the growth of slums across the world. These factors include corruption, exploitation, and a lack of management in most scenarios. The actors responsible for these expansions are the government, the State, landlords, and sometimes the country as a whole. Davis explains that this

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