Slums and shantytowns are both wonderful and horrible places. They are wonderful in that they do not give hard, important work to small children, such as tending poultry or herding sheep; so urban children are more likely to go to school. And because children are not so economically important to their parents, urban parents tend to have fewer of them. Large agrarian families give way to small urban ones, putting an end to a major theme of human history, continuous population growth. Families build their own homes, and work with other families to build their own neighbourhoods; there is energy and originality.
These are the neighbourhoods where the transition from poverty occurs, where the next middle class is forged, where the next generation’s dreams, movements and governments are created. These are the places where the next great cultural boom will be born.
