perhaps this is the germ of an immense metropolis…

Robert Neuwirth, whose book Shadow Cities is reviewed in the current Reason, has posted photos to his blog of the Third World squatter settlements he studied. The least liveable is Kibera, in Kenya, where the settlers' tenure is least secure; the most appealing is either Rocinha, in Brazil, or Sultanbeyli, in Turkey, which he describes as "an independent squatter metropolis. Though no one owns, the city has a popularly elected government (yes, a squatter mayor in the 7 story squatter City Hall!) and a massive bureaucracy providing public works and other city services." Also photographed: an illicit neighborhood in one of India's national parks.