Robert Neuwirth will give a talk about his book, Shadow Cities, which focuses on one of the least known facts about the world's cities: They are home to more than a billion squatters. Neuwirth lived in squatter settlements, cities within cities, on four continents.
Starting his journey prepared to find squatters as the embodiment of urban decay and lawlessness, he found instead industrious, vital communities with highly moral power. Squatters, Neuwirth argues powerfully, are building the cities of tomorrow.
Shadow Cities: A Billion Squatters, A New Urban World
Wednesday, March 1, 7 p.m.
Park 220
"Neuwirth [did] something few journalists would. For months at a time, he "embedded" himself in slums...in Rio, Nairobi, Mumbai and Istanbul. The result is this work of hard-nosed, yet compassionate and thoughtful journalism."--The Hindu
Robert Neuwirth is a former staff reporter for both daily papers and weekly magazines. His articles on cities and politics have appeared in The Washington Post, Fortune Magazine, The Nation, New York Magazine, The Village Voice, Wired, Newsday, and The New York Times, among others. Neuwirth holds an advanced degree in journalism from the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University, and his work on squatters was supported by a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. He is currently at work on a new book that will examine the rapidly expanding informal economies of the world.
For more information contact: Brandy Hawley @ 607-274-3590, bhawley@ithaca.edu.
