Publisher's Synopsis
The title of this book deliberately suggests a critique of the Cities Without Slums campaign, which has unwittingly legitimised large-scale evictions from informal settlements in many African cities, from Abuja in Nigeria to Cape Town in South Africa. The African continent often looks to South African urban policy for a solution to what is perceived as the escalating ‘problem' of slums. South African cities' global competitiveness in attracting investment, their hosting of the 2010 Soccer World Cup and their determination to eradicate informal settlements by 2014 are promoted as best practise. And yet, the South African target to eradicate informal settlements by 2014 is perhaps the most tragic misinterpretation and abuse of the Millennium Goal to ‘significantly improve the lives of 100 million slum dwellers by 2020', to which the unfortunate slogan of Cities Without Slums is attached.
