Site as Thesis

In “The Blessed Unrest” Paul Hawken talks about what he calls “the largest social movement in all of history,” which goes unrecognized as such because unlike most movements, it lacks a specific ideology or leader that drives it. This movement is instead formed by a individuals and groups working toward environmental and social justice, unaware of the larger network they are part of. Hawken theorizes that an instinctive human response to threat mobilizes us as a civilization, which to me also suggests a sort of global, collective consciousness that connects all humans.

Looking for other similar grassroots movements, recent trends in urbanization and the resulting forms of urbanism seem to follow the same pattern of growth. Although the process of urbanization began during the industrial revolution, we are now following a different pattern or urbanization in developing regions. Unprecedented rates of urban growth and city populations have led to global urban population surpassing the number of people living in rural areas, so that for the first time the majority of people live in urban areas.

Considering these facts, it isn’t surprising that new forms of urbanism begin to appear in these developing countries, but a closer look seems to reveal that these distinct situations and groups of people are converging naturally towards the same end result. As urbanization continues as a greater pace than urban development, immigrants seek temporary, affordable living conditions in the informal housing sector. Groups of immigrants living in these unrecognized and unregulated conditions, form communities of “squatter” settlements. These settlements all have similar physical characteristics and all begin to form larger, self-organizing communities. These communities adapt to changing situations and as their size grows, form increasingly complex systems of government. Larger settlements, coined “megaslums,” have even succeeded at constructing necessary infrastructure, and with the provision of small inputs can efficiently improve their living situation.

This emergent model of squatter communities is not a small movement, with an estimated 2 billion people living in slums today, this organic urban system supports the idea of collectivity in humans. It implies at a subconscious network of connections that drives us to act towards a greater good, and a social intelligence greater than the individual.