In the center of Mumbai, next to the city’s newest and most expensive commercial developments, lies one of Asia’s largest slums, where as many as one million squatters live in makeshift housing on one square mile of government land. This is the notorious Dharavi district, best known from the movie Slumdog Millionaire. In recent years, cities from Delhi to Rio de Janeiro have demolished similar slums, at times violently evicting their residents, to make way for development. But Dharavi and its residents have endured for a century, holding on to what is now some of Mumbai’s most valuable land.
In The Durable Slum, Liza Weinstein draws on a decade of work, including more than a year of firsthand research in Dharavi, to explain how, despite innumerable threats, the slum has persisted for so long, achieving a precarious stability. She describes how economic globalization and rapid urban development are pressuring Indian authorities to eradicate and redevelop Dharavi—and how political conflict, bureaucratic fragmentation, and community resistance have kept the bulldozers at bay. Today the latest ambitious plan for Dharavi’s transformation has been stalled, yet the threat of eviction remains, and most residents and observers are simply waiting for the project to be revived or replaced by an even grander scheme.
Dharavi’s remarkable story presents important lessons for a world in which most population growth happens in urban slums even as brutal removals increase. From Nairobi’s Kibera to Manila’s Tondo, megaslums may be more durable than they appear, their residents retaining a fragile but hard-won right to stay put.
Liza Weinstein is assistant professor of sociology at Northeastern University.
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老实说,我最初拿起《The Durable Slum》是抱着一种猎奇的心态,想看看所谓的“底层生活”究竟是何光景。然而,这本书迅速地将我拉入了更为复杂的现实维度。这本书的叙事结构非常巧妙,它不像传统纪实文学那样线性推进,而是采用了多声部叙事的方式,让你同时听到来自不同年龄、不同职业居民的声音。印象最深的是其中关于“看不见的边界”的描述,那些在拥挤中被划分出来的私人领域,其界限的维护,比任何法律文件都要严格和微妙。作者在处理文化适应性方面也展现了极高的敏感度,他描绘了传统习俗如何在新的水泥丛林中被扭曲、重塑,并最终衍生出新的仪式和规范。这本书的阅读体验是多维度的,它既有社会学的严谨,又有文学的感染力,但最核心的是,它充满了对个体尊严的深刻关怀。它让你意识到,无论居住环境如何简陋,人对于“家”的构建欲和对社群的归属感,是无论如何也磨灭不掉的驱动力。
评分这本《The Durable Slum》读起来,真像是在翻阅一本关于城市肌理与人性韧性的百科全书。作者的笔触极为细腻,他没有用那种充满控诉和悲情的视角去描绘“贫民窟”这个主题,反而呈现出一种近乎人类学田野调查般的冷静与洞察力。我尤其欣赏他对空间叙事的处理,那些错综复杂、层层叠叠的搭建结构,不仅仅是物理上的拥挤,更是社会关系网络的外化。书里对邻里互动模式的描摹,那种在极端资源匮乏下依然能发展出的精妙的互助与制衡机制,让我深思我们现代城市中那种看似便捷实则疏离的生活状态。比如,他对“共享水源点”周围日常对话的记录,寥寥数语,便勾勒出了权力、信任与日常政治的复杂博弈。这不是一本读起来让人感到轻松的书,它要求读者必须放下预设的道德高地,去真正理解“生存”本身所蕴含的巨大创造力。整本书的节奏把握得非常到位,从宏观的城市规划变迁,到微观的个体生活片段,过渡得自然流畅,让你仿佛真的置身于那个充满尘土、汗水和生命力的社区之中,感受那份颠扑不破的生命力。
评分阅读《The Durable Slum》的过程,与其说是阅读,不如说是一场对城市化进程的反思之旅。这本书的视角极为独特,它避开了对宏大叙事的依赖,专注于“微观抵抗”和“日常创新”。作者对“耐久”的解读是革命性的,他证明了这种结构并非等待被拆除的临时产物,而是一种功能完备、自我循环的城市生态系统。书中对社区内如何解决污水处理、电力分配等基础问题的描述,简直令人拍案叫绝,那是只有在生死攸关的压力下才能催生出的集体智慧结晶。语言上,这本书的行文如同一位经验丰富的老导游,他熟悉每一条小巷的典故,知道每一扇紧闭的门后可能隐藏的故事,但又保持着恰到好处的尊重,从不越界。它成功地将“贫困”这个标签剥离,代之以“适应性极强的城市形态”这一更中立、更具分析性的词汇。合上书本时,我感觉自己对城市化进程中的复杂性有了更深层次的理解,这本书无疑为理解当代全球南方城市的演变提供了至关重要的视角。
评分我是在一个慵懒的周末午后开始阅读《The Durable Slum》的,原本以为会是一部沉重的社会批判报告文学,结果却发现它更像是一部精彩的社会生态寓言。作者的叙事功力实在是令人叹服,他似乎拥有某种魔力,能将那些常人眼中“失败”的居住形态,描绘出一种令人屏息的、充满生命力的秩序感。书中对“非正式经济”的分析尤其精彩,那些在灰色地带蓬勃发展的商业网络,其效率和适应性甚至超越了许多官方机构的规划。我注意到,作者在构建人物群像时,非常擅长使用对比的手法,将那些坚守传统技艺的老人,与快速适应新兴通讯技术的年轻人并置,展现了社区在面对外部冲击时的内部张力与自我调适能力。这本书的语言风格是富有韵律感的,即便是描述最残酷的现实,也带着一种诗意的克制。它不是在“歌颂贫穷”,而是在深入挖掘那些隐藏在结构性困境之下,人类为了“住下来”所付出的巨大心智努力和智慧结晶。读完后,我看着自己窗外整齐划一的公寓楼,心中生出一种对“规范化”的全新反思。
评分对于热衷于城市研究的学者来说,《The Durable Slum》无疑是一份不可多得的珍贵案例。本书最突出的贡献在于其对“耐久性”这一概念的重新定义。它挑战了传统城市规划理论中“贫民窟必然消亡”的预设,提出了一个更具张力的观点:在特定的社会经济环境下,这种非正规聚落不仅具有极强的生存能力,甚至在某些功能上比官方规划更具弹性。作者对材料学和就地取材智慧的描述,简直像一本口述的历史教科书,那些用废弃材料搭建起来的屋顶和墙体,每一块砖石都承载着一段历史和一次临时的妥协。我特别欣赏他对“法律真空”地带的解读,那里既是风险的温床,也是创新和自治实践的试验田。文字中透露出一种克制但坚定的批判力量,它不是直白的口号,而是通过大量详实的数据和扎实的田野笔记,让读者自己得出结论。这本书的深度在于,它迫使我们思考:我们所构建的“现代性”是否真的能满足所有人对“安定居所”的根本需求。
评分A book about the development of the largest slum in India. Full of facts and acronyms, which make it very confusing to read...Political interests in India is so fragmented that outsider can hardly penetrate.
评分A book about the development of the largest slum in India. Full of facts and acronyms, which make it very confusing to read...Political interests in India is so fragmented that outsider can hardly penetrate.
评分A book about the development of the largest slum in India. Full of facts and acronyms, which make it very confusing to read...Political interests in India is so fragmented that outsider can hardly penetrate.
评分A book about the development of the largest slum in India. Full of facts and acronyms, which make it very confusing to read...Political interests in India is so fragmented that outsider can hardly penetrate.
评分A book about the development of the largest slum in India. Full of facts and acronyms, which make it very confusing to read...Political interests in India is so fragmented that outsider can hardly penetrate.
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