Density textures: the crowd, everyday life, and urban poverty in Manila
The experiences and perceptions of residents themselves are often left out of the debates on high-density urbanism (HDU). From our empirical snapshot of highly dense Barangay 105 in Manila, HDU emerges as both valued for social and economic life, and a source of hazard, risk, and anxiety. It is a multiple and dynamic process experienced differently according to gender, age, and class, and rooted in place-specific contexts and moments. At the same time, the residents know that HDU is a product of the larger political and economic conditions of the city, from the disinvestment in housing, infrastructure, and services such as health care, or the lack of secure formal jobs, to the policing of everyday living linked to so-called “drug wars.”
Reading Development 