Self-Building

reposted – hope nobody minds – from Squattercity, my favorite read of the moment:

This article, from the premiere issue of the magazine of the Prague Institute for Global Urban Development, suggests that squatters themselves can develop their own  neighborhoods. The author ought to know: Muhammad Yunus is the founder and director of the Grameen Bank in Dhaka, Bangladesh, an entity that specializes in micro-lending to poor entrepreneurs (and pretty much every squatter is an impoverished entrepreneur). Primitive proto-capitalism may not be fashionable, but it is one way to move squatter communities forward.