Stewart Brand on squatter cities

There's no unemployment in squatter cities. Everyone works.

So, that's Kibera, the largest squatter community in Nairobi.

Hey, that's a single family home in the squatter community.

The numbers are considerable. A billion live in the squatter cities now.

And this is Sultanbelyi, which is one of the largest squatter communities in Istanbul.

And then you finally get squatter homes like this, which is built on the suburban model.

This is the squatter community in Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Bombay, India, what's called Mumbai these days.

Because in town this is the bustling squatter city of Kibera, near Nairobi they see action. They see opportunity.

In the '90s, my interest and passion for transitional art forms led me to a new form, which came from a squatter camp outside Durban.

The mainly southern internally displaced persons living in squatter areas and camps around Khartoum are still subject to forced relocations by the authorities, who often conduct violent search operations.

Robert Neuwirth, author of Shadow Cities, finds the world s squatter sites where a billion people now make their homes to be thriving centers of ingenuity and innovation. He takes us on a tour.

And here's the unromantic truth and the city air makes you free, they said in Renaissance Germany. So some people go to places like Shanghai but most go to the squatter cities where aesthetics rule.

Rural villages worldwide are being deserted, as billions of people flock to cities to live in teeming squatter camps and slums. Stewart Brand says this is a good thing. Why? It ll take you 3 minutes to find out.

So, I had been there almost three months, and I was touring around the city going to different squatter areas and Julius was tagging along, and he was bug eyed and at certain points we were walking around, he grabbed my hand for support, which is something most Kenyans would never consider doing.