Davis, Mike. Planet of Slums. London & New York: Verso, 2007. Print.

In Planet of Slums, Mike Davis evaluates the rapid increase in slums in third world countries around the world. Increasing urbanization has triggered inequality and disparity between people as slums expanded outward their urban roots. Urbanization usually encroach the suburbs, leading to breakdown in rural traditions; suburban residents are forced towards non-traditional employment and way of living. Simultaneously, rapid urbanization did not lead to parallel industrialization development. The author does not believe that these issues of slums and perpetual poverty can be ameliorated through traditional financial aid by NGOs such as IMF or the World Bank; this crisis is unavoidable in the contemporary social, economic and political framework. Even though Davis makes compelling arguments using statistics and cases in many countries, his assertion is over-pessimistic on capitalism and is often too narrow-minded.

In the first few chapters, the author begins with various statistics such as graphs and population comparisons in historical context from reliable sources around the world that assert the significant impact of urban migration. The author categorizes people living in slums into Metro Core and Periphery; the population influx from the core into the periphery leads to pollution, illegal activities and other negative influences. By chapter three, Davis started to assess the root origin of the rapid increase in slums; he claims that the unsustainable urban migration problem was aggravated due to the State’s failure to supply necessities for the impoverished residents. Various public assistance reliefs, for example public housing, were not sufficiently provided. Davis then claims that NGOs’ financial aid programs led to the rapid increase in slums in third world nations; because of