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The Tower of David – Venezuela’s “vertical slum”
- coderzach 12y agoHuh, I guess the Mega City Blocks in Dredd weren't that far off.
- nickbarnwell 12y agoIf you're interested in a more narrative take on Caracas' slums and how Chavez's policies contributed to their rise, the New Yorker carried a fantastic essay on the topic a few months back [1] 1: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/01/28/130128fa_fact_anderson http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/01/28/130128fa_fact_...
- calibraxis 12y agoIsn't that the piece of US propaganda mentioned explicitly in the article, part of the reason why the author had a hard time getting access? Given that we're constantly influenced by US media, why not link to something most people haven't been exposed to, like http://venezuelanalysis.com http://venezuelanalysis.com ? (Obviously movements take many years and evolve, but it'd be awesome if the Occupy movement were so abnormally fast that people took over entire financial buildings.)
- shamney 12y agohttp://caracaschronicles.com/ http://caracaschronicles.com/ is another interesting venezuelan blog, which also has the advantage of NOT being the english language mouthpiece of the venezuelan state.
- rjtavares 12y agoI remember watching the Homeland episode set there and thinking "This can't be real". Even in that over the top series, it felt too much...
- danso 12y agoVocaltiv did a short video documentary on this last year: http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/inside-caracas-tower-of-david-the-worlds-tallest-slum http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/inside-caracas-tower-of-dav... The part I remembered was how residents are taxied up the first 10 floors by motorcycles.
- sbierwagen 12y agoI'm committing the intellectual crime of saying "Well why didn't they just do [obvious thing X]", when I know almost nothing about local conditions, here, something that I've criticized others for doing on HN before, but man Why haven't they installed elevators? It's century-old technology, can be operated manually, you could use a gasoline engine on the winch if electricity isn't available. You could install the winch spanning the elevator shaft at the tenth floor or something, if 40 stories of cable is too heavy for your winch. There's a "landlord" collecting rent, so there's money, and the elevator shafts already exist. If you're worried about safety, then just use it as a cargo elevator. What's missing?
- whatusername 12y agoFeature not a bug? I imagine making your house in the slum harder to reach makes it less likely to be reached by those you don't want?
- sbierwagen 12y agoThe New Yorker article mentions in passing a resident carrying a container of water up to their apartment. You ever carry 10 gallons of water up 15 stories?
- zackmorris 12y agoObligatory: http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-A-Novel/dp/0307887448 http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-A-Novel/dp/0307887448 Avoid spoilers, just read the book!
- tjdetwiler 12y agoGreat book.
- whoismua 12y agoSaw a documentary, it's amazing, people have completed many apartments, complete with running water and furniture. I guess they feel secure enough there
- hxc 12y agoWhat was the name of the Documentary? I would be interested in watching it.
- mikecupcake 12y agoThere's a TED talk by another photographer: http://www.ted.com/talks/iwan_baan_ingenious_homes_in_unexpected_places http://www.ted.com/talks/iwan_baan_ingenious_homes_in_unexpe...
- e40 12y agoLarger versions of the photos: http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2014/04/squatters-in-venezuelas-45-story-tower-of-david/100721/ http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2014/04/squatters-in-vene...
- mcv 12y agoThis is totally Shadowrun. Failed corporate project abandoned and left to ruin, taken over by squatters who self-organized and turned it into a nice little society of its own.