In the 21st century, slums are not anomalies at the margins of cities – they are the very frontline of urbanisation. Over one billion people globally live in informal settlements, often in the heart of major metropolises. These neighbourhoods – whether the favelas of Rio, the kampungs of Jakarta, or the bastis of Mumbai – are engines of informal economies and repositories of human resilience. Yet they are also spaces of deep exclusion, where infrastructure fails, rights blur, and vulnerability festers.

If we are serious about tackling climate change, urban inequality, and the housing crisis, then slums must be central to the solution. Not through eviction or erasure – but through thoughtful, inclusive transformation. And for that, public-private........

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