If you are poor in Latin America you are probably miserable, but at least you have plenty of company. About 175 million people, 36 percent of the region's population, live in poverty, and more than half of the poor live in cities. This collection of eight essays and reports fills in the details, including the experiences of the urban poor in the labor market, safe and decent shelter, violence and insecurity, public health, self-reliance, social capital and social safety nets, or lack of them. The essays point out the variety and depth of problems, the challenges past projects could and could not overcome, and the resulting restrictions to investment and development in the region. Annotation ©2005 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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The urbanization of Latin America has also lead to the urbanization of its poor. Today about half of the region's poor live in cities. Yet the phenomenon of urban poverty is not one that is well studied or well understood and policy makers across Latin America are increasingly interested in policy advice on how to design programs and policies to tackle poverty. 'Urban Poor in Latin America' argues that the causes of poverty, the nature of deprivation, and the policy levers to fight poverty are to a large extent site-specific. As such, the book looks at strategies to assist the urban poor in making the most of the opportunities offered by cities (deeper labor markets, better amenities and services, greater freedom, and possibly less discrimination) while helping them cope with the negative externalities (high cost of housing and difficulty of obtaining shelter; risks to physical safety associated with pollution and environmental contamination, but also crime and violence; other congestion costs, more isolation and possibly less social capital).
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