The deployment of conservation zones in Bogotá's 'green' neighbourhoods, is fast becoming an alibi for the dispossession of the city's most vulnerable residents.
Rio de Janeiro has engaged in an ambitious security operation aimed at freeing its favelas from the control of gangs in time for the 2016 Olympics. But security is not the only rationale behind the program. As with everything, economic interests and international exposure drive Rio's makeover.
While previous 'security planning' in Bogotá has been premised on eviction and demolition, emerging redevelopment frameworks are geared toward a far more pervasive practice of urban renovation; the re-peopling of problem areas in the city.
As China enters an 'urban age' for the first time in its entire history, a new set of urban conflicts over identity, development and inclusion are emerging across the country.
The politics of neglect which has long governed Cairo's expansive informal spaces looks set to remain well into the post-Mubarak era.
