slums

To go off on the topics of slums as architecture, and because I didn't get a chance to speak on it during the debate/lecture, is to really think about how you interrupt slums. What is the first thing you think of when you hear the word "slums". Is it a specific place, a scene in a movie that depicts architecture in this way, is it a term? Negative words get thrown around to define these places but how do these places turn into "slums"? It can be a number of things like economic or environmental factors, lack of services, or lack of planning and poor design. As stated in Questions That Won't Go Away, "a housing project of several hundred uniform units cannot just stay rigid when time goes by, but must adapt to life variety." With that, we fail to think long term, the slums gets turned into slums because they are driven by requirements and local conditions, and ignore the material and aesthetic. It is stuff people actually need versus what we think they need which all loops around to the other lectures and readings regarding how important it is for community participation. So, how do you think social and cultural factors influence the architecture and layout of the slums?