The Patchwork City ss, Space, and Politics in Metro Manila

In contemporary Manila, slums and squatter settlements are peppered throughout the city, often pushing right up against the walled enclaves of the privileged, creating the complex geopolitical pattern of Marco Garrido's "patchwork city." Garrido documents the fragmentation of Manila into a m lange of spaces defined by class, particularly slums and upper- and middle-class enclaves.He then looks beyond urban fragmentation to delineate its effects on class relations and politics, arguing that the proliferation of these slums and enclaves and their subsequent proximity have intensified class relations.For enclave residents, the proximity of slums is a source of insecurity, compelling them to impose spatial boundaries on slum residents.For slum residents, the regular imposition of these boundaries creates a pervasive sense of discrimination.Class boundaries then sharpen along the housing divide, and the urban poor and middle class emerge not as labor and capital but as squatters and "villag