Shanty town demolitions

[DanS]

cristiania has nothing to do with the general concept of shantytowns

Perhaps I should have put that paragraph at the end. While Christiana may not have anything to do with the general concept of shantytowns, but it is germane with regard to redevelopment.

[BlackCat]

Originally posted by DanS


Perhaps I should have put that paragraph at the end. While Christiana may not have anything to do with the general concept of shantytowns, but it is germane with regard to redevelopment.

Redevelopment - my a** If those areas was on free market they would go for millions.

[DanS]

Perhaps I don't have a clear idea of what Christiana is. Why would these places go for millions?

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by DanS
If there are problems with the housing market, then the solution is to fix the market.

Shantytowns are the result of a market economy, just like famine, homelessness, and mass death by easily curable disease. The problem is that a normally run market does not have a use for everyone who exists, and these people must find other means to feed and house themselves. Only government interference, i.e. housing subsidies or government housing can solve the shanty-homeless problem. At best, all the market can do is hand out a smattering of charity.

[Spiffor]

AFAIU, it's a place full of marginals and druggies, which means it will soon be invaded (if it hadn't been the case already) by artsy types who'll make the prices go through the roof

[Chemical Ollie]

Originally posted by DanS
Perhaps I don't have a clear idea of what Christiana is. Why would these places go for millions?

Perhaps the words "Architect Villa in the Centre of a major city" would give you a clue?

[DanS]

Why don't you just stop trying to be cute and describe the place more?

[Winston]

It's a former military barracks, abandoned in the late 1960's, which was "occupied" by, get this, "shanty town-stormers" in 1970 and - unlawfully - set up as a place for marginalized people who wanted to live free from government regulations and, well, free.. Since they didn't pay anything for neither heat, electricity, water etc. (willingly supplied on a continuous basis by the government), it attracted quite a lot of people who also relished in the cannabis culture which seems to have always been one of the supprting pillars of this alternative community.

The water/heat/power issue has since been resolved, and the inhabitants have payed for these services for years now.

But after a while, other people than the so-called marginalized ones started to get attracted to the area. It's very centrally located in Copenhagen overlooking the water surrounding two sides of it, and relatively secluded from the rest of the city. But the most important thing is that building regulations aren't enforced (until recently, nothing was enforced / this changed when police finally cracked down on the drug trade).

The area is actually officially preserved, which normally means no alterations or new constructions, but this isn't enforced either. So you have a situation where you can just go there, put up a nice millionaire villa, without having to worry about preservation or regulations - or property taxes for that matter..

Let's just say it has started to attract a different kind of clients than your average doped out hippie.

For some time now, the government and spokespersons for Christiania have held talks about either making the place operate under lawful conditions as the rest of society, allowing enforcement by police and other authorities (which has been the real problem all along) - or evicting people for good.

Now this is hardly the first time such attempts have been made by the government (must be the 20th time in 35 years), but the nice thing is, we now have a government who actually means business, and which has a record of following through on its policies as communicated to the voters.

Whoa, can't believe I typed all that on the subject of Christiania, must be turning into some kind of goddamned softie. Tear it down already!

[BlackCat]

Originally posted by DanS
Why don't you just stop trying to be cute and describe the place more?

OK, Ill try - some commie leftist scums may try to give you another imprerssion.

Some years ago several miltary installations got obsolete people scurried into this void.

This military area was almost in the center of the city of copenhagen.

Now these sites is probablly some of the most valuable parts of the city if they were for sale.

[Barinthus]

I don't understand why the government have to come up with a plan to make this place follow its laws and so on. After all it's right there in the country, not some seperate geo-political entity.

[Winston]

As I said, enforcement of regulations is the problem. Inhabitants are very protective, to put it nicely, of "their" property. Many a policeman has had to face early retirement or severe traumatization over the years from attempting to enforce the law in Christiania.

[BlackCat]

Trouble is that thay have be there so long.


Oh, just fogret it if you think it is's some poor bastards that just want a better life - all of the popolation has a decent if not abusive income.

[:) Smiley]

Shantytowns exist to fill the wide gap between sleeping under a bridge and legitimate housing. If they were located out in the country rather than in a city, they might be quaint rural villages as opposed to slums. Often, the residents are from said rural villages.

Therefore, to get rid of shantytowns the rural standard of living needs improving. Otherwise, the "those who can't afford a minimum standard of living shouldn't live" attitude only perpetuates the existing conditions.

[Bosh]

DanS: You're losing sight of who's doing shantytown demolition in this case. It's Mugabe and the way he's doing it is going after ONLY shantytowns in areas where the opposition did well in the election. He hopes to drive the urban poor (two tend to be relatively anti-government) into rural areas where his political machine is powerful enough to keep them in line. It's 100% politics and it sure as hell won't help any of the people who're getting their hiomes destroyed and I'm surprised that you don't realize that.

[mrmitchell]

Public housing works to get rid of shanties. DanS, like Spiffor said, you assume the market is the only solution, and this promotes an unhealthy attitude since there are so many places where a totally free market just can't provide for the needs of all people.