Mike Davis
1946–2022
American historian who wrote about Los Angeles and about informal settlements with the same eye: who is left off the plan.
City of Quartz dissected Los Angeles as a city organised around fear: gated developments, private security, benches you cannot sleep on and public space designed to expel. Davis called it the militarisation of the landscape, and he wrote it a decade before it became obvious.
In Planet of Slums he took the same attention to a global scale. His uncomfortable argument is that the accelerated urbanisation of the global South does not mainly produce an urban middle class, but peripheries without services where a growing share of humanity lives.
On Mike Davis in this archive
- Housing
Urban disaster is shaped by inequality and power
This article explains how urban disasters are shaped by inequality and power, focusing on the social construction…
Mike Davis 3 min read - Urban geopolitics
Mike Davis: Urbanization, Inequality and Megacities
Mike Davis explores urbanization, inequality, and megacities in the Global South. His work highlights the crisis of…
Mike Davis 2 min read - Urban economy
Mike Davis: Unearthing Inequality in Los Angeles
"City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles" is a seminal work by Mike Davis that offers a profound and…
Mike Davis 3 min read - Urban ecology
Right to Water and Environmental Justice: Urban Struggles for Equity
The right to water and environmental justice are fundamental issues in the urban context
Mike Davis 2 min read - Urban geopolitics
Forced Displacement in the Global South: A Growing Crisis
Forced displacement in cities of the Global South is a growing phenomenon driven by various factors, including…
Mike Davis 3 min read - Housing
Planet of Slums: How to Tackle the Global Urban Crisis
*Planet of Slums* by Mike Davis offers a stark and detailed view of the rapid growth of slums in cities across the…
Mike Davis 2 min read - Urban psychology
Urban Insecurity and Violence: Social and Spatial Challenges
Urban insecurity and violence are phenomena that deeply affect communities, particularly in the most vulnerable…
Mike Davis 3 min read - Surveillance / data
Urban Militarization Challenges: Surveillance and Control in Modern Cities
The militarization of urban space is a phenomenon that has gained prominence in recent decades, reflecting the…
Stephen Graham 2 min read
