Stewart Brand: Why squatter cities are a good thing

Translator: Sam-Haendell W. THOSIAC

Basikman,gen on gwo evenman demografik kap paske.

E sa petet ap depase senkant pousan pwen iben

se yon tipping pwen eknomik.

Alos Mond kounya a se yon kat konektivite.

Paris ak London ak New York te abitye pi laj vil yo.

Sa Nou gen kounya a se elevaj oues la.

Basically, there's a major demographic event going on.

E se fini.

And it may be that passing the 50 percent urban point

Nimewo total yo twop pou nou.

is an economic tipping point. So the world now is a map of connectivity.

Alos sa se ki vreman ap pase a?

Ebyen vilaj nan Monday lan komanse vide tet yo.

It used to be that Paris and London and New York were the largest cities.

Kesyon an se, poukisa?

What we have now is the end of the rise of the West. That's over.

E sa se kote verite non womantik la e vil e yo fe ou lib,

The aggregate numbers are overwhelming.

Yo di nan Renesans Almay. Donk kek moun al nan plas

So what's really going on? Well, villages of the world are emptying out.

tankou Shanghai men pifo moun yo ale nan vil dipese yo kote reg aesthetic yo.

E moun sa yo se pa moun ki oprese pa povrete.

Gen moun ki ap soti n an povrete pi rapid ke posib,

Yo se konstrikte dominan yo e yo elaji yo anpil, desiyne dominan yo.

The question is, why?

And here's the unromantic truth -- and the city air makes you free,

Yo gen kay ke yo prepare ak enfrastrikti vibra epi vi iben.

they said in Renaissance Germany. So some people go to places

en sizyem de GDP nan End soti Mumbai.

like Shanghai but most go to the squatter cities where aesthetics rule.

Yo toujou ap agrandi, e nan ti pa, gouvenman an ede.

Edikasyon se evenman ki pi enpotan nan ki pase nan vil sa yo.

And these are not really a people oppressed by poverty.

They're people getting out of poverty as fast as they can.

Sa kap pase nan vil Mumbai?

They're the dominant builders and to a large extent, the dominant designers.

AI Gore konnen. Se pratikman tout bagay.

They have home-brewed infrastructure and vibrant urban life.

Pa gen moun san anplaman nan vil dispense yo.

One-sixth of the GDP in India is coming out of Mumbai.

Tout moun ap travay.

They are constantly upgrading, and in a few cases, the government helps.

Education is the main event that can happen in cities.

What's going on in the street in Mumbai?

En sizyem de moun ki la yo. E tale li ap plis ke sa.

Al Gore knows. It's basically everything.

Alos men premye pawol punchline nan:

There's no unemployment in squatter cities. Everyone works.

vil yo dezamose bonb popilasyon an.

E men dezyem pawol punchline nan.

Sa se nouvel anba vil la. E se nouvo perspective la.

One-sixth of humanity is there. It's soon going to be more than that.

So here's the first punch line:

cities have defused the population bomb.

And here's the second punch line.

That's the news from downtown. Here it is in perspective.

Etwal yo te sispann briye sou late pandan bilyon lanne

Kounya nou ap briye kanpe anko.

Mesi.

Stars have shined down on earth's life for billions of years.

Now we're shining right back up.

Thank you.