Exploring the Topology of Cities and the Emergence of Urban Slums

Steven sits down with Luis Bettencourt to discuss what cities can teach us about inequality. Luis Bettencourt is a Professor of Ecology and Evolution and the Inaugural Director of the Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation at the University of Chicago as well as an External Professor of Complex Systems at the Santa Fe Institute. With research interests spanning ecology, sociology, and physics, Luis extends insights from these disciplines to the study of inequality in urban landscapes to understand growth, opportunity, and mobility throughout the cities of the world and their capacity for social progress. Our Inequality in Perspective segment tells the story of a man navigating new trials while living in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro.

The Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation: https://miurban.uchicago.edu/

The Million Neighborhoods Initiative: https://millionneighborhoods.org/#2/8.84/17.54

INFORMATION ABOUT THE FAVELAS DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC:

"Brazil’s Favelas Organize to Fight COVID-19" (United Nations): https://www.un.org/en/coronavirus/brazil%E2%80%99s-favelas-organize-fight-covid-19

"Brazil’s Favelas Offer Lessons in Building Trust" (The New York Times): https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/09/opinion/brazil-favelas-pandemic-trust.html

"Covid-19 and the Brazilian Reality: The Role of Favelas in Combating the Pandemic" (Frontiers in Sociology): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8022550/