In May, Jaime Lerner—Brazilian architect, politician, and pioneer of urban planning—passed away from a chronic kidney condition at the age of 83. His vision for the world, however, lives on.
The COVID-19 pandemic has put informal settlements, and the policy failures that they represent, back in the spotlight. Immediate strategies to combat the virus in slums have been deployed throughout Latin America, which includes five of the countries—Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Mexico, Argentina—that have suffered the most COVID-19-related deaths per capita. However, the strong regional impact from COVID-19 calls for differentiated governance and policy response.
