‘The Places We Live,’ a window into a another world

As a kind of follow-up to yesterday’s post on the rising popularity of slum tours in Mumbai, I thought I would share a link to The Places We Live. The site features panoramic photos of slums around the world and is narrated by the people who live there (through translators).

There are also a number of startling figures in the intro, like the fact that one third of the world’s urban dwellers — more 1 billion people — live in slums and, according to the U.N., slums are the fastest growing human habitation — the number of slum dwellers will double within the next 25 years.

Not exactly a portrait of the world that tourism boards want to promote, but it is a reality.

The site is well worth a visit and does an excellent job of getting across its message through the words of the people who live in slums.

Unfortunately the site is Flash so I can’t like directly to the individual stories, but once you make it through the intro, just click on one of the featured areas and then you’ll see links to people’s individual stories.

Perhaps not strictly travel-related, but an interesting glimpse of a world most of us, even when we’re traveling, get very little exposure to.

There’s also a book, if the site strikes a chord.

[via Kottke]