A PLANET OF SLUMS? Mike Davis may still be right that slums will dominate the cities of the future -- but his prediction was at least a decade premature.

The article revisits Mike Davis's prediction of a global slum crisis, finding that while slums initially declined, their growth has recently accelerated, especially in Africa and Southeast Asia. Topics include urbanization without job growth, the reversal of slum reduction trends after 2015; and projections of nearly half of urbanites living in slums by 2050.