Inside the World's Tallest Slum: Venezuela's Tower of David

Inside the World's Tallest Slum: Venezuela's Tower of David

What was once a symbol of Caracas' bright financial future is now the world’s tallest slum: Venezuela's Tower of David. Squatters took over this unfinished 45-story skyscraper in the early 1990s, after its construction was stopped due to a banking crisis and the sudden death of the tower’s namesake, David Brillembourg. 

Now, as the government is grappling with a citywide housing shortage, many residents have spent most of their life within the walls of David. And despite the tower’s reputation as being a hotbed of crime, residents have managed to build a self-sustaining community complete with a communal electrical grid and aqueduct water system.

Few cameras have been allowed into the depths of the tower, so watch as Vocativ captures a rare in-depth access to residents' daily lives.

Seen first on The Atlantic Cities.

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Cite: Karissa Rosenfield. "Inside the World's Tallest Slum: Venezuela's Tower of David" 24 Aug 2013. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/420345/inside-the-world-s-tallest-slum-venezuela-s-tower-of-david> ISSN 0719-8884

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