©Johnny Miller, Alex Casey Park, The organic, round shape of the shacks stands in a defensive position next to the wealthier suburb next to it. Shot above Alexandra, Johannesburg, South Africa.

©Johnny Miller, Alex Sandton Bridge, Government programs are working to overcome the separation caused through infrastructure which kept people separate during the apartheid regime. This bridge is being built to provide a walkway for people in Alexandra who work in the rich suburb of Sandton to get to work. Johannesburg, South Africa.

©Johnny Miller, Alex Sandton, The women’s hostel is one of the oldest and most recognizable housing developments in the poor township of Alexandra. Johannesburg, South Africa.

©Johnny Miller, Bloubosrand Kya Sands, The story of Kya Sands is the story of ash, smoke, and broken promises. This informal settlement has been subjected to numerous fires, xenophobic violence, and protests just in the last five years. The middle-class suburb on the left contains multi-million rand homes. Johannesburg, South Africa.

©Johnny Miller, Durban – Kennedy Rd, Kennedy Road one of several informal settlements located in the vicinity of the N3 highway and the Umgeni River, in Durban. A quick glance at a map reveals perhaps upwards of 10 within a few kilometers of each other, winding along the ancient riverbanks like metal serpents. Looming directly behind the settlement is the Bisasar Landfill, Africa’s largest. Hosting 19 million cubic metres of waste, the dump was described by Carl Albrecht, research director of the Cancer Association of South Africa, as a toxic ‘cancer hotspot’ where residents “are like animals involved in a biological experiment.” Durban, South Africa.

©Johnny Miller, Hout Bay Imizamo Yethu, Hout Bay is a picturesque valley about 15km south of Cape Town, situated between several mountains. There is a protected harbor at one end of the valley, which is one of the busiest fishing harbors in the Western Cape, along with several wealthy housing estates, hotels, and small farms. Nestled between two of these affluent housing estates is the suburb of Imizamo Yethu. Imizamo Yethu (IY) is comprised of both a designated housing area and an “informal settlement” area, which is largely comprised of small shack dwellings which stretch up the steep slopes of the mountain behind it. The shacks in this informal settlement reach right to the very edge of the demarcated area, in a densely packed jumble of tin roofs. In fact, even though the total area of IY is much smaller than the whole Hout Bay valley, the two have roughly the same population, 15538 vs. 17329. (City of Cape Town Census 2011) Cape Town, South Africa

©Johnny Miller, Ixtapalapa, Housing estates are on a massive scale in Mexico, sometimes side by side with impoverished communities. Ixtapalapa, Mexico.

©Johnny Miller, Joburg – Primrose, A township, formerly housing workers for an adjacent gold mine, sits opposite a middle-class neighborhood. Johannesburg, South Africa.

©Johnny Miller, Masiphumelele Lake Michelle, The Southern Cape Peninsula, about 20km from Cape Town’s city center, is comprised of several idyllic, picturesque suburbs such as Noordhoek, Kommetjie, and Fish Hoek. Horse riding tours are common on nearby Long Beach. Surfing is a popular pastime. Sandwiched within the “Sun Valley” communities is Masiphumelele. There are approximately 38000 people living there, many in small tin shacks. There is no police station, only one small day clinic, and it’s estimated that up to 35% of the population is infected with HIV or TB (Wikipedia + Masicorp). Fires are common in winter, which sweep through the shacks, sometimes displacing residents by the hundreds. Moreover, the entire community of 38000 is accessed by only one single exit/entrance. Cape Town, South Africa.

©Johnny Miller, Nairobi, Loresho is an upscale suburb of Nairobi, bordering a poor slum. Nairobi is a complicated city, with a patchwork of development making it difficult to provide equity throughout a huge population struggling to survive. Nairobi, Kenya.

©Johnny Miller, Papwa Sewgolum Golf Course Papwa Sewgolum Golf Course is located along the lush green slopes of the Umgeni River in Durban. Almost unbelievably, a sprawling informal settlement exists just meters from the tee for the 6 hole. A low-slung concrete fence separates the tin shacks from the carefully manicured fairways. In a twist of irony, the golf course is named after an apartheid-era golfer of Indian descent, named Sewsunker “Papwa” Sewgolum. Durban, South Africa

©Johnny Miller, Santa Fe, Mexico is one of the most unequal cities in the world, with only 4 multimillionaires accounting for 9% of GDP. Many of these millionaires live in Santa Fe, an upscale suburb which happens to encompass several huge slums as well. Santa Fe, Mexico.

©Johnny Miller, Santa Fe1, Santa Fe is an area of mountainous terrain on the outskirts of Mexico City’s choked urban center. It was built as an escape for the wealthy and elite, far from the smog and traffic. As the city has grown however, Santa Fe is now a distinct urban center in its own right, with high-rise buildings, traffic, and crime all its own. As land is at a premium, developers have taken to carving out sections of the violent slum to create upmarket, wealthy gated neighborhoods which exist literally next to extreme poverty. Santa Fe, Mexico.

©Johnny Miller, Santa Fe2, Santa Fe is an area of mountainous terrain on the outskirts of Mexico City’s choked urban center. It was built as an escape for the wealthy and elite, far from the smog and traffic. As the city has grown however, Santa Fe is now a distinct urban center in its own right, with high-rise buildings, traffic, and crime all its own. The highway which spans this ravine separates some of Santa Fe’s wealthiest residents from those of the slum on the other side. The slum area, notorious in the area for its size and violence, also serves as a source of labor for the myriad building projects ongoing in Mexico City. Santa Fe, Mexico.

©Johnny Miller, Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch is the center of the winelands in South Africa, a fertile and extremely beautiful region just northeast of Cape Town. Kayamundi is a desperately poor township just beside Stellenbosch. It sprawls up and over a small mountain just outside of town, occasionally devastated by the ubiquitous shack fires that plague South African townships. A major shack fire in 2013 displaced over 2500 people. Stellenbosch, South Africa

©Johnny Miller, Strand Nomzamo, There is a clear land buffer (supplemented with fencing) separating the wealthier housing of Strand from Nomzamo/Lwandle. It seems to me that existing in this “middle space” reinforces the notion of living on the fringe, alienated and/or marginalized. With the help of an aerial view it becomes easier to understand how extremely difficult it must be to remove one’s self from this type of situation. Strand, South Africa.

©Johnny Miller, Strand Nomzamo, Geometric patterns are apparent in the city-built shacks, in the “no-man’s land” between the former “European” area of Strand and the “African” area of Nomzamo. Strand, South Africa

©Johnny Miller, Vukuzenzele Sweet Home, Sweet Home was primarily a dumping ground for builder’s rubble like bricks, which you can still see being recycled on the side of the road today near the south end of the settlement. Services and conditions are poor. Vukuzenzele, just to the north, was developed in collaboration with a fund to provide affordable housing to South Africans. The visual difference between the two is stark. The organic network of roads and dwellings to the south contrasts sharply with the orderly, geometric patterns of the planned community to the north. This means much more than simply representing a difference in wealth, writes Diana Mitlin. “Just as the community capacity building element provides an essential legacy in being a social asset that will help enable the community to address its future goals, so the development of physical assets provides essential assistance. In this case, the physical assets incorporate secure tenure, access to adequate services and improved living conditions. This enables families to have access to healthy living conditions and offers them the opportunity to accumulate resources. However, the development of physical assets is also important for another reason; it provides the arena within which collective skills and capacities can develop.” Cape Town, South Africa

©Johnny Miller, Vusimuzi Mooifontein Cemetery, On the day I was there, a wind whistled through the power lines and the faint drone of a jet, high above, were all that was audible. The graves and the shacks, side by side, were extremely eerie to me. I imagined that the ghosts of one haunt the ghosts of the other. Johannesburg, South Africa

©Johnny Miller, Vusimuzi Mooifontein Cemetery, Between Ehlanzeni and Vusimuzi, there are over 30000 people living in approximately 8500 shacks, on the margins of the former township of Tembisa, Gauteng. Service delivery, including sanitation, electricity, policing, and education, is extremely poor. Contrasted to the greater province of Gauteng, Vusimuzi is an anomaly. Gauteng is the richest province in South Africa, and Johannesburg is the richest city. Gauteng contributes almost 1/3 of South Africa’s total GDP, and is rapidly modernizing into a world-class city. Johannesburg, South Africa

©Johnny Miller, Nairobi, Kibera slum is a huge slum which is estimated to hold up to a million inhabitants. Kibera is desperately poor, with open sewage running through the streets, rubbish everywhere, and a very dangerous train line which bisects the slum. Surrounding houses seem empty by comparison. Nairobi, Kenya.