When looking beyond first appearances, slums mainly offer a very pragmatic response of it’s people and community to whatever need. Often the need encompasses affordable housing, but can also be: employment opportunities, commercial or industrial space, health services, education, culture, need to escape. The answer is evident in the sub-standard shacks where people live, the various forms of labor, countless workshops and shopping streets, illegal dentists or abortion clinics, informal community schools, musical events, or drugs and alcohol production and trafficking.