Paper short abstract

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Paper long abstract

Urban poor housing in the Philippines is variously looked upon by outsiders with revulsion, fear or sympathy. Alongside the mansions, apartments or townhouses of well-to-do urban dwellers, or even the nipa hut of the rural peasant, urban poor housing is rarely taken seriously, except as a problem. This paper seeks to challenge that perspective by examining the rich social and creative life that is acted out through housing in an urban poor neighbourhood in Tatalon, Manila. Focusing on kinship, community and residence, the paper examines the material and symbolic ways in which poor rural migrants have inscribed themselves in urban space in the face of hostility from outsiders. It further considers the major factors that have contributed to change and continuity over half a century in this neighbourhood.