“At least one in every sixth human – over a billion people in all – lives in a self-built shanty, favela or informal settlement (often pejoratively labelled a ‘slum’). In sub-Saharan Africa, this proportion rises to 62 per cent (200 million people in all); in Southern Asia it is 35 per cent (another 190 million); in East Asia, 28 per cent (a further 200 million); and in Latin America and the Caribbean there are a further 125 million slum dwellers (24 per cent of the population). Over 25 million people move into informal settlements every year.”

“You know, sunsets are violently beautiful, I would say that they are so by definition, but there are lights, not even colorful in the habitual sense, lights elemental, mercurial, silvery, sulfurous, copper-made, that make us stop, then lose balance, make us open our arms not knowing what else to do, arrest us as if struck by lightning, a soft lightning, a welcome one. I wait for those lights, I know some of you do too, wherever you are, I mean when you are standing by an ocean, alone, within the calmness of your spirit. Be planetary.”