Informal settlements have become the main mode of urbanization in developing countries. Although these areas are usually considered unplanned, chaotic or spontaneous, informal settlements respond to policies and economic and spatial pressures from the broader city but also have particular characteristics that are seldom explored in the literature.

Building on At the Limit: Vulnerable Morphologies in Urban Areas, this project shows a different approach to addressing informal areas by their physical characteristics, creating a new methodology in the field of urban morphology.

Guided by curiosity, the project began by asking:

How informal settlements urban areas should be studied? How does the field of urban morphology can aid in approaching informal settlements’ particular challenges?

Who was involved?

This research began by constructing a dataset of large, fast-growing urban agglomerations of over 2,000,000 inhabitants and separating them into geo-cultural regions, considering their population, density, and land consumption in 10-year intervals. From a large compendium of 27 large urban agglomerations with various population rates and land occupation distributed among different geo-cultural regions. Using remote sensing images were gathered and analyzed limited by the image quality and resolution. From this data a selection and mapping was performed of two representative large agglomerations: Manila, Philipines and São Paulo, Brazil. Further analysis of land occupation and informal built landscapes locations and form, used specific data such as municipal information and aerial photographs.

What was TDL’s role?

The TDL team synthesized, analyzed and classified informal urban areas from large urban agglomerations across the globe. This information permitted the mapping of informal urban areas, and construction of urban morphologies particular to informal settlements. These typologies were later tested in two large metropolitan cities: São Paulo and Manila. From particular data sources of these two large urban areas, the TDL team conducted an in-depth analysis of their informal urban areas, mapping the built environment, while also creating a particular methodology to address informal urban areas analysis.

What was learned?

Informal urban areas have unique shaping characteristics. The form and location of informal urban areas cannot be analyzed with traditional urban morphology perspectives. These areas are constrained by the impossibility of drawing lot lines, the blurring of boundaries between private and public through the negotiation of private and circulation space, as well as, the constant tensions arising from trying to secure permanence. These areas are shaped by factors that affect the border city but since they operate outside of a regularized framework, the methodology to address these areas need a particular framework to capture the nuances of informality.

Informal urban morphologies

The systematic study of informal urban morphology can contribute to a unified study of urban landscapes and can advance efforts from local governments to better the living conditions of its inhabitants. These forms can aid in moving away from negative connotations of terms for informal areas, such as ‘slums’, into proper naming of urban forms where positive change can be made.

Formal and Informal

The dichotomous distinction between formal and informal should be replaced by analyzing urban forms, to create a flexible framework of typologies of urban form. The taxonomy or informal urban morphologies can be explored to evaluate and compare different settlements globally and learn from government responses.