Atlas of Informal Settlement: Understanding Self-Organized Urban Design

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Informal settlements and slums are the most pervasive modes of urbanization on the planet, housing up to 2 billion people and absorbing most rural-to-urban migration worldwide. This presents architects, urban planners, and everyone working to improve the lives of the worlds urban poor, with a uniquely complex and urgent challenge. Featuring 50 contemporary case studies of informal settlements from over 30 cities across the Global South, the Atlas of Informal Settlement is the first book to map the processes by which informal settlements and slums grow and develop. Each case study uses maps and aerial photographs to examine the key stages of development, while accompanying texts outline the impact of environmental, social, economic and political factors ultimately revealing the hidden rules and logics embodied in informal settlements worldwide. As the focus of sustainable urban development shifts towards the upgrade of slums through community collaboration, it has become vital to understand how such places develop. The Atlas of Informal Settlement provides key insights, enabling designers and planners to better harness the positive capacities of informal production. The book is also interspersed with short chapters introducing key theoretical concepts the issues and complexities at stake when thinking about informal settlements making this book essential reading for all students, academics, and professionals working in informal settlement contexts, from architects and urban designers to NGOs, policy-makers, and community activists.

Author Bio

Kim Dovey is Chair of Architecture and Urban Design at the University of Melbourne, Australia where he is also Director of InfUr (Informal Urbanism Research Hub). Matthijs van Oostrum is an urban designer who has practised in the Netherlands and India; he has also taught architecture and urban design at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Tanzil Shafique is an architect who has practised in Bangladesh and the USA. He has taught architecture, urban design and planning at BRAC (Dhaka), and University of Melbourne, Australia. Ishita Chatterjee is an architect who has practised in Mumbai and taught at the KRVIA school and at the Melbourne School of Design, University of Melbourne, Australia. Elek Pafka is Lecturer in Urban Planning and Urban Design at the University of Melbourne, Australia.