Shaping Public Space in Informal Settlements: A Case Study

Abstract

Informal settlement has become one of the critical ways of producing space and accessing affordable housing, particularly in the context of the global South. Much of the established literature on the shaping of public space focuses on cities of the global North, and little is known about how public spaces are being shaped in more congested and less formal cities of the global South. This paper engages with the challenge of understanding the shaping of public space in informal settlements with a focus on exploring the spatial structures and increments of change in a case study in Medellin (Colombia). This is primarily an urban design exploration, which deploys direct observation, extensive urban photography, and field notes as key research methods. This paper contributes a critical case study, which has experienced forms of informal and formal transformations. The spatial structures and increments of change are explored in the selected case study and further discussed in the context of the relevant literature. This paper argues that much of the shaping of public space in informal settlements can be considered as “unfinished” in the sense that their “incompleteness” enables a degree of flexibility for possible adaptations in relation to individual/collective needs and desires. The article also reflects on how producing mixed morphologies can be considered as an attempt that may possibly facilitate future forms of formalisation and/or upgrading by enabling a degree of visual resemblance with what is considered as the formal city. The findings of this study can inform the related upgrading practices by providing a better understanding of how public spaces are being shaped in informal settlements.

Urban morphology of informally built dwellings: counter-mapping coastal cities of Montenegro

“…Accessibility concerns the movement and connectivity of urban districts (Kamalipour, 2016). Street networks physically structure the movement and consist of the flows of people, goods, and vehicles (Zacharias et al, 2013).…”

“…The author acknowledges these pillars as the point of departure for a detailed and nuanced comprehending urban morphology of informality built settlements. Considering that this study aims to capture the adaptability of low-income neighbourhoods, the author uses density, access, and functional combination as the three critical elements of urban morphology (Dovey et al ., 2017; Dovey, 2012; Kamalipour, 2016). These three elements explain how low-income groups claim territory – in defence of making claims to customary rights to land (Eghenter, 2000).…”

Fluidity in space: defining threshold in dwelling and temporal market for resilient kampung settlement.

“…The findings of this research indicate that Otla will be actively utilized and operationalized by the local community, aligning with spatial utilization for daily 2 functions in and around residences, encompassing economic and social activities [1]. Another study from Hesam explains a phenomenon of how public spaces in informal settlements in Colombia City experience high flexibility and adaptation in relation to individual and collective needs and desires of the local community [2]. These two cases illustrate how changes in urban development contribute to the reduction of social and economic spaces.…”

Social Inequality in Popular Neighborhoods: A Pre- and Post-Pandemic Perspective from Joint Accessibility

“…This widespread growth and high social segregation exacerbate mobility problems in peripheral areas [3]. From a spatial perspective, the distribution of areas with unfavorable conditions in Latin American cities such as Santiago de Cali is concentrated at the urban margins and generally coincides with hilly geographies with high slopes, which configure spaces with self-managed infrastructures and precarious public service supply in all territorial dimensions, including public transport service, access to urban facilities, and job acquisition [4,5]. The urban development of the city shows the existence of a core-periphery pattern that tends to favor the populations located in flat areas, close to strategic corridors, and endowed with better urban facilities and more significant opportunities for access to goods and services [6][7][8], revealing the existence of social fragmentation that leads to housing segregation towards the urban edge [8][9][10].…”

“…Implementing integrated public transport systems in urban contexts enables equitable access of the population to facilities that allow their individual development in the territory by reducing gaps in social needs [21][22][23]. Despite the efforts of public administrations in planning neighborhood-improvement policies, deficiencies in the provision of transportation services, infrastructure, and social exclusion are persistent in the main cities of Colombia, such as Santiago de Cali [22,24], where these deficiencies are more critical in informal neighborhoods that are generally self-built without planning and with precarious access to essential and vital services [5,7,8], aggravating the adverse effects on the population, which tends to suffer exclusions related to transportation services associated with physical and socio-spatial barriers [4,25]. This is why, to achieve sustainable cities in Latin America, as stated in the Sustainable Development Goal SDG 11 [26], both the housing deficit and the adverse effects of socio-spatial segregation faced mainly by vulnerable populations with the inadequate provision of public transportation must be included.…”