Informal Settlements: A New Understanding for Governance and Vulnerability Study

Abstract

This review examines current knowledge in the literature on informal settlements, specifically those contributions that include emphases on governance and the role of public administration. Given that informal settlements task the public sector with specific challenges that test the limits of infrastructure, while also presenting considerable human demands, there is a need to better understand how informal settlements and governments’ capacities to respond to such phenomena potentially deepen concerns with already vulnerable populations. After an introduction to the concept of informal settlements, the paper considers the approach to the literature review, which included an initial group of 272 papers from peer-reviewed, English-language journals, from the period 2019 to June 2024. Major themes are discussed, with opportunities for future research identified. Informal settlements are still an emerging topic within the larger land use and urban planning literature, but the significance of this research extends beyond the immediate areas of the settlements themselves to critical areas of governance and vulnerability study.