Informal Settlements Spatial Analysis Using Space Syntax and Geographic Information Systems

Cutini, Valerio; Pinto, Valerio Di; Rinaldi, Antonio M.; Rossini, Francesco

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-24302-9_25

Cited by 9 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Albeit completely unknown in the present formal city, "spaces-in-between" appear to have been familiar in a not so distant past, when some significant share of socio-spatial needs was actually present. This was confirmed by recent research on the topological structure of the city as a complex network [25]. In informal settlements, a large part of daily life takes place within spaces-in-between, making them to appear to be among the main urban resources, to be exploited when working in a perspective of "on-site" upgrading.…”

Section: Informal Settlementsmentioning

confidence: 56%

“…From this point of view, informal settlements are characterized by the lack of congruence between the design of their patterns (streets, squares, and other open spaces), the shape of their architectural objects (houses and other buildings), and recognized urban archetypes (hippodameian, radial, or other rational schemes to organize life in the city)-what we call order, pattern, and rules in the structure of a settlement [24]. At the same time, they lack in services, road paving, and public buildings, resulting in insecurity, unsafety, and insalubrity [1,2,25].…”

Section: Informal Settlementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nevertheless, physical features are not the most interesting and fascinating elements of informal settlements: as a cultural product of informal society, such settlements deal with what is called an informal economy [26] and a related "informal philosophy of life" [25].…”

Section: Informal Settlementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Within this conceptual framework, a transdisciplinary approach has been flourishing in the last years. It relies on the idea that the hierarchy of urban needs in informal settlements, related to their informal economy, poor access to a limited stock of resources, and high exposure to any kind of uncertainties, which affects its urban and functional structure [5], and it is likely to support a social framework made of inclusive local nuclei [3,4,15,25]. They can be considered to be social groups hanging between the family sphere and the public environment, close knit by their capability to meet individual needs in informal settlements.…”

Section: Informal Settlementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Unlike resettlement, on-site upgrading seems both the most humane and least expensive way to support poor communities living in informal settlements, having respect of the delicate balance of their mutual support [28]. Informal settlements turn out to be composed by a complex framework of spaces-in-between [25], which, rather than well-defined urban objects, are to be regarded as domains of urban life characterized by soft limits. An informal settlement can thus be read as a fuzzy overlapping of individual areas of pertinence, which creates the urban hierarchy that drives its actual functioning.…”

Section: Informal Settlementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Proximal Cities: Does Walkability Drive Informal Settlements?

et al. 2020

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The uncontrolled growth of urban areas worldwide is pushing a substantial part of the urban population to the fringes of society, confining them to the unsecure and unhygienic settlements that we call “informal.” These settlements lack in intelligible layout and essential services and infrastructures, thus representing a challenging issue for policy makers and urban designers in the development of renewal programs and strategies. In order to support the facing of these issues through an on-site upgrade approach, this paper argues that walkability deeply affects the functioning of informal settlements, so as to propose that they can be identified as “proximal cities,” which expresses the idea that the vital space in informal settlements has soft boundaries and follows a fuzzy logic. A quantitative analysis, based on a configurational approach, and a qualitative analysis, focused on the morphologic features of the settlements, have been implemented. A comparison of the results shows that this approach is suitable to provide a deeper knowledge on informal settlement and informal society under the assumption of their strict mutual connection. A primal definition of proximal cities, suitable for describing some properties of autopoietic urban systems, emerges from the evidence-based relationships between their spatial and social features. In this respect, a case study has been proposed and discussed.

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Section: Informal Settlementsmentioning

confidence: 56%

Section: Informal Settlementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Informal Settlementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Informal Settlementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Informal Settlementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Proximal Cities: Does Walkability Drive Informal Settlements?

et al. 2020

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Limit Land Take. A Matter of Thresholds?

Montaldi,

Zullo,

Munafò

2024

Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering

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An Empirical Test of Pedestrian Activity Theories Within Informal Settlements

Borofsky,

Briers,

Günther

2024

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Pedestrian activity is often measured in the formal parts of cities, yet it has rarely been studied in informal settlements, although they are typically adjacent to formal areas and residents participate in formal urban life. Route optimization and space syntax are two pedestrian activity theories that can be applied to predict path usage in urban areas. These theories have been tested in formal cities, but are they applicable in understudied informal settings? Using motion sensors, we measure pedestrian activity in a Cape Town informal settlement in the early morning and evening hours and test which theory best explains the sensor measurements. Route optimization is weakly correlated with average pedestrian activity, while space syntax performs even more poorly in predicting pedestrian activity. The predictive power of both theoretical calculations further varies by time of day. We find that both theories perform worst at the entrances/exits of the informal settlement—that is, the border between informal and formal. These results indicate that daily movement patterns in informal settlements may differ from formal areas and that the connection between the formal and informal city requires further study to better understand how pedestrian activity links these two types of areas. A new theory of route selection based on such an understanding, which also better incorporates the specific characteristics of informal urban settlements—such as high density, narrow, and constantly changing streets primarily used by residents—may be necessary to understand the needs of pedestrians within informal settlements as compared to formal areas.

show abstract

Informal Settlements Spatial Analysis Using Space Syntax and Geographic Information Systems

Cited by 9 publications

References 16 publications

Proximal Cities: Does Walkability Drive Informal Settlements?

Proximal Cities: Does Walkability Drive Informal Settlements?

Limit Land Take. A Matter of Thresholds?

An Empirical Test of Pedestrian Activity Theories Within Informal Settlements

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