The environmental sustainability of Maputo self-produced settlements: The case of George Dimitrov Neighbourhood

Abstract

Urban environmental sustainability is currently essential to ensure a healthy society, especially in the Self-Produced Neighbourhoods (SPN), since poverty and urbanization embody their environmental problems. However, considering that the temporal construction of the SPN sets up urban tissues linked to cultural and social values of its residents, this research aims to analyse the possibility of requalifying the Maputo SPN taking advantage of the existing one in order to reach its environmental sustainability. For this purpose, a literature review of specialty and George Dimitrov Neighbourhood (GDN) in Maputo were used as a case study to understand and discuss the research question. As a result, it was found that, despite the apparent disorder of the urban tissue of the neighbourhood, GND shows a considerable morphological and social potential that can be taken advantage of in their environmental requalification. Moreover, it has been found that poverty and the scarcity or lack of adequate technical knowledge in the neighbourhood's self-construction is the main environmental problems detected. In this point of view, it was concluded that, it is possible to requalify environmentally Maputo SPN taking advantage of existing conditions. To this end, urban public policies must, in addition to effectively taking up the urgency of SPN environmental issues in their interventions, create sustainable solutions that understand the cultural and socioeconomic logics that guide self-construction and, thus, integrate strategically in this process.

Urban Design Solutions for the Environmental Requalification of Informal Neighbourhoods: The George Dimitrov Neighbourhood, Maputo

“…The aforementioned literature review focused on: (i) the conceptual framework of informal settlements and intervention models, exploring the diversity inherent to their definition as well as the positive and negative aspects of previously applied modes of intervention; (ii) urban design in order to briefly explore its definition and relevance within the current debate and in the context of informal settlement upgrading; and (iii) the characteristics of Maputo's informal settlements for the purpose of understanding their existing spatial and socio-economic qualities as well as their problems. A complementary critical literature review on the on the concept of informal settlements, their environmental characteristics and problems was previously presented in Salamagy and Alves [23].…”

“…The following urban (and architectural) design strategies were applied to the morphological units (the block [36], the street network [37], the public space [38], and the housing [21]) that structure the organization of the George Dimitrov Neighbourhood: (i) the physical and visual permeability of the street fabric; (ii) functional diversity; (iii) the public space network; (iv) sustainable stormwater drainage systems; and (v) natural ventilation and housing densification. This procedure analysed the role of these strategies in the requalification of informal neighbourhoods, taking into account the results of the research analysis presented in Salamagy and Alves [23] , namely in terms of what pertains to socio-economic conditions, urban services, housing and daily life, the residents' perception of the environmental conditions of their house, public space and the detected mobility and environmental problems. This work also details the methodological procedures used for the selection of the presented case study; briefly and schematically, it followed the methodological process presented in Figure 1.…”

“…In the meantime, the high density of buildings horizontally occupying the ground in informal settlements has transformed the existing paths; while in the rural context paths are visually and physically permeable, they now turn into veritable labyrinths connecting small plots of various sizes and geometries, with the public-private interface made of opaque surfaces of great height that mostly comprise house fences. The backyard of these houses is the central place of daily life, as that is where the real living and conversation room is located [105]-not only due to the rural influence but also for the thermal comfort that the shade of trees offers these environments [23]. The rural influence over the current urban fabric of informal neighbourhoods is evident.…”

“…This subsection presents the application and description of the urban (and architectural) design solutions to the morphological units that structure the organization of Block 33 of the George Dimitrov Neighbourhood. The application of these solutions takes into consideration the observations, analysis, diagnosis and findings reported by Salamagy and Alves [23] as well as the literature review presented in this paper. Thus, a spatial contextualization of the case study is first conducted in the context of the city as well as within the scale of the neighbourhood; then, the solutions applied in (i) the road fabric, (ii) the system of public spaces and, finally, (iii) the housing are explored.…”

“…2023, 7, 12 2 of 24 Due to their size and exacerbated growth, as well as their strategic location that allows easier access to employment and urban amenities, currently their demolition and replacement is consensually perceived as unnecessary and impossible [20,21]. In this sense, there is an urgent need to recognise informal settlements as a mode of urban self-production [22] and thereby create more sustainable solutions informed by scientific evidence [21], taking advantage of the existing human, physical and socio-economic fabric in order to create effectively sustainable solutions through urban coproduction [23].…”