Eleventh International Conference on The Constructed Environment

Abstract

Informal Urbanism has become integral to how cities of the global South work. Our aim is to explore forms of urban informality in the context of unprecedented global health crises with a particular focus on the role of urban design and planning in relation to the spatial and temporal implications of the COVID-19 pandemic. We begin from the view that the built environment professions can play a key role in responding to the ways in which forms of informality, ranging from street vending to informal transport and informal settlement, work in the face of public health emergencies. At stake is to harness the productive adaptive capacities of informal urbanism and manage the challenges different forms of informality face in a global context. We point to the dynamics of informal settlement, street vending and informal transport across different cities and conclude by outlining some key considerations and discussing the role of the built environment professions in addressing the capacities and challenges of informal urbanism in the state of uncertainty during pandemics such as the COVID-19.