Informal / formal morphogenesis in Latin American settlements: A response to the problem of urban fragmentation

Abstract

Urban morphogenesis in informal settlements results from occupation, transformation, and morphological extension processes that cause territorial fragmentation, producing inequality and spatial segregation, which are the main characteristics of Latin American informal urbanism. However, there is scarce research on analysing the processes that cause fragmentation. The research develops a morphological analysis that aims to improve the processes of urban assemblage by identifying the dynamics of territorialisation and deterritorialisation promoted by political and social factors, capable of producing spatial discontinuity in the informal morphogenic evolution. As a method, a diachronic analysis is developed by mapping the morphological evolution of the processes of occupation, transformation and extension of networks between 2002 and 2021 on three models of informal settlements in Lima, Mexico City, Medellin and Santiago de Chile for a comparison of cases. As a result, corrective mechanisms called “interface devices” (ID) are obtained, which include the improvement of land management policies and the implementation of gradual interventions according to informal evolution, decreasing urban fragmentation in different phases of territorial evolution and the possibility of being applied in international contexts of the global south.