Rethinking the Informal City

<p> Latin American cities have always been characterized by a strong tension between what is vaguely described as their formal and informal dimensions. However the terms formal and informal refer not only to the physical aspect of cities but also to their entire socio-political fabric. Informal cities and settlements exceed the structures of order control and homogeneity that one expects to find in a formal city; therefore the contributors to this volume - from such disciplines as architecture urban planning anthropology urban design cultural and urban studies and sociology - focus on alternative methods of analysis in order to study the phenomenon of urban informality. This book provides a thorough review of the work that is currently being carried out by scholars practitioners and governmental institutions in and outside Latin America on the question of informal cities.</p>