Abstract
In 2015, UN-Habitat estimated that approximately 54% of the world’s population lived in cities, and it is expected that some 70% of the world’s population will be residing in urban areas by 2050. 1 In the wake of this rapid growth and cities’ inability to support it, informal urbanism is a common phenomenon, defined as the production of urbanization independent from formal frameworks and assistance (if they exist) that do not comply with official rules and regulations. 2 It has been the most pervasive form of urban development globally over the past 50 years. 3 Despite its resilience, complexity, and interconnectedness with formal cities, urban informality is still underappreciated and portrayed as a plague to many developing cities. It has undiscovered potential, just as how it has been essential as part of economic development in developing cities. 4 This thesis seeks to look at the issue objectively, to gain insight on the relationship between formal and informal. This thesis preparation seeks to research on the urban informality through different scales. On an urban scale, it seeks to understand the spatial existence of such informality, mainly through investigating the distribution of informal practices and settlements in the urban fabric and how they form a tightly-connected mesh with the formal cities. On the micro scale, it seeks to deconstruct different informal practices, ranging from spatial, economic, and social sectors, to find the main characteristics that contribute to their resilience, complexity, and interconnectedness to the city. The results of the findings will justify how informal urbanism exists as part of urban fabric and the goal of the thesis is to create an intervention; based on the findings, that will make city more livable, with sensitivity towards the informal.