Trim Size: 170mm x 244mm k Orum eurs0160.tex V1 - 03/05/2018 1:15 P.M. Page 1 Informal Settlers deprivations: (a) lack of access to drinking water and (b) sanitation facilities; (c) non- MIGUEL A. MARTÍNEZ durable structures; (d) overcrowded houses; Uppsala University, Sweden and (e) tenure insecurity that facilitates SONIA ROITMAN forced evictions. Slum sites seldom comply University of Queensland, Australia with planning and building regulations, and areoftensituatedingeographicallyandenvi- ronmentally hazardous areas. It is estimated “Informal settlers” is a broad concept that that“inourworld,oneineightpeoplelivein refers to individuals and groups who estab- slums” (UN-Habitat 2016, 2). Although mil- lish their principal residence in mostly urban areas and types of dwellings considered illegal lions of slum-dwellers are subject to numer- or in discord with the dominant social norms. ous violations of human rights, not all lack Informal settlers are the main producers of title deeds, fear evictions, are poor, are undoc- the city in the Global South, but they are also umentedmigrants,orareinvolvedincriminal found in the Global North. activities (Davis 2006; Neuwirth 2004). Many To settle in a territory implies an act of slum-dwellers work in the formal economy, foundation of a site for dwelling and collective run legal businesses, and pay taxes. If they life – villages and towns, originally. “Settler” are internal migrants, they can enjoy partial applies generally to all new arrivals in urban or full citizenship rights; for instance, in the agglomerations. This embodies connotations example of the hukou regime in China and ofcolonizerswhotakeoverlandpreviously war-driven displacement in Colombia. Slums held by indigenous populations, who thus may be upgraded or regularized by local k become dispossessed or displaced – some governments, and residents may be granted k native tribes in Australian and American permanency. Informality may also last indefi- cities still strive for their landownership nitely and permeate formality, and vice versa, rights over already urbanized areas. “Set- so it is wrong to assume an essential opposi- tler” also designates pioneers appointed tion between formal and informal activities or protected by governments to occupy a (Earle 2014; Perlman 2007; Roy 2005). disputed, frontier, or unexploited territory. In addition to slums, there are other types Although this pattern goes back to medieval of informal dwelling that can host newcom- times,ithasbeenwidelyfosteredinmodern ers: (a) street sleeping (in parks, bridges, and contemporary times all over Eastern underground stations, door entrances, etc.); Europe and the Middle East. War refugee (b) “hot beds” in overcrowded rental apart- camps in Palestine and African countries ments; (s) unlawful constructions for living are considered emergency or temporary set- on the rooftops of buildings and in subdi- tlements although they can last for decades vided flats; (d) vehicle and travelling living; anddevelopadvancedurbanstructures.All (e) trailer encampments and tent cities; (f) these forms indicate the need to unveil the residence in factories, industrial compounds, historical roots, sociopolitical conflicts, and and farms; (g) temporary and long-term spatial constraints in the origins of settlers. squatting in vacant buildings; (h) staying UN-Habitat (2016) often conflates “infor- at friends’ or relatives’ houses, and anony- mal settlements” and slums according to five mous couch-surfing via online contacts; and Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Studies. Edited by Anthony Orum. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Published 2019 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. k Trim Size: 170mm x 244mm k Orum eurs0160.tex V1 - 03/05/2018 1:15 P.M. Page 2 2 INFORMAL SETTLERS (i) gated communities without planning per- spheres combined or only salient in some mits. As a consequence, informality does not of them. Gender, religion, ethnicity, demo- necessarily entail living conditions under- graphics, political rights and alignments, and pinned by destitution, disease, stigmatization, gangs and police rule may be crucial factors violence, dilapidated housing, peripheral in the life of the informal settler. Power rela- location, and the absence of public space and tions among the informal settlers and with facilities. Countercultural and left-libertarian external groups (developers, government or squatters, for example, may upgrade their nonprofit organizations) determine mainly occupied buildings and develop urban hierarchical forms of social organization. movements to fight speculation, housing When poor groups behave informally, this unaffordability, and gentrification (Cattaneo is not a matter of choice, but more likely the and Martínez 2014). consequence of costly or unfeasible access Recent research on this topic has empha- to more formal alternatives and the result sized the diversity of land tenure conditions of a normative system, especially planning and suggested avoiding binary explanations, regulations, that establishes what is formal paying attention to the peculiarities of each and informal (Roy 2005). Upper classes or situation, and recognizing a “continuum of elites, however, may choose informal prac- land rights” (UN-Habitat 2008). Security of tices among other available options. The tenure is influenced by legislation, culture, meaning of informality varies across space and perceptions. For example, customary and time and is dependent on the definitions land tenure might be considered informal but propagated by the dominant groups. These secure. Informal arrangements in informal groups spread standards of formal and infor- k settlements can also be considered secure mal practices that help reproduce the social k forms of tenure by the residents: “tenure order and the supply of cheap labor from securityisnotjustamateroflegalandille- those living informally (Patel 2010). gal, formal or informal status; ‘security’ is a Informality can entail marginality, invis- relative concept and a matter of perception ibility, temporary presence, vulnerability, as well as law” (Payne, Durand-Lasserve, and noninstitutional actions, and hybrid and Rakodi 2009: 447). Land titling programs anomalous arrangements (Martínez 2014). have been used, aiming at incorporating Notalltheseaspectsarenecessarilyneg- informal settlers into the formal land system ative for informal settlers. These groups and therefore into the market. However, can also perform bottom-up or horizontal evidence shows that in many cases these pro- self-organization to contest inequality and grams have created more obstacles (higher informality and to demand improvements land prices and potential evictions) in the to their living environments (exercise their lives of informal settlers rather than improved “right to the city”), becoming more visi- living conditions (UN-Habitat 2008). ble citizens and partially overcoming their Informal settlers encompass a specific informality (Roitman in press). They can social structure and they may engage in build strong community ties, self-manage the various informal practices, not limited to commons beyond market and state control, housing. A well as housing, labor and citizen- and get united to resist oppression from both ship status add to the informality of the settler, inside and outside (Scott 1998). and these informal activities interact with There are networks such as Slum/Shack each other (Duneier 1999; Martínez 2017). Dwellers International, Asian Coalition Informality may be pervasive in those three for Housing Rights, Habitat International k Trim Size: 170mm x 244mm k Orum eurs0160.tex V1 - 03/05/2018 1:15 P.M. Page 3 INFORMAL SETTLERS 3 Coalition, International Alliance of Inhabitants, instead of only identifying social practices not and Squatting Europe Kollective that offer in accordance with dominant (conventional support to many types of informal settlers and legal) norms (Wacquant 2008). at scales beyond the local territory, through SEE ALSO: Favelas; Informal Economy; eurs0094 advocacy, documenting experiences, and eurs0157 conducting research. Massive operations of Informal Housing; Informal Land Markets; eurs0536 Informal Settlements; Informality; Land eurs0158 rehousing informal settlers in Madrid in eurs0159 Regularization Policies (Latin America); Land eurs0161 the 1980s, for example, involved empow- Titling; Slumdog Cities; Slums and Shanties; eurs0177 ering informal settlers through collective eurs0178 Squatter Settlements; Squatters; Urban eurs0293 action with the support of activists, prac- Informality eurs0286 eurs0319 titioners, and researchers (Villasante et al., eurs0320 1989). Autonomous organizations such REFERENCES eurs0372 as the piqueteros from villas miserias in Cattaneo, C., and M. Martínez, eds. 2014. The Argentina champion class-based mobiliza- Squatters’ Movement in Europe: Commons and tions and achieve subsidies from favorable Autonomy as Alternatives to Capitalism. London: governments. Some Brazilian favelas have Pluto. been consolidated as urban neighborhoods, Davis, M. 2006. Planet of Slums. London: Verso. whereas others were eradicated due to urban Duneier, M. 1999. Sidewalk.NewYork,NY:Farrar, Straus & Giroux. megaprojects such as the Olympics Games Earle, L. 2014. “Stepping out of the Twilight? held in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. Assessing the Governance Implications of Land To conclude, evidence suggests the exis- Titling and Regularization Programmes.” Inter- tence of multiple historical trajectories for national Journal