Research on Contemporary Informal Settlements in Europe
Project Themes
The SELF MADE CITY research project focuses on analysing, interpreting and visualizing the vast range of urban transformations, both temporary and permanent that, in recent times, have affected large urban agglomerations, mostly ungoverned by any form of legislative or urban planning.
SELF MADE CITY pursues the thesis that informal settlements are no longer understandable within traditional definitions produced by urbanists, but through trans disciplinary approaches and methodology. After the fall of the „iron curtain“, this phenomenon has adopted a different, more complex and mutated character.
The phenomenon investigated by the research project is highly articulated and involves a range of subjects: from individuals and families, to spontaneously organised groups, informal networks and also different branches of informal economy.