“a renewed interest in urban ecology and the provision of public and social amenities has brought forward the beginnings of what could argue towards a Post-Informal Landscape Urbanism”
While it is hard to find Landscape Urbanism case studies in general, it is even more difficult to reference landscape projects inside informal settlements. In many Third World countries, informal areas are ignored and sometimes don’t even appear in official maps or planning documents. Any data about these neighborhoods is difficult to find, and even then can be out-of date or incomplete. Adding to the difficulty in finding landscape case studies is the dominant view of housing projects as the main solution for these areas. Landscape and public space improvements are relegated to a secondary importance. Yet a renewed interest in urban ecology and the provision of public and social amenities has brought forward several projects that come closest to the beginnings of what could become a set of case studies to argue towards a Post-Informal Landscape Urbanism.
Colombia and Brazil are presently at the forefront of implementing landscape strategies throughout informal settlements that are both pre-emptive and retroactive in their impacts. Pre-emptive design anticipates future informal growth by providing public space around which new development grows, while a retroactive approach offers interventions in already consolidated informal settlements so as to promote formal aspects. Several Latin American cities have synthesized the need for public space and infrastructure in such a way that they not only connect informal settlements to the formal systems of the city in which they are located, but also tap into the rich social capital that exists in such neighborhoods. Continue reading
