Informal
During the late 60 s and early 70s a rapid increase in informal urbanization occurred in response to demographic growth, economic boom, and increase in migration. Jose Castillo in Urbanisms of the Informal, argues that informal urbanism (self-build dwellings) is the primal condition of the city and the means through which users engage in urban life, a feeling Nader Tehrani seemingly relates to yet differs in his belief that architecture and urban design can learn from this city condition to dictate the engagement in urban life.
Informal urbanism as described by Jose Castillo can be any type of physical infrastructure “outside of the formal, the regular or prescribed” Eventually informality in the urban context became the only form of expansion and city making. This introduced new informal and spontaneous typologies in the cityscape, typologies that begin to read and develop differently in accordance to their location, favelas, barriadas, villas miseria, etc. Due to their extent and permanent presence, informal urbanism becomes the dominant typology in these cities, which allows for the user to customize and dictate his engagement in urban life.
Nader Tehrani, believes informal urbanism “as a consequence of organic urban growth” He argues that this condition is not a means for the user to dictate his role in the urban but a means for the architect to learn and build upon this condition. Fujimoto’s work as an example, introduces new rules and informal frameworks upon which design and infrastructure should learn from.
It is clear that informal urbanism is a response to rapid expansion of megacities, which historically derives from a deterioration of social conditions. Yet, this informal urbanism condition has become a device for learning and self expression from the user.