SUYAMBOOR, self-constructed city

Informal settlements are a natural and necessary part of urbanization. Occupied by victims of unsuccessful migration and viewed by the city dweller as a dystopia, these are incredibly self-sustaining parts of the city. Inhabited by the socially marginalised, informal settlements have been neglected in terms of infrastructure and public processes by the formal sectors. Recent efforts to deal with these settlements, like forced evictions, show evidence of social and spatial injustices inflicted on the inhabitants. By 2050, more than two-thirds of the global population will live in cities. Of those, one-third will live in sub-par informal settlements without their own right to the city. With this reality, is it time to reassess how we talk about informal forms of urbanization