Territorial strategies of South African informal dwellers

International audienceSquatters and informal dwellers are no longer understood as helpless people excluded from the mainstream political economy: New research, as well as our own fieldwork in Johannesburg and Cape Town, stress the fact that they too are actors in the city. Interviews and life histories in different squatter camps such as Lenasia, Thembalihle, Kliptown and Newtown in Johannesburg, Lower Crossroads in Cape Town point to a complex story: squatters are a diverse people, of different origins, ways of life, income and income sources. They have also developed different socio-spatial strategies. We will analyse and map these strategies both statically and dynamically: Thus, squatting can of course be the result of absolute poverty, of the dire need of finding a shelter. It can also be a choice, the solution to have access to cheaper and independent accommodation or to private and family space. These strategies inform the socio-geographical environment of the squatter: different social networks are mobilised and used, different landscapes are produced in these "soft spaces", neither rural (in terms of population and activity) nor urban (distance and lack of urban services)