STRATEGIES FOR LAND-TENURE, HOUSING AND NEIGHBOURHOODBUILDING IN FILADELFIA, THE CHACO-AREA, PARAGUAY
By Yves Schoonjans

 

KEYWORDS: Immigration, Informal Settlements, Urban growth, Public Spaces, Sustainable Growth

Public spaces are vital for encounter, place-making and civic empowerment.
They embrace the daily routines, and empower societal interactions. This lecture will show the investigations on the relation between socio-spatial aspects of daily routines and the public spaces of small cities linked to migration in an informal urban context. More and more small cities in the global south are confronted with the less known (for them) issues of quick migration and multi- ethnicity challenging them in terms of sustainable growth, infrastructure and changing identity. The case of Filadelfia (Paraguay) is interesting, because of its fast growth, densification and particularities putting pressure on the public spaces and its uses. In the conclusion we will also show some other cases on how public spaces in informal settlements are crucial for the inhabitants, but are often a forgotten feature in their upgrading.