Informal Urbanization in Latin America

Christian Werthmann is a Professor of Landscape Architecture and Design at the Leibniz University of Hannover, Germany, with extensive professional and academic experience in Europe and the United States. During his time as an Associate Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design (2004–2012), he started to investigate informal urbanization and disaster zones with a focus on Latin America. His investigations have led to numerous publications, exhibitions and conferences since. In the past few years, he published with, Jessica Bridger, Metropolis Nonformal (2016), curated the "Dangerous Landscapes" conference in Hannover (2017) and co-curated the exhibition "Out There. Landscape Architecture on Global Terrain" at the Architectural Museum Munich (2017). His latest research project, Inform@Risk, is concerned with the development of integrative early warning systems in the barrios of Medellín (2020).

• Part I: Informal Neighborhoods – An Incomplete Taxonomy for a Diverse Universe Part II: Lessons from Latin America Case Study I: Buenos Aires – Step by Step Interview with Flavio Janches and Max Rohm Case Study II: Rio de Janeiro – Equality through Public Space Interview with Lu Petersen Case Study III: São Paulo – Protecting Water Interview with Elisabete França and Marta Maria Lagreca de Sales Case Study IV: Medellín – Scaling Mountains Interview with Alejandro Echeverri Part III: And Now?

"If you are a professional architect and urban planner, a scholar or a student of urban planning and design, or if you work in local and city governments, you will find this book extremely useful. It deals with the biggest challenge of city governments in the twenty-first century: informal urbanization and the appearance of slums, informal settlements and settlements where nearly 1 billion people live today. The Coronavirus pandemic exacerbated the problem and showed that we need to change and urgently transform these areas. How to do that? The book provides the reader with real answers and practical examples from Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Buenos Aires and Medellín on how to transform slums and informal settlements into livable and safe neighborhoods and integrate them into the urban fabric and planning systems of cities. This is not an easy task and the book is rich in testimonies of those directly involved in real actions that transform ideas into reality."— Claudio Acioly, urban planner, international housing and development expert"Based on long-term research over four case studies, this book investigates the non-formal sector of urban growth in Latin America. Writing from a landscape-architectural perspective, Werthmann puts the geophysical landscape in focus for his in-depth analysis. With its anticipatory and multi-scalar approach, this book is a highly relevant contribution to the debate about improvement of urban ecologies."— Andres Lepik, Director of the Architekturmuseum, Technical University of Munich