Corinna Del Bianco, PhD, is an adjunct professor of urban design at the Politecnico di Milano, Italy. Her research and professional interests regard the documentation and analysis of the places’ cultural identity with a focus on the culture of living in self-built urban environments. She is a founder and board member of the Fondazione Romualdo Del Bianco, a private foundation based in Florence, Italy, dedicated to dialogue among cultures.

• Foreword by Michael TurnerAbstract1 Introduction1.1 Spontaneous Living Spaces, a research project1.2 Understanding Africa’s great cultural chance 1.3 A glance at Mozambique 2 Studying the Mozambican self-built houses in the city of Pemba2.1 The relevance of the current housing issue in Mozambique2.2 Pemba and its relevance in the dwelling issue 2.3 Research goals 2.4 Methodology and essential literature review 2.5 Chapters organization3 An interpretative framework of habitation in Mozambique 3.1 The origins of the Mozambican house 3.2 Outlining the urbanization trends over the history of Mozambique: from a rural to an urban society4 Understanding Pemba4.1 An integrated analysis 4.2 City scale overview4.3 Framing the Pemba case study5 Unpacking four settlement types in Pemba5.1 The four selected neighbourhoods: selection and survey5.2 Formation and recent evolution5.3 Urban morphology 5.4 Houses’ spaces and functions 5.5 Elements and objects5.6 Types analysis and typology determination5.7 New characters of living6 ConclusionsList of figures and tablesAcronymsEssential GlossaryAcknowledgements