Spatial Thinking and Land Procurement for Infrastructure Retrofit Practices in Informal Settlements

As rapid urbanisation and population growth are outpacing the provision of serviced land and affordable housing, the number of informal settlements and slum dwellers continues to grow, putting additional pressure on the local governments to find solutions for the already inadequate and overburdened infrastructure (UN-Habitat, 2018). Despite these significant challenges, there is a dearth of knowledge on spatial planning for retrofitting infrastructure into informal settlements. This PhD study provides rich insight into the way informal settlement dwellers negotiate land for infrastructure, illustrating how the land negotiations are affected by the various dimensions of land (space, tenure, use) and the multiple concerns of occupants. This PhD research contributes to the debate surrounding fit-for-purpose land procurement strategies for infrastructure upgrading by using spatial thinking as a tool to explore qualitative characteristics and enabling environment for their application and negotiation.