Creativity in Limited Facilities in Informal Settlement as a Marginalized Architecture in Urban Areas

Creativity in Limited Facilities in Informal Settlement As A Marginalized Architecture in Urban Areas prepared by: Dr.-Ing. Ir. Paulus Bawole, MIP1 Abstract The squatter settlements or informal settlements are common phenomena in many big cities in developing countries. Such settlements mostly grow up near the city center and the inhabitants work in informal sectors. Since there are many countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America facing these phenomena, the United Nation gives more attentions with declaring the Millennium Development Goals. Through this declaration the United Nation tries to eliminate the informal settlements including the slum areas from the world. In Indonesia the government also tries to reduce the development of informal settlements in the cities with several strategies. Many informal settlements within the big cities in Indonesia are destroyed by the local governments or private institutions, because they always think that the squatter settlements and slum areas make image of the cities are getting worst. Besides the bad situation of the informal settlements, there are many positive aspects that can be found in informal settlements, if the settlements are observed carefully without having negative prejudice before. Those positive aspects are creative process of the inhabitants for struggling in the settlements which have very limited housing facilities. Concerning the architectural and spatial forms made by the poor in informal settlements, many people says that those creativities are Marginalized Architecture in the cities, because the poor are always marginalized by any other people who do not live in informal settlements or people who belong to the middle to high income class. In informal settlements the inhabitants demonstrate their great ingenuity in improving the surrounding built – up area and in arranging the open spaces and construction of the houses, even if the government regards them as illegal. To regard the poor not as a

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