Environmental Performance and Social Inclusion in Informal Settlements. A Favela Project Based on the IMM Integrated Modification Methodology

This book discusses how a scientific methodology can be used to support design decisions to transform and improve environmental performances of a very dense context lacking formal planning rules, showing the potential of a shift from occasional interventions to an integrated, multidisciplinary approach where systemic effects are correlated by nonlinear links (the final effect is larger than the sum of its parts). The topic is particularly significant since, by 2050, 75% of the world population will be urban, with 60% of it living in informal settlements. The rapid urbanization of last decades has contributed to increasing poverty, inequality and social exclusion conditions in slums and shantytowns surrounding large cities (between 5 and 10 million inhabitants) and megacities (10 million or more inhabitants) in Asia, Latin America and Africa. Most megacities are located in developing countries, and several large cities are projected to become megacities by 2030. In most instances, attempts to address the issues of informal settlements have been concentrated on specific problems, often on the basis of emergency situations, with a strong focus on social aspects. Physical transformation actions often lack a systemic assessment of their impact on the wider built environment, with a siloed approach that is reflected on the limited consideration of the profound inter-goal relationships of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The work presented in this book is based on a multidisciplinary and integrated design methodology named Integrated Modification Methodology (IMM), developed at the ABC Department of Politecnico di Milano, to support the upgrade process of the existing built environment and the improvement of its environmental performances. The methodology is based on a systemic and multidisciplinary design approach, encompassing, in an integrated way, several of the aspects defining the environmental performances of urban settlements.