Overview

Almost one billion people live in conditions that UN-Habitat classifies as slum households, out of almost four billion people who live in cities today. If the UN numbers hold true, approximately two and a half billion urban dwellers will be added by 2050 with a total estimated urban population of six-plus billion. We have come to understand that the majority of this increased urbanisation will not result in perfect shining cities set in pastoral landscapes. Rather it is much to the contrary; if UN-Habitat predictions turn out to be correct, over two thirds of the new urban population, some two billion, may fall under UN-Habitat's category of a slum household, deprived of at least one out of five basic living conditions. Many of what UN-Habitat considers slum households are part of self-built neighbourhoods, the result of informal occupation and construction. If two-thirds of our new urbanisation will be largely the result of people building their own homes and neighbourhoods outside of formal planning and processes, and close to one billion people live in these urban situations now this is not a fringe phenomenon of urbanisation. It is mainstream urbanisation, quickly becoming the majority - and thus the chosen title for this collection is 'Metropolis Nonformal'.

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Christian Werthmann is a professor of landscape architecture and design at Leibniz University in Hannover. Until 2012, he was an associate professor and the program director of the Master in Landscape Architecture degree programs at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Werthmann has written numerous books and articles, exhibited globally, and been a speaker at international conferences on landscape and urbanism. As a former Hans Fischer Senior Fellow at TU Munchen, he curated two major Metropolis Nonformal symposia, in 2011 and 2013, which form the basis of this publication. His own research concentrates on the potential of landscape architecture and infrastructure in heavily urbanized and socially conflicted terrain. His most recent publication, ""Rehabitar la Montana,"" co-produced with the think tank URBAM, engages the non-formal occupation of geologically risky terrain in Medellin. Jessica Bridger is an urbanist, journalist, and consultant. Her writing and editing appear internationally in a variety of media, including Monocle, Metropolis, Landscape Architecture Magazine, uncube, Journal of the London Society, Volume, MONU, Topo, Architectural Review, and many more. Bridger serves as a contributing editor for Monocle Magazine and uncube. She is the author and editor of books about urbanism, landscape architecture, and architecture. She is on the Management Committee of the Global Schindler Award, a student competition for urban design. Her consultancy conducts expert research, strategic planning, and media projects for public- and private-sector clients. She earned an MLA from the Harvard Graduate School of Design and a BA from Sara Lawrence College. She was the 2011/2012 Bakema Fellow of the Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAI) and has lectured internationally about built-environment issues.

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