"In our recent uncube issue: “Construct Africa”, we explored the architecture and planning of informal settlements. What characterises public space in these settlements?
I think about this a lot because of my work in Caracas, where Urban-Think Tank invited me on a research project in 2003. I ended up making my best known project there: Dry Toilet. Caracas is often called “dos ciudades” – two cities, one formal and one informal. When you look at the city, you understand that modernist architecture produces public space, while rural culture produces community space.
When we started research in Caracas, we heard a lot of negative ideas about informal cities, one being they are chaotic. When we were there, however, we discovered a highly regulated structure in the informal city, but one regulated through spoken rather than written rules. Another assumption was that there was no typical infrastructure, but in fact the existence of libraries and hospitals was simply communicated in different ways. I propose that we look at cities not in terms of architecture, but in terms of culture.”
“Dry Toilet” radically reduces water usage by local barrio residents. (Photo: Andre Cypriano, courtesy Liyat Esakov and the artist XXX ////
Tim Hecker has written about informal architecture in the “Slum Pastoral,” critiquing Rem Koolhaas’s aerial photography of Lagos, Negeria. Recommended as a companion to this interview with one of my favorite socially-engaged contemporary artists.
http://issuu.com/sarstis/docs/hecker2010/2