Slums as Opportunities? Spatial Organisation, Microeconomy and Self-made Infrastructures in Freetown Informal Settlements

Abstract

This chapter analyses the role of informality in contemporary African cities not by focusing on emergencies or on what is missing, but by considering the positive aspects that have developed within the slums and the benefits that informal neighbourhoods can bring to the whole urban system. Following this approach, the chapter examines some solutions and innovative ideas that have developed in the slums of Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, to promote self-strategies of space management and the development of activity in the informal economy. The self-organisation methods found in the slums of Freetown have effects on the entire urban system, in particular regarding the reduction of sprawl, waste management and the development of alternative and more sustainable transport and supply systems. These positive benefits contribute to relieving different problems affecting Freetown, highlighting how the contemporary African cities are complex ecosystems based on a precarious but effective balance between formality and informality.