URBAN PLANNING AND INFORMAL CITIES IN SOUTHEAST EUROPE

Abstract

The research uses content analysis of regulatory plans, policy documents, and secondary sources pertinent to the urban planning of informal settlements. These methods are complemented by personal interviews over a period of three years with 32 planners and policymakers involved in the legalization processes, as well as personal observations of informal neighborhoods in the five cities. The article first reviews the changing role of planning in post-socialist cities and presents a continuum of urbanplanning styles in southeast Europe. Second, it introduces a typology of informal settlements based on their major characteristics — location, size, degree of informality, and vulnerability. Third, it reviews approaches to legalization, upgrading, and integration of informal settlements, emphasizing the need for strategic participatory intervention and well-targeted public assistance.