Analysing spatial pattern in slums: a multiscale approach

According to the Global Report on Human Settlements (United Nations, 2003), almost 1 billion people (32% of world population) live in squatter settlements or slums. Recently, the perspective over those settlements has changed, from harmful tumours which would spread around sickly and unhealthy cities, to a new perspective that interpret them as social expressions of a more complex urban dynamics. In this context, Cities can be interpreted from the perspective of urban texture through high resolution satellite images. Preliminary results from analytical experiments based on Lacunarity suggest that it is not only possible to distinguish the spatial configuration of slums from formal areas, but from other informal areas as well, contributing for the development of alternative and complementary classifications of these settlements. For more information see the paper: Analysing spatial pattern in slums: a multiscale approach presented at Congresso Luso-Brasileiro para o Planejamento Urbano, Regional, Integrado e Sustentável (PLURIS)in 2005.