1. Introduction: Urban informal settlements and
marginalisation
The world is going through an unprecedented period
of urbanisation. Observers agree that at some point in
2008, a momentous milestone was reached, heralding a
new urban era: for the first time in history, half of
humanity, or 3.3 billion people, lived in urban areas
(Davis, 2006: 1; UN-Habitat, 2008: 11). Massive
urbanisation is occurring not just in the feted megacities
but in widespread ‘faintly visible second-tier cities and
smaller urban areas’ (Davis, 2004: 7). Indeed, it is small
and intermediate cities which contain the majority of the
world’s urban population, as more than half live in cities
of fewer than 500,000 inhabitants, and one-fifth in cities
of between one and five million (UN-Habitat, 2006: viii).