What are the settlement patterns in unplanned residential areas?
The study looked at the characteristics of the definition of unplanned settlements in Venezuela, and their transformation over a period of 13 years. The observation focused on four physical elements of urban settlements: streets, blocks, plots and housing. The study organized these observations in two parts. The first part, the settlement process, examined the definitions of streets, blocks and plots as the result of the collective participation of the inhabitants in the settlement process. The second part, the housing process, looked at the transformation of plots and the provision of housing as the result of the users’ involvement in the settlement process. The definition process of each element was observed as the settlers’ strategy to lay out and construct the settlement within the existing political, social and economic limitations in order to have access to housing. The transformation process of these elements was observed as the strategy to modify and adapt the settlement to new
