Informal public space. Observations on the communal infrastructure and space in the squatter settlement of Pudeto Bajo in Ancud

Abstract

One little-addressed dimension of public space is that found in informal urban settlements, squatter settlements or slums. Here, public space is not only a socially shared place but also provides the functional infrastructure for survival mechanisms. In the settlement of Pudeto Bajo in Ancud the operational dimension of these public spaces linked to work activities or occupations -such as fishing, shared access to dwellings, storage of raw materials or fishing implements or just as playgrounds or simply places to play in or pass through- can be clearly appreciated. At the same time the larger-scale public spaces are at the edges, frontiers between the squatter settlement and the city, acting as buffers for often complex and even conflictive urban relationships. The role of these spatial categories is essential for the development of the settlement: on the one hand, indoor public spaces linked to work avoid the generation of unused and abandoned spaces, while on the other hand, public frontier spaces mediate to lessen the inherent tension between the informal aspects of urban production and the formal or planned city.