Informality and commons

This chapter explores the possibilities of practice-based research in marginal and extreme environmental conditions in the Global South. The contemporary debate on the direction to be given to architecture in recent years has been characterised increasingly by a strong reference to the social impact of the discipline. Strategic issues such as environmental protection, climate change, growing urbanisation, migratory phenomena and the rational use of resources raise the question of whether architecture, with its own disciplinary tools, can be somehow part of a process aimed at guaranteeing access to greater social justice. The environmental crisis is largely due to the emissions of the formal settlements of the Western world, whose economic and political interests often contribute to fomenting the wars cited. The sustainable approach includes rainwater collection, the filtration systems and natural ventilation, passive strategies, clean energy generation, phytodepuration and photovoltaic energy.