Currently, given the rapid growth and implementation of inadequate planning policies in African cities, the gap between formal and informal urbanisation is becoming increasingly evident. Spontaneous and unplanned settlements are home to more than half the urban population in Africa, where lost and forgotten spaces within cities are claimed by the urban poor as their ‘right to the city’. This study proposes an innovative research methodology of spatial mapping to analyse informal settlements, thus giving them a new ‘lived’ identity. The research has two key objectives: understanding how lived space can be effectively captured and interpreted and using spatial mapping as a key methodological approach to reinterpreting and adapting spontaneous settlements to existing challenges, hazards and risks. The proposed hybrid methodology, which combines drone photography and qualitative research methods (e.g. interviews, collaborative mapping), was tested in two pilot studies in the Durban metropolitan area, South Africa, to reveal the real attributes and vulnerabilities of such human settlements and to understand how they can be reorganised and adapted. The outcomes of this study allow for a more accurate (lived four-dimensional) mapping of scenarios affecting cities today.

中文翻译：

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在南非德班绘制非正式定居点的混合方法

当前，由于非洲城市的快速增长和不适当的规划政策的实施，正式和非正式城市化之间的差距变得越来越明显。自发和无计划的定居点是非洲一半以上城市人口的家园，那里的城市中失去和被遗忘的空间被城市穷人称为“城市的权利”。这项研究提出了一种创新的空间制图研究方法，以分析非正式住区，从而赋予他们新的“居住”身份。该研究有两个主要目标：了解如何有效捕获和解释居住空间，以及使用空间映射作为重新解释和适应自发性定居点以应对现有挑战，危害和风险的关键方法。建议的混合方法，该技术结合了无人机摄影和定性研究方法（例如访谈，协作制图），已在南非德班市区进行了两项试点研究，以揭示此类人类住区的真实属性和脆弱性，并了解如何对其进行重组和适应。这项研究的结果允许对影响当今城市的情景进行更准确的（实时的四维）映射。