Abstract

This chapter focuses on the case of informal settlements in the city of Johannesburg – a sprawling city spatially fragmented largely along economic and racial lines – by stressing the critical lens of urban political ecology and centering the right-to-the-city discourse on socio-environmental rights. While informal settlements in the city are characterized by the absence of basic services and the presence of serious environmental risks (soil and water pollution, frequent fires, landslides, and floods) they also host highly adaptive and resilient communities exhibiting alternative, bottom-up practices, which seek community-driven responses to the numerous challenges they face. Some of these interesting counter practices, and particularly bottom-up environmental and sustainable development processes, form the specific focus of the chapter by exploring how informality seeks to respond to the challenges mentioned above.