Mapping Informality

While often understood as objective processes both mapping and informality are social constructs defined through a lens of subjectivity. This highlights the problematic nature of mapping the informal – a process loaded with complexity and contradiction. This essay explores Michel S. Laguerre’s book Informal City and a project by Ed Wall and Sam Johnston called Informal Public (completed in 2008 for the London Festival of Architecture) in order to understand the informal and the potential that this has for the contemporary city.