| Abstract: | The expansion of cities in the developing economies of the world has one major urban corollary: the proliferation of unplanned parts of the cities, identified by a plethora of terminologies including bidonville, favela, ghetto, informal settlement, shantytown, spontaneous settlement, squatter settlement and township. Such urban conurbations are characterised by a unique form of architecture that historians find difficult to define. The fact that these architectural productions are overlooked by the historiography of modern architecture suggests a narrowed class‐oriented reading of the aesthetics engendered by the Modern Movement in architecture. Any paradigm introduced to bridge the existing gap should go beyond questions of construction methods and materials, and demonstrate a thorough understanding of the experiences of everyday life in such habitations, that is, the rise of modernity. This paper argues that the social environments which facilitated the development of the architecture of the underprivileged residents in African cities began in the late nineteenth century, when the great capitalist cities of the world began to emerge and expand. We expand on this position by examining the architectural construction of the underprivileged classes from four perspectives: a new urban culture of building practices; radical solutions proposed and provided by governments and agents of social change; visual and literary commentaries by artists and writers; and a survey of the writings of architectural historians on these themes. |
