The concept of ‘upgrading of informal settlements’ has been around for a long time. One question, however, that has not received much attention is, “when is an informal settlement no longer an informal settlement?” In other words, when can one claim that an informal settlement has been upgraded?

In this Learning Brief, the answer to the question, ‘when is an informal settlement no longer an informal settlement?’ is proposed to be, “when it becomes a semi-formal settlement”. According to Ronald Eglin, “this answer is derived from seeing the upgrading of informal settlements as a process of incremental development. When an informal settlement is being upgraded, it does not suddenly jump from being an informal settlement to a fully upgraded settlement, but rather follows a step-by-step incremental process of being improved over time.”

 This article is updated from an earlier version of the same learning brief dated April 2023.

Read and download the full Learning Brief here.