Paper short abstract:

The paper examines the development of spatial frameworks of Freetown, focusing on the actual role of the self-organization practices developed by several slum dwellers communities in town.

Paper long abstract:

Freetown, capital city of Sierra Leone, is unique among West African towns as it was founded by British philanthropists in 1789 to give an home to freed African slaves. Liberated slaves from different African cultures built a polycentric town, made by small ethnic villages with different languages, religious beliefs and traditions.

During the recent rebel war Freetown had to face widespread destruction and the invasion of a great number of refugees. In less than 10 years, the urban population doubled and it is now estimated to be around 2 million, many of them living in slums.

The urban shapes of contemporary Freetown are mainly influenced by self-organized spatial frameworks developed by slum dwellers communities. The peculiar polycentric origin of the town is bringed back by small informal settlements "encrusted" in official urban patterns.

Freetown's slums have been extensively mapped and analyzed in their main formal elements, giving rise to handbooks that describe all the different typologies of public spaces and housing frames found in the settlements and to collections of all the building technologies, materials and solutions commonly adopted by the dwellers.