International Journal of Architectural Research Peter Kellett

ORIGINAL COPIES?
Imitative Design Practices in Informal Settlements

Peter Kellett
Global Urban Research Unit, School of Architecture Planning and Landscape,
University of Newcastle
[email protected]

Abstract
Although limited by economic constraints, builder-dwellers in informal, self-made
environments are free to choose housing forms and materials without external
constraint or control. This situation potentially offers considerable freedom for
expressive gestures, originality and individuality. Drawing on data from a longitudinal
ethnographic study in Colombia this paper explores how dwelling forms and practices
are characterised by imitative behaviours at a range of scales including settlement
layouts, house plans, selection of materials and house furnishings. The main arena
for competitive display and distinction is on the front facades of the dwellings where
variations in colour and form become increasingly evident as settlements consolidate.
The paper utilises Bourdieu’s concepts of distinction and cultural capital to explore the
changing dynamics of housing design and display, and to explain why as dwellings
consolidate, there appears to be an increasing divergence between dwelling forms
and domestic practices.

Keywords: Informal housing design; competitive display; cultural capital.

INTRODUCTION: REPRODUCING POPULAR HOUSING

In much of urban Latin America the ‘barrios populares’ - literally neighbourhoods of the people –
are places of aspiration and change; change in which the self-builders demonstrate considerable
agency manifest in the ambition, ingenuity and energy with which they attempt to realise their
individual and collective aspirations – to transform their social position within society. The
construction of their owner-built dwellings is usually a decades-long project of consolidation. It is
a powerfully symbolic and transformative process in which the physical construction of the
dwelling – usually from a flimsy improvised hut of recycled materials – towards a solid dwelling of
concrete blocks, paint and railings, plays a fundamental role in transforming social relationships
and personal identity in which imitation appears to play a key role.
Imitative practices take place in different ways. Imitation is a fundamental part of the
processes of cultural transmission as social groups attempt to reproduce themselves. Much of
this appears to occur ‘unconsciously’ or ‘naturally’ and is embodied in everyday practices
(Bourdieu, 1977) as children learn the social rules, behaviours and language of their parents and
elders through copying and repetition. Houses play a crucial role as the site of many of these
everyday social practices which are continually reproducing and reinforcing the social order.
Other issues are overtly reinforced through formalised processes such as education, which
historically has employed copying techniques and repetitive rote learning.
In this case imitation is a part of the process of change as people are observing and
apparently copying the dwellings of others in clear attempts to raise their own social status. Are
these low-income dwellers merely imitating the forms of more prestigious housing areas rather
than adopting its norms and values? Can we distinguish between superficial copying and
‘genuine appropriation’? What exactly is being copied? Is it the form, the content, the image or
the lifestyle? Can these characteristics be separated?

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To address these questions we need to explore the intentions, motivations and logics that
lie behind different practices. To do this the paper draws on data from a longitudinal ethnographic
study into the growth and development of popular housing in the Caribbean coastal city of Santa
Marta in northern Colombia. I first collected data in 1986 and returned every few years until the
early 1990s each time living with a family in one of the illegal squatter settlements on the
periphery of the city. Several short visits were made in the late 1990s and in 2008 I carried out a
follow up study when I lived for another month with the same family. This was 17 years since the
previous intensive fieldwork, and over 22 years since my first visit. The core of the study is an
analysis of the changing dwelling processes and practices of 40 households in two adjacent
settlements. From my vantage point as a participant observer I collected a range of data including
long transcribed interviews with householders and detailed plans of their changing dwellings
accompanied by photographs (Kellett, 2000; 2011).

CONSTRUCTING ORDER
Many authors have emphasised the symbolic dimension of housing and identified the need to
explore the meanings associated with the buildings, spaces and objects that make up domestic
environments (e.g. Bourdieu, 1977; Lawrence; 1987; Rapoport, 1982). Waterson (1997:xvii)
explains that houses and settlements are full of encoded meanings and that the house can be
seen a microcosm which reflects ‘in its layout, structure, and ornamentation the concept of an
ideal natural and social order.’ Similarly Bourdieu’s concept of habitus can be interpreted as a
way ‘of knowing the world, a set of divisions of space and time, of people and things, which
structure social practice. It is at once a division of the world and a vision of the world’ (Dovey,
2010:32). In this sense dwellings play a central role in the reproduction of social order and
practices.
In Santa Marta we can interpret the actions of land invasion, settlement and consolidation
as processes of ordering. In this case the spatial order, which is created by the informal dwellers,
is highly visible and identifiable at various scales. The most obvious is the formal, geometric
layout of the settlement, but we also find a similar consistency in the house plans and even in the
position of furniture within the dwelling. Let us look more closely at some of the elements, firstly
the settlement layouts.

FORMAL PLANNING in INFORMAL SETTLMENTS

Since colonial times urban areas in Latin America have been planned using orthogonal principles
based on grid-iron layouts of standard blocks (Garcia Fernandez, 1989; Hardoy, 1982). This can
be interpreted as the imposition of an ‘ideal’ social order through rigid planning which makes
tangible in built form and space the power and value system of those in authority (Hernandez &
Kellett, 2010). Perhaps ironically then, informal settlers aim to achieve just such a standard
layout, sometimes overriding the logic of topography. The most vital aspect of the grid layout is
that it will be read as conventional, and have the potential to develop and become the same as
other parts of the city. The expressed aim of many settlers is to produce places that are as close
as possible to the dominant formal housing areas. Hence they adopt the rigid layout of blocks and
plots – and significantly they leave open spaces for squares, schools, clinics etc. In short, their
collective aspiration is to create conventional, legal, fully serviced neighbourhoods.
Similarly, the design of the dwellings themselves echoes the same underlying geometric
logics with minimal variation. Well-established patterns of development are followed at different
speeds, but the end products fall well within a relatively narrow band of culturally prescribed
characteristics. This means that dwellers are attempting within the constraints of their resources
to create urban form and housing areas that are as close as possible to the dominant
conventions. The informal dwellings and settlements can therefore be interpreted as striving to
achieve formal respectability, conventionality and order. Such processes appear to be based on
imitation and copying of dominant referent models.

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ASPIRATIONAL JOURNEYS
A distinctive characteristic of informal settlements is that the dwellings are built by the inhabitants
at the same time as the space is inhabited. This finds immediate echo in the ideas of Heidegger
who emphasised the inseparability of construction and habitation, of building and dwelling. He
argued that “building isn’t merely a means and a way towards dwelling – to build is in itself
already to dwell” (Heidegger: 1971:144). He explains that in both German and English the words
have a shared etymology (Sharr, 2007:39) which confirms the existential importance of building
to help ground and centre us in the world.
Such an approach also challenges the assumed ‘dichotomy between design and
execution’ as both emanate from a dwelling perspective (Ingold, 2000:186). Hence the creation
and construction of the dwellings is a lifetime project of change and improvement which is highly
responsive to changing domestic circumstances, budgets and opportunities. This emphasises the
idea of the house project as a process of change through time, a process in which the changing
dwelling can be seen as a symbolic vehicle of transformation towards different circumstances.
This can be interpreted as an aspirational life journey from poverty towards prosperity, from the
past towards the future, from exclusion towards inclusion and from the margins towards the
centre (Kellett, 2005). Such an analysis sees the house and house project as a classic ‘model of
the world’ (cosmos) which is understood as an ongoing journey rather than a static cultural
model. It also reinforces the idea of the dwelling as never complete but ‘continually under
construction’ just as life itself is continually moving forward (Ingold, 2000:172).
This can be clarified through an example. I first met Olga, Jesus and their young children
occupying a simple wooden hut high on the hillside a week after a land invasion in 1991. The
change over 17 years from their temporary dwelling of discarded planks to their solidly built
dwelling is a considerable achievement, and they have also managed to consolidate their
economic position and educate their three children. Here is part of Olga’s story which she
recounted in an animated way with both great pride in what had been achieved and also
considerable enthusiasm for what was still to be done:
“Yes what an improvement! What happiness! To have your own house isn’t wealth, but
not to have a house is certainly poverty. [...] Ay, in the beginning it was very hard for us, without
electricity - we had to use mechones (improvised all lamps) and then what was it? - bringing up
the water – we carried it on our shoulders and from right down there and each cantina holds 22
litres and you had to put that on your shoulder. [...] Yes it was tough. We all made such an effort,
even the little ones. Everyone helped to carry up the stones and sand. The little ones carried up
the sand in little buckets. […] yes, when you build your own house you feel real affection for it.
Are we happy with what we’ve achieved? Well yes, but we have to keep on improving it, of
course! That’s my intention, yes. Yes it’s necessary to improve, it’s still basic construction (obra
negra) – finish it, plaster it, paint it, the window in the kitchen, tile the kitchen and bathroom,
plaster everywhere until nothing remains in obra negra. [...] we do it bit by bit. Apart from one
room and the bathroom, everything we did ourselves, and it’s work, work.”
The front facade of the house is freshly painted and the living space is dominated by
numerous framed educational certificates and graduation-style photographs of the three children.
Despite the elaborate academic garments in some pictures these achievements do not go
beyond secondary education apart from some short technical courses. However the message is
clear. Their children are successful in educational terms and the household has thereby
accumulated significant cultural capital of which they are proud. This message of achievement is
visible to all who come to the dwelling. The certificates are distributed around the main living
space and placed to ensure maximum visibility.

IMAGINED FUTURES
A common thread in such stories is the dogged persistence required to keep moving forward
despite the hard work and hardships. The future dimension is crucial. The long-term nature of the
process demonstrates that, in contrast to the common myth, dwellers are not present time

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focused. They adopt forward looking strategies based on optimism and aspiration, and their
dwellings embody future aspirations with little time for nostalgia or a rural past, rather a
fascination with 'modern', urban, progressive images: a striving towards 'imagined futures'
(Holston, 1991). Despite daily hardships and injustices, the world is seen as a place of
opportunity and where effort and initiative can be rewarded. It is a worldview in which change and
modernity are welcomed and attainable. Such values are directly reflected in the aesthetics of
building in which models of success are sought from ‘beyond the neighbourhood in space and
away from the past in time’ (Peattie, 1992:28).
What appear to be essentially physical changes not only symbolise progress and
achievement but embody more fundamental social and economic changes. The mass
consumption of materials and consumer goods through the construction and furnishing of
dwellings draws dwellers intimately into capitalist cycles of consumption, and parallel changes in
social identity occur as people's role and position within society is redefined. Social positioning
plays a vital role in determining their actions. Informal settlers are conscious of their relatively low
social status, which is reflected, in their physical conditions. Hierarchies of forms and materials
which mirror economic and class divisions, are a very visual and public barometer of relative
social position and hence are an obvious platform for all those with any means (however minimal)
and aspiration (however unrealistic) to influence perceptions of where they fit, both on the larger
macro scale of society and simultaneously at the micro-level of neighbourhood relations. We can
see these as performative acts – with the aim, not necessarily consciously, of communicating to a
range of possible audiences, largely those nearby. Simultaneously it can be argued such actions
are also part of complex processes of self-realisation and identity (re)construction (Cooper
Marcus, 1995; Wiesenfeld, 2001). In other words communication is both inward and outward.
Therefore their construction efforts to transform their settlements can be partly interpreted
as a striving for dignity, respect and respectability through appropriating images and attributes
which signify aspects of ‘the modern’. From her personal experience of living in an informal
settlement in Venezuela, the anthropologist Lisa Peattie (1992:29) concluded that the improvised
wooden dwellings with minimal infrastructure ‘represent attributes which are devalued and
devaluing. People who live in this way are thought of as people to be looked down on. That is
why the energy that goes into housing improvement ... is as much a drive for respect as it is for
comfort.’ Such energy and values are manifest in the aesthetics of the built environment in
multiple ways, but underlying them is the desire to transform their own self-image as well as
project a new identity to others. This is well expressed by Holston with reference to his study of
self-builders in Brasilia where ‘the underclasses are constructing images and identities to counter
those that subjugate. Not only are they transforming themselves as citizens …they are also
changing the images of disrespect [and] replacing [them] with new ones of competence and
knowledge in the production and consumption of what modern society considers important’
(Holston, 1991:462).

DESIGN MODELS: ORIGINALS AND COPIES

What are the sources of these new images of competence and modernity? In this study the
language of aspiration is expressed using a vocabulary borrowed from dominant groups to which
the informal dwellers aspire: a language of order, formality and affluence. Knowledge and
imagery of elite groups is easily accessible, not least through the media – especially television.
This is reinforced by local role models, which are clearly significant influences on the design
vocabulary, evident in the visual similarity between well-consolidated popular dwellings and
middle-class houses. However it is not a direct appropriation, not least as life styles and housing
preferences of all groups are continually evolving and changing. The recent development of new
gated communities and apartments favoured by the aspiring middle-classes in Santa Marta can
be seen as following the housing patterns of the capital Bogotá - which is looked up to as a place
of power and wealth. These changes also help to define the social distance between them and
the majority in the popular settlements in Santa Marta who are busy constructing dwellings, which

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appear to be increasingly similar to their own. Therefore there is an apparent delay in the
appropriation process: squatters are appropriating somewhat dated models.
An additional point of reference in the city relates to the large influx of internally displaced
people (IDPs) fleeing extreme violence in rural areas. In 2008 it was estimated that at least 18%
of the population of the city were IDPs and the ICRC (2007: 19) give a figure of almost 70,000
registered IDPs, making Santa Marta the fourth largest receiving city in the country. Many are
erecting new dwellings on previously untouched steep slopes – some close to the city centre and
on the hills surrounding existing settlements. Conditions are usually very difficult and 65% are
living in ‘extreme poverty’ (ICRC, 2007: 30). These new urban dwellers are changing the relative
hierarchy of housing types and conditions in the city. Established informal dwellers are no longer
at the bottom of the social hierarchy and are keen to ensure that they are clearly differentiated
from those below them. They do this not only through continuing to build in solid materials, but
through careful attention to style and detail.
Housing types and styles have clear symbolic functions (Miller, 1987) and in Santa Marta
these dynamic processes of change and appropriation can be interpreted as reflecting changing
social ideals. Following Bourdieu (1984) we can see how different social groups attempt to
maintain distinction from those ‘below’ them and simultaneously try to emulate those they
consider to be successful. Foster (1975: 180) suggests that the type of dwelling built by the poor
is ‘an economical copy of a more wealthy man's house.’ But although they may appear similar
they are much more than a simple copy. Drawing on data from Brazil, Holston (1991) argues that
low-income dwellers are not attempting to imitate, but rather to develop 'original copies' which
display both their origin as well as demonstrating sufficient uniqueness and originality. This
seems to be the case here.

DEFINING DIFFERENCE, REINFORCING SIMILARITY

We can interpret aspects of the visual appearance of the dwellings through an appreciation of
transient and transcendent values (Miller, 1994) and an understanding of the imagery associated
with contrasting rural and urban values. The barrio is on the edge of the city with hills and
farmland close by and many older residents grew up in rural areas, but the countryside is
regarded as backward and lacking in opportunity and prestige. The pitched roof is symbolic of
the rural house and great effort and expense is expanded in disguising its presence. Most
consolidated dwellings appear to have flat roofs, which are associated with the urban houses of
the rich and a key signifier of modernity. This illusion of flatness is achieved by erecting a parapet
or fascia at the front eaves. Such 'modern' exteriors reflect transient, changing values and are
designed to demonstrate prestige and link the occupiers with urban based ideas of affluence and
progress.
Once the front façade is sufficiently advanced it will be rendered and painted. Bright
colour is a recent addition to the armoury of those intent on achieving distinction from their
neighbours through expressing visible difference. However, a delicate balance is required
between difference and similarity: between uniqueness and conformity. A common, shared
vocabulary is frequently evident between neighbours and which also indicates its imitative origins
in the dwellings of the more affluent.
We can identify two levels of imitative behaviour. Firstly, copying from the design models
of the more affluent beyond the barrio for the generic design patterns, and secondly within the
barrio. Dwellers recognise that they observe and appropriate selectively the designs and motifs of
neighbours which they believe express the values to which they themselves aspire. Again
sufficient uniqueness can be achieved by the careful use of paired colours (rarely more than two
colours are used). This is a self-conscious design process with the intentional selection of ideas
and patterns (Ingold, 2000:175).
Although some people were not especially forthcoming when asked to explain their
choices and preferences it is clear that low-income residents hold clear aesthetic preferences and
participate with knowledge and creativity in the design process. I devised a simple photo-

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elicitation exercise to encourage people to discuss their preferences using a range of images of
different façade types, and found that invariable the same ones were selected as being the most
attractive and ‘better’. These all employed a clear symmetrical geometry combined with
decorative elements in the fascia profile and railings. I included some older images and it was
revealing that facades which appeared to be prestigious in 1991 were not selected. In recent
years styles are becoming more colourful, extravagant and playful – as well as occasionally
eccentric. There is a noticeable softening of the hard modernist geometry and increasing use of
floral based decoration and occasional use of textured areas (e.g. pattern stones). This confirms
that tastes and trends are in a state of flux and suggests that a more popular aesthetic is
developing which appears less reliant on copying and places more emphasis on originality.
Increasing numbers of recent facades exude a confident and playful exuberance (figure 1).
Fashions and styles are inevitably changing but this new found confidence in popular
architecture may be an indicator of more profound changes and suggests a more independent
relationship with elite groups and practices. In a study of cities in the highlands of Ecuador,
Klaufus (2012: 263) explains how the potency of dominant models is linked to underlying systems
of power, and illustrates how ‘the former elite architecture is losing its distinctive quality; the
barrier constructed by the elite between superior and popular culture is fading. The elite symbols
have forfeited some of their strength.’ This reminds us that architecture is not independent of
structures of power but is fully implicated in configuring societies through the construction of
realities and symbolic meanings.
 

Figure 1: Three dwellings in the settlement. Increasing levels of consolidation are visible on the facades. The
house of Nancy and Leopold is on the left. (Source: Author).

FRONT RAILINGS: A CASE STUDY

A very visible feature of more consolidated dwellings is the presence of high front railings. They
range in design from simple vertical bars to railings which incorporate playful floral patterns. It
appears their ‘function’ is one of security – but in many cases the door and windows also have
security bars. Why then the need for outer railings? Here is an extract from an interview with
Nancy (N) and Leonardo (L) whose house is well consolidated (Figure 1, left image). The interior
is smart and in excellent condition (they re-decorate each year) with expensive shiny floor tiles
and good quality furnishings. Nancy works as a maid for a middle-class household and Leopoldo
as a petrol pump attendant. I asked them what they were planning to do next on the house:

L We’re going to do the front terrace and the fascia. Yes a terrace in ‘material’.
P Many people have done that I think, not least in this street.
N Yes, yes, in this street. In this street lots of people have done it.
P So that’s the next thing. It’s a bit difficult isn’t it?
L Yes, yes it’s difficult, quite difficult.
N And that’s because it costs such a lot. Yes a lot because of all the (building) materials.
L And also we want to put in railings. Railings. I’ve always wanted to have railings.
P Why do you want railings?
N More security, to have more security.
L For more security, at least to be more secure, at least…

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P But is there a problem of security here?

N No, no, very little.
L No, no problem, not really… but to have more security at least when you go out.
N Here it’s very tranquilo. At least in all the [24] years we have lived here we’ve never had any
problem. Here we even leave the house unattended … we’ve left the house alone for several days.
And we’ve never had, never had any problem. We’ve never lost anything. Because here it’s very
safe (seguro). Here you don’t see [problems like] that.
P But (with railings) you would feel better?
L Yes you feel better, more secure.
N More secure, yes but also it would make the house look much more attractive (vistosidad).
Because here you can get some railings which are very pretty (bonita), and it would be like adding
more luxury (lujo). Then the façade of the house would look prettier. It’s like making it more
attractive and special.
L … but more security too, for when you go out or anything …

There appear to be several levels of explanation. Firstly, the bars are part of an aspirational
language. They are emblematic of success and an essential final touch in the production of a
completed house, one that will demonstrate beyond doubt that the inhabitants have transformed
themselves from homeless squatters into prosperous citizens. In addition to the high cost of such
railings, why have such security if you have nothing worth stealing? When burglary increased
middle-class households began to fit railings (and other security features) which are now
regarded as essential design features for those with money. They are outward symbols of inner
wealth (or ambition to become wealthy). This is reinforced in the final paragraph where Nancy
explains how they can be used not only to make the house more visually attractive but also to
add ‘luxury’. Luxury is synonymous with surplus.
Secondly, the vehicle chosen to express such aspirations is inevitably related to what
others are doing. Bourdieu’s ideas of distinction (1984) are based on clarifying both difference
from those ‘below’ and similarity with those ‘above’. It is worth noting that Nancy and Leonardo
are at the end of a row of four houses on the same side of the street all of which have elaborate
facades with railings. Such close juxtaposition makes comparison inevitable.
Finally, the bars provide a sense of security. One of the most fundamental functions of the
home is to protect the occupants and offer a sense of calm, stability, refuge and wellbeing - ‘a
place of security in an insecure world’ (Dovey, 1985:46). This security may be achievable through
physical means, but more significantly it is a state of mind to which various factors may
contribute. Although Nancy and Leopoldo have confirmed they have no need to protect their
home from thieves and burglars, there is a generalised climate of violence and fear throughout
the country including the coastal region (Carmago Rodriguez & Blanco Botero, 2007). They may
have no need of physical protection but they appear be interpreting the tangible presence of the
metal railings as offering psychological reassurance from the violence and insecurity which
surrounds them. The greater the perceived insecurity, the more important such mechanisms may
be.
We are seeing here how buildings and particular objects play ‘an active role in the
constitution of social [and] cultural identities, and vice versa’ (Vellinga, 2007:761). Just as social
identities are in state of change and flux, so too material objects ‘acquire different, changeable,
contradictory, and often contested meanings, at different times and in different contexts.’

DUAL VALUE SYSTEMS

Although the streets remain unpaved the majority of dwellings are now constructed in solid
materials, many painted in lively colours. Such improvements appear to be accounted for by a
linear model of dwelling consolidation intimately integrated with social aspiration. Predictably,
some households are more successful than others, and the differences become more evident
over a longer time frame. To the observer there is increasing evidence of ordered layouts,
consistent house plans, furniture types and positions.

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If we were to apply the functionalist logic of (physical and spatial) form following (social and
cultural) function then such consistency and order might suggest an equally ordered and
disciplined social world. The reality is very different. The barrio is far from cohesive with an
absence of clear and effective community organisation. Although the majority of households in
my sample have been remarkably stable over the 22 year period of study, there are others which
reflect the pattern of unstable relationships and consensual unions which are frequently reported
as distinctive throughout the Caribbean region (Streiker, 1993, 1995, 1997). Although there is
some variation, behaviour and lifestyles can be characterised as relaxed, informal and flexible.
How can we explain this persistent inconsistency between physical order and informal social
practices? Why is there such a strong contrast between the attempts at creating a clear
geometric order and the flexible, informal patterns of social interaction?
This apparent disconnect between the formal language of the dwelling and its furnishings
and the value systems and behaviour of the residents suggests we need to analyse further the
actual usage of domestic space and objects. The house can be interpreted as a microcosm of
significant cognitive categories (Bourdieu, 1977), but the danger is that we read the dwelling
container and its interior furnishings and objects at face value. “It does not suffice just to look at
the objects: one must also study who uses them, and how and when they are used. The meaning
which materialises in the organisation of objects in space can only be discovered through
associated practices… which may be expected to reveal the same cognitive schemes as the
objects in space" (Gullestad, 1993:129-130).
On closer inspection of the dwelling practices in Santa Marta, it seems there are two
apparently contrasting systems of values and practices (habitus) operating simultaneously: one
which is flexible, moveable, informal and closer to rural practices while the other is more rigid,
fixed and formalised and fits within the aspirational model sketched out earlier. Each set of values
seems to have its own physical manifestations, spaces and attendant goods but I would argue
that they do not operate in isolation but rather in a state of ambivalence and creative tension.
This can be clearly seen with reference to furniture which signals activities and behaviours
which do not take place. On entering most well-consolidated dwellings you will find a suite of
chairs, sofa and coffee table near the front door with dining table and matching chairs in a
standard position between the sitting area and the kitchen. Such furniture arrangements appear
to define clear activity settings (Rapoport, 1982). We would expect visitors to be received and
entertained in the lounge area and for meals to take place as a household sitting around the
dining table. But the reality is very different. Lounge seats are rarely used – most visitors
(including myself) are entertained on the front terrace or in the rear patio sitting on cheap plastic
chairs; and food consumption lacks any of the formality and domestic ritual associated with
shared meals and implied by the dining table and chairs. Eating is not a collective activity. Food is
consumed at different times and in different places and is usually eaten quickly without much
conversation. I never witnessed a complete family sitting round the table for a meal together. This
is significant, because food choice, preparation and consumption are fundamental indicators of
cultural value and social categories (Mintz & Du Bois, 2002; Levi Strauss, 1983).
There seems to be an increasingly clear divergence between forms and everyday
practices. The dwelling forms, spatial arrangements and many domestic objects adopt a
language from beyond the barrio, but it is a language, which offers a point of reference against
which the dwellers define their own practices. This is language from a world of power, influence,
affluence and order, and people aim to appropriate wherever possible such tangible
representations of this order. They are literally re-constructing such an order, but not directly for
their own everyday habitation. Using Goffman’s (1969) terms, it is rather like a play: the stage is
set for a particular scene, but the actors are acting out a different performance – one which
comes more naturally to the extent that they are no longer acting, but simply ‘being themselves.’
These everyday embodied practices (habitus) appear to belong to a more deep seated set of
values which are closer to the sensual elements of the earth and ground, the world of air and

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trees - the natural world from which it might appear people are retreating: each time the house
gets bigger the patio gets smaller.
We can see this played out in the tension between the house and the rear patio. The
house appears to offer a visible and tangible representation of control and order - the straight line
culture of the house contrasting with the subversive, ‘chaotic’ sensuality and fertility of the natural
world: the patio with its ripening fruits and birds – emblems of desire and freedom. The dweller
may attempt to impose a calm, cool, mechanical order within the house, but for many the patio is
irresistible, with its natural breeze and infinitely flexible spatial arrangements. Where chairs can
be moved in and out of the shade and a hammock strung between the trees.
According to Douglas (1966:3), the order for which people are striving and which is
enabled by the ‘positive re-ordering of the environment’ (in this case through dwelling
construction) is an attempt to make it ‘conform to an idea …it is a creative movement, an attempt
to relate form to function, to make unity of experience.’ But in this case it is not the unity we might
imagine. The key value of the dwelling is as symbolic capital, as a material manifestation of
progress in the journey of social aspiration and recognition. The unity may perhaps lie in a
symbiotic inverse relationship with everyday domestic practices in which the natural world of the
patio, and the flexible characteristics of the plastic chair, co-exist with the hard, immoveable
presence of the house.

CONCLUSION: DIVERGENCE OF FORMS AND PRACTICES

Such evidence confirms the central importance of the house as a dynamic ‘model of the world’
understood as an ongoing journey. This is a journey in which imitation and appropriation play a
key role in the formation of new identities through construction practices. The imitative practices
observed appear to be related largely to visible spatial forms and physical objects: settlement
layout, dwelling plans, building materials, type and location of furniture etc. The meanings that
are appropriated are vital for the construction and consolidation of progressive identities for the
informal dwellers – but their everyday domestic practices appear to remain rooted to a deeper set
of values. Hence it is largely the forms but not the practices which are imitated or borrowed.
This suggests that the new, borrowed ‘language’ does not displace the old – rather that an
uneasy bilingualism is constructed – in which the different languages are used by different
speakers on different occasions depending on the audience(s). Nothing is static; both languages
are in a continual state of flux. Forms and practices, meanings and values are intimately
interrelated in dynamic, unpredictable ways which are highly conscious of what others are doing.
Lifestyles and dwelling forms external both in time and space to the popular settlements, provide
points of reference: sometimes copied directly, frequently adjusted but rarely it seems adopted as
a total package linking forms to practices.
We must be cautious of claims, common in the field of architecture, of causal relationships
between forms and behaviour, for example the space syntax ideas of Hillier & Hanson (1984).
Such formal determinism in which particular forms are believed to govern certain spatial
behaviours with implicit values can lead to erroneous and superficial conclusions. As we have
seen, dwelling practices are complex and do not necessarily correspond to the specific forms and
spaces to which we might assume they are allocated. Such findings confirm the value of detailed
ethnographic work in teasing out the subtlety and complexity implicit in dwelling practices, social
values and meanings.

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An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Conference of the Association of Social
Anthropologists (ASA), University of Bristol, April 2009.

_____________________________
Author:

Peter Kellett, Ph.D.

Senior Lecturer
Global Urban Research Unit
School of Architecture Planning and Landscape
University of Newcastle upon Tyne
[email protected]

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