The outline of an illegal settlement is generally irregular in shape. Normally this type of settlements lack infrastructure and/or basic services such as drinking water, drainage, electricity, and telephone at the beginning, over time they are provided with services through self-construction and community cooperation.

Its residents exist in a permanent state of illegal and social security as they live on land without the consent of its true owners and are subject to threats of eviction and the denial of municipal services such as drinking water, garbage collection, storm drainage, street paving and public transportation, and lighting, among others.

They are frequently located in risk areas subject to environmental degradation and dangers. The implementation of basic services is complicated by its lack of urban planning and design, in addition to its accelerated growth. Residents normally lack sufficient educational preparation and therefore it is not common for them to be involved in formal economic activities or at the level of the surrounding labor market.

Its inhabitants have higher risks of contracting diseases and higher mortality due to their levels of poverty and the negative influence of the environment where they reside. Access to urban facilities such as schools, clinics, and social care is very limited. Public open space may be unsafe and insufficient for community needs. Finally, the visible disparity between informal settlements and surrounding areas can lead to social tensions and generate crime. These same factors can also increase social and economic exclusion.

Since this phenomenon is increasingly frequent and rapidly growing in developing or underdeveloped countries, it is important to highlight that despite their name and reading as "spontaneous," these precarious settlements are far from being spontaneous. They obey a logic of land production for the poor. They are not spontaneous either in their appearance, since they take years to consolidate, or in their occupation, since in the vast majority of cases who lives there, whoever manages to occupy a piece of land has paid for it. That is, it is within a market, the irregular land market, which leaves large profits for land owners and groups or bands of irregular land traders, who sell access to the poor to land without any conditions to be inhabited in cities: access to water, energy, quality public transportation, spaces for parks, for schools, for health services, roads, etc.

In this way, the irregular city grows and grows, leaving great profits for a few, terrible living conditions for many—many who do not have an option to access land in the formal market—and, the tolerance and apathy of governments that do not take any type of action either to prevent these phenomena, much less to favor the offer of formal land with decent conditions at prices possible for the poor. On the contrary, in most cases governments concentrate investment in the formal city and carry out curative programs of limited scope in the large irregular city.

Urban invasions usually develop their own cultural identity that is often marginalized, although there are exceptions. In the case of Peru, many of the Peruvian slang, customs and way of life were generated during and after the period of massive urban invasions during the 19th century, which although they began to be discriminated against, ended up spreading throughout much of the national territory to the point of being romanticized and even converted into the classic stereotype of the urban Peruvian. An emblematic example is the Chicha culture, particularly its music "Chicha (music)").

Samples of that romanticization are the acceptance and pleasant attachment that many young Peruvians have to their homes located on the slopes of the hills, but far from showing them a fanatical devotion (in the style of the ancient Andeans and the apus "Apu (divinity)"), they accept a generally unhealthy, insecure and disorganized environment.

Due to the state of social anarchy and abandonment by the Government, the mentality of a group threatened by the precariousness of their situation can lead to a state of mental/cultural "degeneration" that leads to high rates of crime, corruption of the original culture from which their ancestors came, distrust of the authorities and lack of concern for urban order. Places that are examples of this include Cerro El Pino") or the Callao barracks").

Irregular establishments require the development of spatial models that support efforts to improve the most basic living conditions; this is in contrast to the developed world, where progress towards technologies to construct 3D spatial models of formal urbanization is considered a guaranteed fact. The most common scenarios for this type of research include, but are not limited to:.

A crucial requirement for effective urban planning is ready access to accurate and up-to-date spatial data, as irregular settlements grow very rapidly and traditional mapping techniques are neither economical nor practical. Therefore, aerial and satellite images are the best source of spatial information on irregular establishments.

Rapid urbanization appears to be one of the key factors in the growth of vulnerability, particularly in low-income families within informal squatter settlements.[4]​ The process of urbanization results in pressure on land as rural migrants move into already overcrowded cities, where the newcomer has few alternatives other than occupying unsafe land.[5]​ But the risks of natural hazards are only part of the dangers these communities face; There are often greater and higher pressure "normal" risks such as poor nutrition, poor health, and citizen insecurity.

The few opportunities that the inhabitants have to emerge tend to lead people to crime, for example, 10,000 people are narco-guerrillas from the Red Command (half of them children) in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro and 20,000 from the First Capital Command" in São Paulo. This increases violence and discrimination in those areas.[6][7]​.

It should be noted that the conceptual definitions of a social problem as global as inequality, in these cases grant broad interpretations to the competent responsibilities of origin. Currently and in accordance with our communication era, we understand the irregularity of living, not an opportunistic use of situations, but the tangible and solidified consequence of a commercial, reifying and soulless world, rewarding those who achieve achievements and displacing those who grant their portion of space. An irregular settlement is then, and in awareness of the world in which we live, a feasibly reversible consequence of the inequality established by the economic over the social. It could be concluded that every irregular inhabitant should find the sole lack of formal property documents, but never justify in such cases the absence or delay in exercising their rights.

An emerging proposal in the area of ​​Latin America is the so-called Inclusive Urban Regeneration (IRU), developed by Cristofer Correia (2021). This strategy proposes a participatory and comprehensive public policy to address urban poverty in informal settlements, based on empirical evidence collected in Caracas, Venezuela. Unlike traditional approaches focused on demolition or simple physical development, RUI combines investments in infrastructure, urban services, formalization of land tenure and strengthening social capital, all guided by a governance framework. Its lines of action include the right to housing, the expansion of capacities and the recovery of public spaces, with a transversal axis focused on citizen participation.[8]​.

Irregular settlements are called in different ways in Spanish-speaking countries:

Outside the Hispanic world, the following denominations are:.

The outline of an illegal settlement is generally irregular in shape. Normally this type of settlements lack infrastructure and/or basic services such as drinking water, drainage, electricity, and telephone at the beginning, over time they are provided with services through self-construction and community cooperation.

Its residents exist in a permanent state of illegal and social security as they live on land without the consent of its true owners and are subject to threats of eviction and the denial of municipal services such as drinking water, garbage collection, storm drainage, street paving and public transportation, and lighting, among others.

They are frequently located in risk areas subject to environmental degradation and dangers. The implementation of basic services is complicated by its lack of urban planning and design, in addition to its accelerated growth. Residents normally lack sufficient educational preparation and therefore it is not common for them to be involved in formal economic activities or at the level of the surrounding labor market.

Its inhabitants have higher risks of contracting diseases and higher mortality due to their levels of poverty and the negative influence of the environment where they reside. Access to urban facilities such as schools, clinics, and social care is very limited. Public open space may be unsafe and insufficient for community needs. Finally, the visible disparity between informal settlements and surrounding areas can lead to social tensions and generate crime. These same factors can also increase social and economic exclusion.

Since this phenomenon is increasingly frequent and rapidly growing in developing or underdeveloped countries, it is important to highlight that despite their name and reading as "spontaneous," these precarious settlements are far from being spontaneous. They obey a logic of land production for the poor. They are not spontaneous either in their appearance, since they take years to consolidate, or in their occupation, since in the vast majority of cases who lives there, whoever manages to occupy a piece of land has paid for it. That is, it is within a market, the irregular land market, which leaves large profits for land owners and groups or bands of irregular land traders, who sell access to the poor to land without any conditions to be inhabited in cities: access to water, energy, quality public transportation, spaces for parks, for schools, for health services, roads, etc.

In this way, the irregular city grows and grows, leaving great profits for a few, terrible living conditions for many—many who do not have an option to access land in the formal market—and, the tolerance and apathy of governments that do not take any type of action either to prevent these phenomena, much less to favor the offer of formal land with decent conditions at prices possible for the poor. On the contrary, in most cases governments concentrate investment in the formal city and carry out curative programs of limited scope in the large irregular city.

Urban invasions usually develop their own cultural identity that is often marginalized, although there are exceptions. In the case of Peru, many of the Peruvian slang, customs and way of life were generated during and after the period of massive urban invasions during the 19th century, which although they began to be discriminated against, ended up spreading throughout much of the national territory to the point of being romanticized and even converted into the classic stereotype of the urban Peruvian. An emblematic example is the Chicha culture, particularly its music "Chicha (music)").

Samples of that romanticization are the acceptance and pleasant attachment that many young Peruvians have to their homes located on the slopes of the hills, but far from showing them a fanatical devotion (in the style of the ancient Andeans and the apus "Apu (divinity)"), they accept a generally unhealthy, insecure and disorganized environment.

Due to the state of social anarchy and abandonment by the Government, the mentality of a group threatened by the precariousness of their situation can lead to a state of mental/cultural "degeneration" that leads to high rates of crime, corruption of the original culture from which their ancestors came, distrust of the authorities and lack of concern for urban order. Places that are examples of this include Cerro El Pino") or the Callao barracks").

Irregular establishments require the development of spatial models that support efforts to improve the most basic living conditions; this is in contrast to the developed world, where progress towards technologies to construct 3D spatial models of formal urbanization is considered a guaranteed fact. The most common scenarios for this type of research include, but are not limited to:.

A crucial requirement for effective urban planning is ready access to accurate and up-to-date spatial data, as irregular settlements grow very rapidly and traditional mapping techniques are neither economical nor practical. Therefore, aerial and satellite images are the best source of spatial information on irregular establishments.

Rapid urbanization appears to be one of the key factors in the growth of vulnerability, particularly in low-income families within informal squatter settlements.[4]​ The process of urbanization results in pressure on land as rural migrants move into already overcrowded cities, where the newcomer has few alternatives other than occupying unsafe land.[5]​ But the risks of natural hazards are only part of the dangers these communities face; There are often greater and higher pressure "normal" risks such as poor nutrition, poor health, and citizen insecurity.

The few opportunities that the inhabitants have to emerge tend to lead people to crime, for example, 10,000 people are narco-guerrillas from the Red Command (half of them children) in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro and 20,000 from the First Capital Command" in São Paulo. This increases violence and discrimination in those areas.[6][7]​.

It should be noted that the conceptual definitions of a social problem as global as inequality, in these cases grant broad interpretations to the competent responsibilities of origin. Currently and in accordance with our communication era, we understand the irregularity of living, not an opportunistic use of situations, but the tangible and solidified consequence of a commercial, reifying and soulless world, rewarding those who achieve achievements and displacing those who grant their portion of space. An irregular settlement is then, and in awareness of the world in which we live, a feasibly reversible consequence of the inequality established by the economic over the social. It could be concluded that every irregular inhabitant should find the sole lack of formal property documents, but never justify in such cases the absence or delay in exercising their rights.

An emerging proposal in the area of ​​Latin America is the so-called Inclusive Urban Regeneration (IRU), developed by Cristofer Correia (2021). This strategy proposes a participatory and comprehensive public policy to address urban poverty in informal settlements, based on empirical evidence collected in Caracas, Venezuela. Unlike traditional approaches focused on demolition or simple physical development, RUI combines investments in infrastructure, urban services, formalization of land tenure and strengthening social capital, all guided by a governance framework. Its lines of action include the right to housing, the expansion of capacities and the recovery of public spaces, with a transversal axis focused on citizen participation.[8]​.

Irregular settlements are called in different ways in Spanish-speaking countries:

Outside the Hispanic world, the following denominations are:.