Informal settlements often emerge organically through migration, displacement, and incremental self-built development. Such settlements exhibit complex spatial patterns shaped by rapid urbanization, tenure conditions, land constraints, and incremental development. Understanding how settlements grow, transform, and function over time is critical for addressing infrastructure gaps, environmental risks, climate hazards, and urban inequality.

This session focuses on how Earth observation and geospatial analysis can be used to examine spatial patterns and urban processes in informal settlements across diverse contexts. Rather than emphasizing technological innovation or purely theoretical perspectives, we highlight approaches that provide insight into settlement dynamics, infrastructure conditions, and lived realities.

We invite contributions on:

1. Mapping and characterization of informal settlements and built environments
2. Settlement growth, expansion, and transformation processes
3. Spatial patterns of infrastructure access and service provision
4. How spatial structure shapes infrastructure access, environmental exposure, or socio-economic conditions
5. Applications of geospatial analysis to support planning, upgrading, and policy decisions

• GC - Global Environmental Change
• NH - Natural Hazards