ABSTRACT
It has been widely claimed that social cohesion, solidarity, place attachment, trust and collective identity contribute highly to resilience, and, by means of these features, people would consider fighting disruptions as their collective duty and would collaborate to respond to disasters.
This chapter takes Algiers as a case study, highlighting the relationship between urban informality and community resilience. The research attempts to provide an understanding of the two concepts and illustrate the correlation between informal activities and resilience in urban areas.
The research will demonstrate how informal urban practices can enable community resilience as a result of social dynamics among urban neighbourhood residents. The case studies reviewed in this research are an embodiment of the concept of EL Houma, a term for a North African neighbourhood that is characterised by strong social relations between neighbours and a design that allows local socio-cultural practices to take place. It illustrates the social life of residents through a social use of urban space that promotes social dynamics, which, in turn, foster social cohesion, trust and solidarity between neighbours.
Building upon urban sociology and urban design theories and mapping techniques, this research uses a methodology of activity mapping in order to investigate informal urban practices performed by residents as resilience strategies to local disruptions. The findings of the research demonstrate that informal local urban practices are not only part of urban life, but also contribute to community resilience.
