Infrastructures of Shelter

​After disaster, shelter is never only a technical issue. Rebuilding depends on access to materials, finance, land, and formal recognition by the state. This session looks at the politics of shelter after the storm and asks who is able to rebuild, under what conditions, and with what forms of support.

Drawing on examples of post-Maria emergency housing in Puerto Rico the webinar will explore the relationship between formal recovery programs and the self-building processes through which many in the region have historically secured housing. The session asks what equitable shelter recovery might look like when so many households build incrementally, collectively, and often outside formal systems.