This thesis focuses on self-planned communities and aims at addressing external and internal representations of informal settlements, as well as the role of the everyday residents’ actions in terms of community creation and space use. These actions are discussed, emphasizing the disparity between how this informal settlement is externally perceived and how it functions. In doing so, the research addresses the case of the informal settlement of Ezbet Khairallah in Cairo, Egypt. By elaborating on secondary data analysis, qualitative interviews, field observations, and photographs, the thesis investigates two perspectives over the area: an external one, relating to authorities and outsiders, and an internal one, relating to residents and members of NGOs, portraying the residents of informal settlements as city dwellers that are part of the overall urban society.