Notes

Melanie Lombard; Philipp Horn

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Urban Informality

An Introduction

Authors:

Melanie Lombard

and

Philipp Horn

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9

Keywords:: urban informality; living informally; working informally; governing informally; global South; global North

Global Social Challenges:: Cities and Communities

Sustainable Development Goals:: Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth, Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities

Notes

Authors:

Melanie Lombard

and

Philipp Horn

Publication Date:: 25 Jun 2024

Pages:: 193–196

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.51952/9781529219197.bm001

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For many people in diverse urban settings around the world, informality is a defining characteristic of the way they live, work, and govern or are governed. This book is the first to provide an introductory overview and global perspective on urban informality, which is increasingly the subject of critical debates in urban studies, planning and related disciplines. It employs a transdisciplinary approach, drawing on and synthesizing insights from different disciplines, particularly social science and the humanities. Alongside historic and current theoretical and policy debates, it engages with diverse representations of urban informality, including fiction, film, poetry, photography, interviews and other media, to bring in diverse voices and perspectives. Exploring experiences and processes of living, working and governing informally, as well as responses to these, the book offers insights into patterns of inequality, poverty and exclusion in different cities, peri-urban areas and places affected by urbanization. Empirical examples are drawn from a wide range of diverse contexts, as urban informality is framed as a global issue, whose precise manifestations are contextually determined, but with the scope to affect all urban inhabitants, in direct or indirect ways. On this basis, we argue for trans-local, multi-voice understandings of informality, that acknowledge the experience of specific places and people, while foregrounding voices less heard in debates.

Chapter 1

Interview conducted by Philipp Horn in 2021.

Available from: https://ageofzinc.wordpress.com/2018/08/08/a-poem-written-by-the-late-patrick-magebhula/ [Accessed 16 November 2023].

Available from: www.sdgs.un.org [Accessed 29 January 2024].

Available from: https://www.un.org/millenniumgoals [Accessed 24 January 2024].

Chapter 2

Interview conducted by Jaime Hernández and Daniela Mosquera Camacho in 2019, for Improbable Dialogues project, in which Melanie Lombard was co-investigator.

This chapter draws on the following previously published works: Lombard (2014; 2015).

Distinguishable from the period of ‘early urbanization’ from 1800 to around 1949 characterized by the ‘sustained growth of urban populations’ which led to ‘permanent transitions towards predominantly urban living’ in North America, Europe, Japan and Australasia, late urbanization is characterized by ‘sustained increases in urban populations in virtually all countries’ from the 1950s onwards (Fox and Goodfellow, 2021: 5).

Chapter 3

Interview conducted by Carlos Tobar Tovar in 2020, part of Paz en Aguablanca project, in which Melanie Lombard was co-investigator.

Here, we distinguish between pavement dwelling and street homelessness, as we are mainly concerned with the phenomenon of semi-permanent residence on pavements, accompanied by some form of spatial construction. For an in-depth discussion on the meaning of homelessness in the global South, see Tipple and Speak (2005).

Here, we use both terms depending on their use in the debates we discuss; however, we are mindful of McFarlane and Silver’s (2017: 459) observation that ‘[t]he term “neighbourhood” rather than “settlement” serves to remind us that informal settlements are more than just sites and shelter; they are actual urban places with lives and going ons, much like other neighbourhoods’.

Care must be taken with this terminology, as not all informal residents are squatters, despite the prevalence of the term in some debates (see, for example, Satterthwaite’s [2008] review of Neuwirth [2005]).

There are some parallels with the recent phenomenon of short-term renting via online platforms, most notably Airbnb, that have enabled occupants in cities around the world, particularly in the global North, to capitalize on their housing as an asset.

Chapter 4

Interview conducted by Philipp Horn in 2021.

Chapter 5

Interview conducted by Lilian Odongo in 2019 as part of a research project led by Philipp Horn that documented participation in the Mukuru Special Planning Area in Nairobi, Kenya.

We follow French cultural critic de Certeau (1984: 37) who defines tactics as follows: ‘The space of tactic is the space of the other. Thus it must play on and with a terrain imposed on it and organised by the law of a foreign power. … It is a manoeuvre “within the enemy’s field of vision”. … It operates in isolated actions, blow by blow. It takes advantage of “opportunities” and depends on them.’ In our context, we deploy the concept of tactics to refer to the everyday engagements of ordinary people who live and work informally to deploy, modify and transform formal governance institutions and practices to meet their basic needs.

See also https://www.transparency.org/en/what-is-corruption [Accessed 1 March 2024].

Agency refers to the ‘ability or capacity of an actor to act consciously and, in doing so, to attempt to realise his or her intentions’ (Hay, 2002: 94).

The term social structure refers to the historical context and to established rules and procedures which characterize a society (Hudson and Leftwich, 2014).

Invited spaces refer to platforms for citizen participation designed and controlled by states, NGOs or donors.

This section draws on Horn (2022).

Thanks to Tom Goodfellow for this reference.

Chapter 6

Interview conducted by Lilian Odongo in 2019 as part of a research project led by Philipp Horn that documented participation in the Mukuru Special Planning Area in Nairobi, Kenya.

Good governance is a set of governance ideals pursued by the World Bank and other agencies, promoting active citizenship, more participatory forms of democracy and greater decentralization; critical debates have highlighted its entanglement with neoliberalization agendas (Guarneros-Meza and Geddes, 2010; see also Chapter 1).

New Public Management refers to an approach, often applied under the good governance framework and specifically under decentralization, which attempted to make local government more efficient; in urban settings, this often translated into a focus on ‘management, operational efficiency and property rights’ (Jones and Ward, 1994: 16).

https://www.hic-net.org [Accessed 1 March 2024].

https://sdinet.org/ [Accessed 1 March 2024].

This paragraph draws on Horn et al (2020) and Horn (2021).

Chapter 7

Interview conducted by Carlos Tobar Tovar in 2021, part of the Paz en Aguablanca project, in which Melanie Lombard was co-investigator.

You can find more information about different interventions by AeT on its website: https://aet.org.za/ [Accessed 1 March 2024].

For detailed case studies and further references on this topic see: https://www.wiego.org/our-work-impact/core-programmes/social-protection [Accessed 1 March 2024].

Chapter 8

Interview conducted by Sophie King in 2022 as part of impact evaluation for Community Savers network.

Such a perspective is put forward by Brenner (2013: 95) who defines planetary urbanization dynamics as follows: ‘The urban [is considered] as “concrete abstraction” in which the contradictory socio-spatial relations of capitalism (commodification, capital circulation, capital accumulation and associated forms of political regulation/contestation) are at once territorialized (embedded within concrete contexts and thus fragmented) and generalized (extended across place, territory and scale) and thus universalized.’

Here Brenner and Schmid (2014) refer to Wirth’s (1938) seminal article, ‘Urbanism as a way of life’, on the social characteristics of cities, which they draw on to frame their argument.

As Connolly (2020: 122) points out, the Spanish term ‘popular’ denotes ‘of the people’, distinguishing them from ‘the ruling classes’, and is therefore ‘preferred as a non-deprecatory adjective’.

See https://www.wiego.org/blog/qa-wiego-social-and-solidarity-economy-specialist-federico-parra [Accessed 29 January 2024].

The collective is comprised of Solomon Benjamin, Alioscia Castronovo, Luci Cavallero, Cristina Cielo, Véronica Gago, Prince Guma, Rupali Gupte, Victoria Habermehl, Lana Salman, Prasad Shetty, AbdouMaliq Simone, Constance Smith and João Tonucci.

The Right to the City is a contested term. Conceptually, it does not refer to a legal approach to urban development, but rather represents ‘a cry and a demand’ (Lefebvre, 1996 [1967]: 158) by historically marginalised groups to appropriate urban space according to their interests and needs; to participate in decisions concerning urban planning, design, and management; and to be at the core of urban life. For further explanation see Marcuse (2009).

https://habitat3.org/documents-and-archive/preparatory-documents/issue-papers/ [Accessed 29 January 2024].

https://www.urbanagendaplatform.org/member-states [Accessed 29 January 2024].

https://communitysavers.net/ [Accessed 29 January 2024].

One of the authors of this book, Melanie Lombard, is a board member for this organization.

We discussed the work of this organization in relation to efforts in the informal Mukuru area in Chapters 5–7.

https://www.urban-know.com/ [Accessed 29 January 2024].

https://www.african-cities.org/about-us/ [Accessed 29 January 2024].