Informal Urbanism Flashcards
What does informality refer to?
Activities or dwellings that lie beyond or circumvent state regulation
Features of the informal economy?
Wages jobs with no formal contract or labour rights
Operation outside the law or in the gaps of the law
Little or no payment of tax
Informal housing features?
Built with little or no state urban planning
Built in the absence of laws and regulations
Where does informality exist?
All counties
Why is informality bad?
People living and working informally lack legal rights and many basic services
Unplanned settlements lack basic infrastructure
Makes planning difficult
Lack of taxation results in less revenue for govt spending
People living informally are vulnerable to violence, eviction and disease
History of informality?
During colonial times native societies were viewed as divided.
Distinction between traditional and modern
The traditional were associated with the rural and urban peasants- seen as unproductive
How were the urban unemployed in the third world viewed post colonial?
A reserve army of labour
Represented a failure of capitalism
Who coined the term informal sector?
Keith Hart
What were Keith Harts thoughts?
Rejected labour reserve idea
Presented the activities of the urban poor as economically dynamic and that the informal sector was there salvation
Such workers provide essential services
Who adopted the term?
The international labour organisation 1972
Changing attitudes towards informality
Seen as a solution to in employment
Rejected bureaucratic obstacles
Reflects entrepreneurial spirit of the urban poor
Should be unregulated
What did informality chime well with?
The neoliberal mood of the time
Rolling back the state
Attack on red tape
Helped legitimise de-industrialisation
Informal response to housing deficit?
Investment was confined to white towns in colonial times
After independence city populations grew rapidly not considering planning and implications
Rise of self help
Supported by slum upgrading
Resulted as the only option was to build or rent informally
Exceptions?
Sri Lanka 1 Million houses programme 1984-9 - based on flexible system of loans and community participation
South African Reconstruction and development programme 1994-2001
Pop density statistic?
65% of Nairobi’s pop live on less than 2% of the cities land area
World slum prevalence?
Developing regions?
1990
46.1
2010
32.7
Fox 2013
Persistence of slums?
Benefits government officials- can be landlords
Kibera’s landlords
41% govt officials
16% politicians
Which gender is more likely to work in the informal sector?
Women 10-20% more likely in many African cities
Examples of informal jobs?
Street trade Sex work Informal transport Informal construction Waste- pickers
What links between informality in the global north?
Large scale migration
Slums in Hong Kong
Rooftop communities
The city that doesn’t exist
Slums out of public eye
Characteristics of urban poverty?
Expensive and inadequate housing
Unaffordable services
Vulnerability yo disease and accidents
Fear of violence and terrorism
Intra-City inequalities
Risk of disease
Mortality rate
Infant mortality rate
Life expectancy
Why does Africa lack formal jobs?
Stalled industrialisation
Impacts of urban violence?
Reduced investment
Savings to pay for personal security
Earnings lost through injury
Reduced livelihood security
What causes high levels of urban violence?
Poverty
Unstable political institutions
Access to land
Gender based insecurity
Vicious cycle of public security failures?
Rich areas- gated communities and private security reduces the demand for state provision
Poor areas- gangs create no-go areas for police and provide safe havens for the criminal networks
How can planning support informality?
Transport planning- provides access to work for marginalised populations
Mixed land use approach
Planning example?
Warwick Juntion- Durban
The junction attracted 4000 trades a day 1990s
Then neglected and labelled a dangerous cesspit
1996- Council project
Reconnected freeway to pedestrian bridge
Provided infrastructure and shelter
