scholarly journals Policy and research frame of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic: reflections on urban informality

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-17
Author(s):  
Yanjie Zhang ◽  
Israel Nyaburi Nyadera ◽  
Francis Onditi ◽  
Moses Madadi Obimbo ◽  
Samson Kinyanjui Muchina
Keyword(s):  
Urban Informality

Taken for a Ride

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matteo Rizzo
Keyword(s):  
Public Transport ◽  
Dar Es Salaam ◽  
Structural Constraints ◽  
Urban Informality ◽  
African Cities ◽  
Political Interests ◽  
Contextual Understanding ◽  
Informal Economies ◽  
Political Economy Analysis ◽  
Analytical Power

The chapter starts by describing public transport in Dar es Salaam as ‘functional chaos’. It then critically reviews two thematic literatures, on African cities and on their informal economies, to reveal that references to chaos, dystopia, and their opposites, order and functionalism, are common. The key argument is that a highly contextual understanding of urban informality and of how African cities work is required to avoid overly deterministic structural accounts and romantic celebration of African agency without due attention to structural constraints. The chapter presents the book’s approach: namely a political-economy analysis, centred on class analysis and wary of automatically reading off the political interests of actors from their class position. It argues that neoliberalism and post-socialism are key to understanding Tanzania and public transport in Dar es Salaam, and calls for grounding ‘actually existing neoliberalism’ in a particular context while retaining the analytical power of the concept of neoliberalism.

Urban Informality and Negotiated Space

2011 ◽  
Vol 47 (187) ◽  
pp. 59-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirsten Hackenbroch
Keyword(s):  
Urban Informality

Informal and ubiquitous: Colonias, premature subdivisions and other unplanned suburbs on America’s urban fringe

Urban Studies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 722-740 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noah J Durst
Keyword(s):  
Federal Government ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Land Development ◽  
Poor Quality ◽  
Urban Fringe ◽  
Border Region ◽  
Diverse Populations ◽  
Urban Informality ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
The Us

Along the US border with Mexico there are thousands of communities designated by the federal government as colonias, a name that highlights the large numbers of low-income, Hispanic immigrants that live in these communities. These subdivisions have been studied extensively in recent years, often using insights from the concept of urban informality. This research has highlighted the challenges posed by exploitative land sales practices, poor-quality or non-existent infrastructure and poor-quality housing in these communities. However, similar informal subdivisions exist along the urban fringe elsewhere across the US, though they are not designated as colonias by the federal government and scholars rarely consider their similarities to colonias in the border region. This study uses data on Census Designated Places from the American Community Survey, satellite imagery and county property records to examine the extent and nature of these subdivisions. The results illustrate that informal land development of the sort described here is not restricted only to the border region, to immigrant enclaves or to Hispanic communities. Instead, it is demonstrated that informal subdivisions exist in large numbers across Southern and Western states and, though their numbers are smaller, they are present even in the Midwest and Northeast. Moreover, these subdivisions are home to diverse populations and they provide important benefits such as expanded opportunities of homeownership for minorities and the poor.

Informal Settlement Upgrading and the Rise of Rental Housing in São Paulo, Brazil

2022 ◽  
pp. 0739456X2110654
Author(s):  
Kristine Stiphany ◽  
Peter M. Ward ◽  
Leticia Palazzi Perez
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Informal Settlement ◽  
Rental Housing ◽  
Informal Settlements ◽  
Sao Paulo ◽  
São Paulo ◽  
Methodological Study ◽  
Urban Informality ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Public Investments

Rental housing was historically a minimal feature of urban informality. Now it is surging amid municipal attempts to “upgrade” informal settlements in São Paulo, Brazil. Drawing upon a mixed-methodological study of two favelas on São Paulo’s east side, we analyze how cycles of upgrading shape informal rental housing at the urban, community, block, and parcel levels, providing detailed comparative data for 2010–2020. Our findings suggest that rental housing redevelopment can increase precarity in urban living, but is an important source of low-income housing in already built-up and “consolidated” settlements where access is declining. Our study emphasizes the need for scholars, policy makers, and planners to further explore the praxis of informal renting and rental housing, which can be effective conduits for channeling public investments across consolidated informal settlements and into individual dwellings.

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