Environment & Urbanization

This paper explores the impact of local government policies and urban plans on home-based workers. It presents recent national data on the size and composition of home-based work in developing countries as well as findings from two recent field studies of urban home-based workers in several Asian cities/countries. The research findings highlight that homes often double as workplaces, especially for women workers, and that slums are domains of significant economic activities. Reflecting these twin facts, as well as the demands of home-based workers, the paper makes the case that city governments and urban planners need to integrate home-based workers and their livelihood activities into local economic development plans. It also argues that city governments need to extend basic infrastructure to the homes-cum-workplaces of home-based workers, as well as transport services to the settlements where they live and work. The paper provides some promising examples of where and how this has been done, largely in response to effective advocacy by organizations of home-based workers.

This paper synthesizes recent research and evidence on urban policies and local government practices as they relate to street vending, one of the most visible occupations in the informal economy. It presents the latest available evidence on the size, composition and contribution of street vending, and reviews the rich literature on street vending as well as media coverage reflecting the extent of exclusionary policies and practices. While many analyses explore the reasons behind evictions and relocations through case studies, this paper draws on participatory methods and surveys to examine the more “everyday” challenges that street vendors face, even when licensed. The data demonstrate the livelihood impacts of generalized workplace insecurity, harassment and confiscation of merchandise on street vendors’ earnings, assets and time. We briefly explore the models of organizing and policy approaches in Ahmedabad, India and Lima, Peru, where collective action among vendors has resulted in more innovative policy approaches. We argue that legislative reform and greater transparency in the content and implementation of regulations are needed, combined with the political will to challenge the appropriation of strategic urban spaces by more powerful interests.

The occupation of waste picker has taken on new importance as a livelihood, especially since the last global economic downturn. Increasingly, waste pickers are being recognized for their valuable contributions to urban sustainability and development. Drawing from scholarship on waste pickers, and findings from a recent study conducted in five cities across three continents, this paper discusses the environmental and economic contributions of informal waste pickers to cities. This paper argues for the re-conceptualization of solid waste management systems that integrate waste pickers as partners, as key to building just, inclusive and livable cities for all. It also presents a specific model in which informal waste workers are integrated as key stakeholders as one example of best practice in this area, thus contributing to current discussions on integrated and inclusive solid waste models.

This article is a critical reflection on the Phephanathi Platform, an ongoing collaboration among organizations of informal traders working in the Warwick Junction markets in Durban, South Africa and their support organizations. The purpose of the Platform is to experiment with the extension of occupational health and safety to informal workers working in urban public space through the establishment of an integrated urban health platform. The article is concerned not only with the practical aspects of the Platform, but also assesses the Platform as a political strategy. It focuses on two key pieces of work – the design and rollout of first aid stands into the markets, and the attempt to institutionalize occupational health and safety for informal workers within the local municipality. The article concludes with a meta-reflection on the work, elaborating on some of the important questions that are raised and drawing out the implications for integrating occupational health and safety into the urban environment.

Technology is a key driver of change, not least in the world of work. Yet little is known about what technologies are used by – or impact on – the working poor in the informal economy, and in what ways. This paper presents findings from a 2015 study by the WIEGO network and local partners in three cities: Ahmedabad, India; Durban, South Africa; and Lima, Peru. The findings reveal that informal workers in the study cities are using diverse tools, from manual devices to electrical equipment and internet platforms, to strengthen their livelihoods. Overall, the tools used tend to be basic. Often they are being adapted in ingenious ways in order to adapt to resource and other constraints. Take-up of improved tools is limited by low incomes and concerns about theft and confiscation. It is also affected by city-level, context-specific systems of energy, transport and waste. This paper summarizes which types of technologies are most useful to different sectors of informal workers. It argues that the policy and regulatory environment, and city-wide technological systems, should be more responsive to the technological and other needs of the urban informal workforce.

This work draws from preliminary ethnographic research with a fisherwomen’s association in Udupi City, located on the southwestern coast of India. It shows how women have managed to keep capital-rich fish shops away from the sale of fish, preserving their traditional occupation for themselves through informal arrangements with the state. In the Indian context, in which caste remains an important organizing element within a secular framework of democracy and citizenship, I look at how women rely on their caste identities as Mogaveera fisherwomen, while simultaneously referring to their gender and experience of poverty to muster both caste-based political support and secular political resources for their livelihoods. Intersectionality as a concept for analysis is important to understand how both marginal and dominant identities of these women enable them to frame and formulate arguments that are acceptable to the state. I argue that in this particular case, gender, intertwined with caste and poverty, positions these fisherwomen in a fertile space for political alliances that tap into both caste and secular resources. These nuances enable us to see fisherwomen as a complex, heterogeneous group full of contradictions, rather than just poor fisherwomen. Thus, an analysis of gender as intertwined with experiences deriving from other social categories of caste and class allows us to see women’s livelihoods as a product of, as well as formative of, those specific experiences, opportunities and constraints they confront.

The youth employment crisis in sub-Saharan Africa’s towns and cities is among the region’s top development priorities. High rates of youth under- and unemployment create significant obstacles to young people’s ability to become self-reliant, a crucial first step in the transition to adulthood. It is important to explore how local and global structures and processes create the hostile economic and social environment in which urban youth search for livelihoods. Only then can we identify the ways in which urban poverty brings insurmountable constraints on youth agency. We must understand the multitude of obstacles facing urban youth in their quest for decent work and secure livelihoods, how these differ by gender and educational status, and the implications of this for their longer-term social and economic development. This paper attempts such an exploration in the context of Arusha, Tanzania.

Despite the growth of adaptation plans and action by municipalities, there are limited examples of opportunities for effectively mainstreaming climate adaptation into policy and practice in local government. This paper uses the experiment of co-producing an adaptation plan for a small municipality in the Western Cape Province, South Africa, to illustrate how opportunities were leveraged. The findings suggest that a shift from strengthening the science–policy interface to the knowledge–policy interface might be more appropriate in the context of adaptation planning that requires an understanding of the local context as well as of global science. In order to align adaptation plans with developmental priorities and to secure support from actors at multiple levels, the integration of multiple knowledge forms, including climate science, should be prioritized. Such a task could be strengthened if co-production is prioritized. Building on these opportunities is critical to scaling up adaptation in local government and building on its transformative potential.

This paper discusses benefits that informal wetland communities in Kampala, Uganda derive from their location in the wetland and how they adapt to minimize vulnerability to hazards such as floods and disease vectors. We focus on the mechanisms, preferences and ability to adapt. A total of 551 households were interviewed in addition to four focus group discussions and five key informant interviews. Free water from spring wells and cheaper rental units topped the benefits from location, while the main benefit associated with the wetland is that it supports crop farming. Tenure status was significantly associated with the preference and perceived ability to adapt: tenants were less likely to prefer to adapt, and less likely to perceive themselves as able to afford adaptation, than landlords. There is a need for coordinated adaptation strategies that involve all stakeholders and that enhance equitable utilization of wetland resources without compromising their ecosystem services and economic benefits.

This paper continues the story of the Indian Alliance (the partnership of SPARC, Mahila Milan and the National Slum Dwellers’ Federation), as it designed and built housing with urban poor communities from 1986 to 1995. It focuses on three cases in Mumbai, where communities with precarious housing developed alternatives to resettlement and redevelopment. The housing solutions they developed were the product of negotiation with local authorities and collaboration with the evolving Alliance. The paper documents the collective learning – about the practicalities of construction as well as financing and relationships with local governments – that was instrumental to this work, and that influenced the Alliance’s strategies for inclusive community engagement and housing improvements in other locations. These strategies continue to develop and provide valuable lessons that can be applied to the implementation of the new urban Sustainable Development Goal.

This paper explains the reasons behind the growing social tension and increased number of conflicts in China after a good performance in meeting the Millennium Development Goals. In this paper, we map out the issues with old urbanization (1978–2014) and the problems unsolved by past policy, and analyse whether the new policy changes introduced by the New Urbanization Plan (2014–2020) may help to deal with those problems. We argue that the tensions that evolve into conflicts are often a result of unaddressed social anxiety. Using money to purchase social stability can only be part of the solution. There need to be more serious attempts to improve governance, which involve: improving multi-level governance and inter-regional coordination, enhancing policy transparency and rule by law, adjusting the level of redistribution, and integrating rural and urban community governance structures.

Based on an original dataset of 651 households in the informal settlement of Kibera in Nairobi, Kenya, this article examines household electricity use, drivers of uptake and willingness to pay (WTP) for efficient compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) lighting technology. Informal and illegal electricity consumption, euphemistically referred to by residents as “electricity borrowing”, is common. This removes the metered electricity price lever upon which to influence consumer behaviour and demand for energy-efficient technologies. However, as this study demonstrates, the comparative durability of efficient lighting technologies presents economic benefits for uptake even in a context of fixed-rate electricity payments. While bulb uptake and stated WTP are independent of demographic characteristics such as income activity, gender, education and other factors, they are significantly correlated with informal electricity consumption, beliefs related to bulb durability, knowledge of past energy efficiency outreach, and other contextual factors, underlining a need for tailored approaches to energy efficiency in informal settlements.

This paper begins with the description of a theory that draws a parallel between slime mould behaviour and the functioning of informal settlements – part of a scholarly trend that recognizes and glorifies a kind of futuristic intelligence in these deprived zones. The paper goes on to demystify the slime mould theory using a case that, at first glance, seems to validate it. When faced with the threat of forced eviction due to a canal reclamation project, the informal residents living along the banks resort to a range of survival tactics that protect them from eviction, and, in an ironic twist, also make it impossible for the project to succeed. Seen in isolation, the informal residents seem to act as the theory predicted – without being guided by a “single brain” or a “power elite”. However, seen within the historical and political context, this moment of triumph is itself found to be bounded on all sides by defeat and deprivation.

Ludhiana, the industrial hub of Punjab, North India, attracts a large number of migrants, many of whom face a range of exclusions. This study was undertaken to gather information on the availability of civic amenities relevant to Millennium Development Goal 7, including water supply, sanitation, drainage, electrical connections, and the condition of migrants’ housing. Thirty slum settlements, 15 notified and 15 non-notified, were randomly selected for the study, and 3,947 newer migrant households were purposively sampled and surveyed. More than a third of the surveyed households had no in-house piped water supply, over half still relied on open defecation, 40 per cent lacked metered electricity connections, and only 43 per cent had closed drains. The situation was much better for those in notified as compared to non-notified slums or open spaces. A relatively high proportion resided in higher-quality pucca houses, but this appears to have been due to their status as tenants, renting rooms from more established home owners.

“Clean Team” provides serviced, free-standing toilets as a sanitation option in low-income areas of Kumasi, Ghana. A cross-sectional survey was carried out to assess sanitation and hygiene practices in 199 Clean Team households and 201 neighbouring, non-Clean Team households. Adults in non-Clean Team households were no more likely to report unsafe defecation (faeces not contained in a latrine) than their Clean Team neighbours, although their reliance on public toilets may lead to occasional unsafe practices. Children in Clean Team households used the household toilet from a younger age than those in non-Clean Team households, and their faeces were thus more often disposed of safely. Soap and water were more frequently found at the latrine in Clean Team households than in latrine-owning non-Clean Team households.

Use of Clean Team toilets is likely to reduce faecal contamination of the environment through safer child defecation and stool disposal practices, and may increase the opportunity for post-defecation handwashing with soap.

Chinese cities have undergone a process of urbanization that has resulted in significant urban sprawl in the past 20 years. This paper uses the “ecology of actors” framework to analyse the interactions among various state, market and civil society players that result in excessive land conversion from agricultural to urban use. The paper shows that under the existing institutional settings, the interests of most actors involved in the process are aligned towards greater land development and growth. The more land is developed, the more land lease revenue for the local government, the more profit for developers, and the more opportunities for compensation for farmers. Planners have been powerless to apply long-term planning principles. There is a need to change the underlying rules of the game so that environmental impacts of land conversion are fully taken into account in the future economic calculations of actors involved in the process.