A refugee in my own country: Evictions or property rights in the urban informal economy?

Abstract

Normative approaches to urban governance and planning and idealised visions of city space too often result in relocation or forced eviction of street traders and other informal economy workers from public space as a policy of choice. Often a response to a short-term political imperative, clearances take place with little understanding of the interconnected nature of the urban informal economy or widespread poverty impacts that result. As a result, street traders feel ostracised and often describe themselves as refugees. Drawing on a property rights perspective, and the ‘legal empowerment’ paradigm, this paper compares the major clearances of street traders that took place in Dar es Salaam in 2006–2007 and Dakar in 2007, with very different outcomes for traders. It explores the political initiatives behind the clearances, the dual property rights regimes in both countries, and the different roles of social movements, resulting in emerging political power in one city and passive marginalisation in another. Finally it argues that the conceptualisation of public space as a hybrid ‘public good’ would allow for a more appropriate property rights regime for the urban informal economy.

The aftermath of eviction in the Nigerian informal economy

“…Street trade is one of largest sectors within the informal economy, and also one of the most visible and contested domains (Bromley, 1998;Mitullah, 2004;Bromley and Mackie, 2009). Official policy towards street trading swings from benign neglect to forced evictions, with evictions often based on idealised neoliberal city images that overlook the importance of the urban informal economy and its contribution to urban livelihoods (Brown et al, 2014). Often clearances are politically instigated, for example city mayors may be elected on the basis of a commitment to rid the streets of traders (Transberg Hansen, 2004;King, 2006;Potts, 2007).…”

“…Street trade is often characterised by urban authorities and elites as chaotic, unorganised, or crime-ridden, and seen as an anathema to the broad political and economic ideals of ell-pla ed, fu tio i g a d att a ti e ities Ma kie et al 2017: 63). While traders often face shortterm evictions only to return in a few hours, large-scale clearances pursued with force and heavily policed are also commonplace (Skinner, 2008b;Brown et al, 2014). Displaced traders are sometimes offered alternative sites but these are often remote from customers and rarely constitute a viable alternative (for example see Bromley, 2000;Swanson, 2007;Donovan, 2008;Bromley and Mackie, 2009;Carrieri and Murta, 2011;Mackie et al 2014).…”

“…Economic arguments include tax avoidance and unfair competition with formal enterprises (de Soto, 1989;Kinyanjui, 2014), and notably the eed to t a sfo the i age of the it B o le , ; Do o a , Brown et al, 2014;Njaya, 2014) to attract foreign investment and promote economic growth, or protect prime property by removing competing o u ul adja e t la d uses that a u de i e la d alues. I this vision, street trading has no space and is perceived as traditional or backwardassociated with disorder or crime and an impediment to a clean and well-managed city.…”

Crisis de la vivienda, movimientos sociales y empoderamiento: una revisión sistemática de la literatura

“…En el análisis de dos ciudades argentinas se propone plantear la cuestión de los desalojos no solo en el valor comercial de terrenos sino también en la esfera de la discriminación de la que son objeto las poblaciones en condiciones de vulnerabilidad (Amigo, 2009). También se apunta que hace falta una combinación de leyes para el derecho al trabajo, una reconfiguración del espacio público y la creación de asociaciones independientes para defender sus derechos (Brown et al, 2015). En el análisis de la evolución de la situación habitacional en España se recalca que se podrían mitigar los desahucios con la dación en pago, con un parque adecuado de vivienda social y con ayudas para pagar el alquiler (Novoa et al, 2014).…”

In a state of slum: governance in an informal urban settlement in Ghana

“…At the same time, it is important to remember that planning narratives for future cities, which frame informality in derogatory terms, provide governments with strong arguments for their upheaval and removal (Brown et al . 2015). Besides, studies of urban governance in informal settlements have also concentrated on illegality and informality as negotiable categories, where political stability increases as state institutions become more tolerant (Scott 1998: 31).…”