Informal urbanism and complex adaptive assemblage

Abstract

Informal urbanism, from informal settlements to economies and street markets, is integral to cities of the global South -economically, socially, environmentally and aesthetically. this paper seeks to unfold and re-think this informal/formal conception using two interconnected theoretical frameworks. First is assemblage theory derived from the work of Deleuze and guattari, in which a series of twofold concepts such as rhizomic/tree and smooth/striated resonate with the informal/formal construct. Second is theory on complex adaptive systems, in which dynamic and unpredictable patterns of self-organisation emerge with certain levels of resilience or vulnerability. these approaches are drawn together into the concept of a complex adaptive assemblage, illustrated with brief snapshots of urban informality drawn from Southeast asian cities. the challenge is to develop multi-disciplinary, multi-scalar methodologies to explore the ways in which informality is linked to squatting, corruption and poverty on the one hand, and to growth, productivity and creativity on the other.

New Wenzhou: Migration, metropolitan spatial development and modernity in a third-tier Chinese model city

“…Specifically, the urban assemblage approach inspired me to think of the spatiality of the city as processual, relational, mobile, and unequal. An assemblage is a whole that is formed from the interconnectivity and flows between constituent parts-a social-spatial cluster of interconnections between parts wherein the identities and functions of parts and wholes emerge from the flows among them (Dovey, 2012). The process of migration and settlement has been one of the flows and place making factors in the globalizing world.…”

Who Governs the 'Ungovernable'? Examining Governing Relations in Urban Informality

“…Some planning scholars challenge this dystopian and dualist perspective by looking into the formal-informal nexus in relation to planning and policy-making (Dovey, 2012;Friedmann, 2005;Hackenbroch, 2011;Marx, 2009;McFarlane, 2012;Miraftab, 2009;Porter, 2011;Roy, 2009;Yiftachel, 2006). In the Asia-Pacific region, for instance, the United Nations has recognized how workers and enterprises move along the formal-informal continuum (UN Habitat & UN ESCAP, 2015).…”

“…This view connects to a growing perspective that regards informality not as a separate sector but rather a series of transactions that link different economies, spaces, and relations to one another (Donovan, 2008;Dovey, 2012;Roy, 2005). Informality, Roy and AlSayyad (2004) claim, indicates an organizing logic, a system of norms that governs the process of urban transformation itself.…”

“…First, I follow the enmeshed reading of informality issues -as evident in the work of McGee (1973), Roy (2005, and Dovey (2012), among others -which were presented in Section 2.2.2 above. In other words, post dualist lens sees informal economic activities as inherently linked to formal and state-regulated economic transactions (Recio et al, 2017).…”

“…While the prevalent perspective highlights the contrasting features between formality and informality (Flock & Breitung, 2016;Geertz, 1963;Hanser, 2016;Rukmana, 2011;Santos, 1979;Sethuraman, 1981), the alternative view contends that these two constitute an interlocking system (Dovey, 2012;McGee, 1973;Portes, 1983;Roever, 2016;Stavenhagen, 1965). These divergent ideas affect, and are manifested in, policies on urban informality, particularly in the context of street hawking in the global South.…”