Abstract
For decades, urban growth in developing countries has been examined through a formal-informal dichotomy. Conceptions of the “informal” urban development have evolved: from a temporary phenomenon to be eradicated, to a solution to unmet housing and services demands, and to a recognition of interdependent practices that overlap with the “formal” ones. Based on empirical evidence from Nairobi, Kenya, this paper examines how informality works and analyzes the governance of shared contested spaces. A long-term longitudinal case study is presented, the informal Toi Market, where data was collected between 2004 and 2016. Semi-structured interviews, focus groups, mapping, and observation from different periods provide insight into the market spatial organization, shedding light on informal-formal links, their underlying dynamics, and governance. Results indicate that urban informality consists of multilevel alliances among diverse stakeholders and is an integral part of, and not opposed to, formal urban development. Those alliances shape both horizontal and vertical structures in which community groups, external groups and institutions operate. Results further suggest that migration and the resulting dynamics of governance networks rooted in complex, and sometimes conflictual identity politics of urban dwellers, including ethnic affiliations, needs to be factored into the matrix of informal urbanism. The paper thus proposes adding the term multilevel informality to the literature on informality, suggesting the use of a concept that better reflects such complexity.
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Notes
- 1.
Natural increase is births minus deaths, which excludes population increase by in-migration and out-migration.
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Acknowledgments
We wish to thank Œuvre Durable (the Canadian Disaster Resilience and Sustainable Reconstruction Research Alliance) for support to the 2016 fieldwork in Nairobi. We particularly wish to thank the Toi Market members who have welcomed the research team and participated in this research project; Patrizia Piras, former member of AOC onlus (Architecture Open Circuit), for volunteering in this case study since 2007 and the School of Architecture and Building Sciences of the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, which contributed to the 2016 fieldwork with a team of four hardworking and passionate students.
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Cardosi, G., Lizarralde, G., Kibue, S.N., Bornstein, L. (2019). Multilevel Informality: Migration, Spatial Organization and Control in the Toi Market in Kibera (Nairobi). In: Asgary, A. (eds) Resettlement Challenges for Displaced Populations and Refugees. Sustainable Development Goals Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92498-4_8
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