Producing and contesting the formal/informal divide: Regulating street hawking in Delhi, India

Seth Schindler

Urban Studies, 2014, vol. 51, issue 12, 2596-2612

Abstract: There is a consensus that urban development schemes in India bear little resemblance to the well-thought-out plans of their genesis, and that the boundary between formal/informal is often blurry. I seek to contribute to this literature by showing how, in spite of efforts to implement a regulatory scheme, street hawking in Delhi remains highly informal and in a state of negotiated (im)permanence. I compare two recent conflicts over street hawkers’ use of public space, which demonstrate that power is dispersed across a range of sites and rests with a number of state and non-state actors. I argue that preconceived notions of ‘formality’ and ‘informality’ are of little value in understanding urban processes, and instead it is necessary to understand how the boundary between formal/informal is produced and contested both juridically and through everyday practices of enforcement and evasion/subversion.

Keywords: Asia; Delhi; geography; governance; livelihoods; street hawking; urban informality; urban politics; urbanization and developing countries (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:51:y:2014:i:12:p:2596-2612

DOI: 10.1177/0042098013510566

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