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

Alison Brown, Colman Msoka and Ibrahima Dankoco
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Alison Brown: Cardiff University, UK
Colman Msoka: University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Ibrahima Dankoco: Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar, Sénégal

Urban Studies, 2015, vol. 52, issue 12, 2234-2249

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.

Keywords: human rights; informal economy; property rights; public space; street trade (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:52:y:2015:i:12:p:2234-2249

DOI: 10.1177/0042098014544758

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