ABSTRACT
The main aim of this chapter is to introduce basic conceptual issues used in crafting my empirical understandings. It discusses relevant literature on inclusion, exclusion, power and political participation, formality and informality, and poor urban settlements. The existing theoretical discussions helped us to conceptualize and define the major ideas behind this research. This chapter has three sections. First, it looks at the literature on inclusion and exclusion to understand the practices and regulations that can incorporate or marginalize the people. Then, the literature raises the questions of whether the people who live in poor neighborhoods possess political power and how they participate in urban politics. The third section addresses the terminology used to talk about poor neighborhoods. This has encouraged me to use the term “informal” neighborhood as opposed to “slum.” The terminology leads to negative perceptions of these poor neighborhoods, including stereotyping images of the poor as powerless, apathetic, deprived, and helpless people. These stereotypes ignore the dynamic and productive nature of residents in those areas. In this book, I have deliberately used the terms “neighborhoods” and “settlements” instead of “slums.” I have also consciously used the terms “poor” and “informal neighborhoods” in this study to counteract the negative connotations of these words.
