ABSTRACT
Drawing on recent informal employment and settlement statistics, this chapter shows that, rather than being an aberration, informality is the norm in Africa. The chapter argues there is a significant dissonance between city aspirations and planning systems, and pervasive informality, and identifies a number of “conventional wisdoms” in planning that need to be challenged. These include notions of the mono-functionality of homes and the role of public space; that informally distributed foods are a threat to consumer health; and that informal workers are not contributing to climate change mitigation and urban service delivery. The chapter suggests a fundamentally different approach to planning practice – bottom-up, incremental, flexible, economically conversant and acutely aware of, and informed by, the specific context and power dynamics. It identifies the need for further detailed case studies of informal work in cities to inform reform of planning laws and practice.
