Challenges of Development & Underdevelopment

Alison Brown, Cardiff University

Development & Underdevelopment in a Globalizing World

Inclusion…?

The Challenges

• Challenges of urbanisation– a critical issue in the Global south

• Increasing prevalence of informal work– poor conditions, irregular income– poor conditions, irregular income

• Government response– varies from neglect to exclusion

• Yet…..new rights-based agendas– coalitions of urban activists and the working poor

• Creating new spaces of inclusion

The future is urban!

• 2011 ⇒ 2050– Global population 7bn ⇒ 9.3bn– Urban population 3.6bn ⇒ 6.3bn– Urban - 69% of total

1. Cities – The Future

• 94% of urban growth in developing countries

• Mega-cities 10m+ common

• 1bn people in slums now ⇒

2bn by 2030 (DESA 2011, DFID 2010)

World Urbanisation Trends

40

50

60

70

80

90

1990

Source: WB (2009) World Urbanization Prospects

0

10

20

30 1990

2020

Migration is focused on cities

• In 2010 - 210 million people

– lived outside their country of birth

• Range of skills

Migration: a Facet of Urbanisation

• Range of skills

– highly skilled to poor

• Global remittances - US$300bn+

• Most vulnerable

– undocumented migrants (women)

(GMG 2010)

Malian migrants in Togo

2. Urban Informal Economy

• Legal activities - partly or fully

outside state regulation

• Informal economy– 60-70% urban jobs– 60-70% urban jobs– 90% new jobs

• Multiple theories – dualists, structuralists– legalists, post-modernists

• Continuum ⇒ legality & illegality

Licensed vendors carts in Chile & Malaysia

Informal EconomyPercentage of Non-Agricultural Jobs

Source: ILO 2011

Manufacturing: soap-making cooperative, Kurasimi, Dar es Salaam

Services: hair salon, Kosovo, Nairobi

Commerce: street market, Hedzranonwé, Togo

Global Phenomenon

China –

Ghana –

Kuamsi railway

China –

non-houku

China –

non-houku

Influenced by global trends…..

African buyers in

Guangzhou, China

Canaan ….

a mis-translation of

Ghana

3. Policy Responses

• City governments at the forefront of

managing the IE

– limited capacity, no funds

• Argue that IE has no legitimacy

• Policy response varies from

– benign neglect to harassment and eviction

Evictions – Widespread

• Global scandal, largely unrecorded

• Recent analysis of web reports for SS Africa– September 11- March 12

• Conflict between street vendors and police• Conflict between street vendors and police– Over 200 web reports in 17 different countries

• Terminology– street cleansing

– ‘decongestion’

• Poverty implications immense

Evictions, Kampala, Sept 2011

The Headlines

• Malawi: Malawi Mobilize Military to Mop City Streets, NewsTime Africa

(6 Jan 2012)

• Nigeria: Lagos Declares Total Ban on Street Trading, on Street Trading, Vanguard (29 Nov

2011)

• Senegal: Sandaga: le nouveau slogan des Marchands Ambulants: ‘Touche pas à ma table’, Seneweb

(12 Feb 2012)

Street vendors, Dakar, Senegal

4. R2C - New Urban Paradigm

• Many IE workers & others seeking new

ways to claim legitimacy

• Right to the City (R2C) – a powerful

paradigm in struggle against exclusionparadigm in struggle against exclusion

• A core argument

– citizenship should include all urban

inhabitants

UN-Habitat & R2C

Rio 2010

Rio 2010

Rio 2010

Theme - Taking forward the Right to the City

5. Claiming New Spaces of Inclusion

• Many forms of claim…

• Direct action– Dakar

• Collective claim– Durban, Warwick Junction

• Rights-based campaigns– StreetNet International

– Inclusive Cities

Inclisve Cities

• Nine umbrella NGOs, representing 3m+ workers

• Asia, Latin America, Africa

• Create a global platform• Create a global platform

– strengthening organisations

– improving advocacy

– documenting & research

Wastepickers, Belo Horizonte

• SEWA -trade union, registered in 1972

• Organisation of poor, self-employed (women) workers

SEWA – an IC Partner

• Goal - organise women for ‘full employment’

• Combines the labour & cooperative movements

Meeting of catering workers

6. Embracing the Challenge…

• Challenges for urban poor & migrants overlap

• Excluded – city benefits ⇒ safe housing, decent work

• Do the ‘difficult, dangerous, dirty’ jobs in cities• Do the ‘difficult, dangerous, dirty’ jobs in cities

• IE workers and migrants often entrepreneurs – huge investments in their migration/livelhoods project

• Informal work part of the landscape of cities in both N.

and S.

• Not a dual economy, integral to global exchange

…What is inclusion?

• A place to sleep

• The right to a

livelihood

• Freedom to • Freedom to

practice religion

• Integration in

urban life

• ….and http://www.unesco.org/new/en/social-and-human-sciences/themes/urban-

development/migrants-inclusion-in-cities/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBeCoT9D9m8http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBeCoT9D9m8