According to ILO, in 2015, the informal economy accounted for 60% of all economic activities in Sub-Saharan Africa. In 2019, 80% of all employment in Sub-Saharan Africa was in the informal sector (ILO, 2019). This is indicative that the informal economy is at a rise and this poses a serious challenge to policy and especially urban planning. Street vendors face the challenge of being brutally evicted and lack rights to practice their form of livelihood. A gap in policy has also resulted in constant battles between the vendors and the Metropolitan police and general civil unrest within cities (Common Edge, 2017). The informal sector as a whole, suffers a great deal of challenges, yet it is the backbone of most livelihoods, there is a need for the development of inclusive policies that support the informal economy to thrive.
Problem
Most cities in Sub-Saharan Africa were built during the colonial era for a handful of upper-class white residents. Over the years in the post-colonial era, cities have failed to adjust to the ever-changing economic dynamics such as the rise of informality. Meaning, no space for them to trade or legal provisions allowing them to carry out their day to day activities. Like any commercial activity, street vendors are bound by agglomeration factors which pose a challenge to urban planning.
One of the main determining factors of their location has been access to high volume foot traffic, such as bus and taxi terminus or along the traffic corridors to low-income informal settlements. This is because street vendors typically sell small on-the-go cheap products to cater to their mostly low-income clientele living from hand-to-mouth; to low-income customers this reduces their travel time and costs, offers convenience, basic goods, and services. Additionally, they do not have permanent structures to carry out their commercial activities and are therefore subject to the vagaries of the weather. In such cases they are often asked to leave the area where they are operating or are relocated to areas where they feel cannot conduct good business.
What now?
Local governments today are confronted with the challenge of dealing with the informal economy as to whether to upgrade it, formalize it, eliminate it or support it. Interventions that seek to address these options separately have in the process failed or resulted in unintended consequences. For example, the elimination of slums in Khayelitsha, South Africa has resulted in massive protests and infringement on human rights. The UN report on Sustainable Cities states that numerous policy advances that have been attempted in the last decades range from ignoring or aggressively harassing people who live in slums, to interventions intended at defending the rights of slum occupants and assisting them to improve their incomes and living environments; the latter being the more pragmatic because in the absence of formal employment; informal trading becomes a social safety net.
The city of Medellin in Colombia is a classic example of a city that managed to tackle its informality tremendously. Through a participatory process that involved local community involvement, the city has managed to transform the once crime-wrecked slums into vibrant neighborhoods with public parks, libraries, schools, and a remarkable transportation system that connects the community to the rest of the city. Paying special attention to the transportation network, the City of Medellin was able to create connecting escalators in the steep neighborhood of Comuna 13 to promote movement and a cable car that ferries over 40,000 people a day (Reuters, 2015). The local slum dwellers were heavily involved in the construction process of the all-encompassing infrastructure, from design to project implementation. The construction created jobs and improved standards of living for the communities (OECD, 2015). The project brings to light how Medellin used local knowledge to create local solutions that would effectively work to improve the living standards of informal housing. Local businesses also gained from this neighborhood revitalization process because they now had spaces for trade close to road networks with easy access to customers.
As a solution to the lawlessness and marginalization of the informal sector in Africa, I recommend three main interventions to be included in the cities’ strategic plans. The main reason as to why these should be included in the blueprint is because it is unlikely that market forces will produce inclusive cities and benefit street vendors. These interventions will be utilizing the participatory placemaking framework to:
- Create spaces for trade
- Develop statutory laws for the regulation of street vending
- Promote the voices of the informal sector in policy and planning
An inclusive city approach should include approaches; leaning more on formalizing and championing the informal economy with the knowledge that it is a source of livelihood to over 80% of the population.
Drawbacks
These policies may also encounter some drawbacks. They may be confronted by political unwillingness, especially from elected officials who may think that disturbing the status quo and way of life of these important voters may lead to civil unrest, opposition, and failure for them to be reelected. Some street vendors may also be reluctant to move to designated sites and may misinterpret the new regulations as stringent enforcement. Additionally, because of the small profits street vendors make, they may be unwilling to part with a few dollars a month for a vending stall. There is, therefore, a need to develop mechanisms to attract them to these new workspaces (World Economic Forum, 2019). The mistake of mislocation (locating in the wrong place) could push them further away from their customers will further exacerbate their poverty as they incur transport costs from their jobs and places for business, leading to a significant loss in revenue.
Conclusion
The informal economy plays a significant role in the socio-economic development of African Cities. Embedding concepts without taking this into consideration has led to increased inequality and a gap between theory and practice. Municipal strategic planning in Africa requires a new outlook to dealing with this challenge and addressing the setback not from a top-down approach but rather a more participatory bottom-up approach that focuses on the actual needs of the populace. Creating vibrant markets and promoting the voices of the informal sector will go a long way. Taking into consideration that these “wicked” problems might be daunting to deal with due to the high financial needs and the difficulty of convincing governments to change and drop their current strategic plans; the discussion around new policies.
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