Why Cities? Informality as a Way of Life: Challenges to Sustainable Urban Development

On April 24, 2019, Penn IUR, along with the Weitzman School of Design and Perry World House, hosted “Why Cities? Informality as a Way of Life: Challenges to Sustainable Urban Development,” a daylong conference highlighting current research and policy initiatives on informal urbanism and exploring how informality is shaping sustainable urban development. Participants drawn from government, academia, and international NGOs discussed how varied interpretations of informality are shaping efforts to pursue sustainable urban development, both on the local and international scales. Analyzing the diverse methods for measuring urban informality, speakers also examined how decision-makers at various levels of leadership are incorporating informality into their policies and programs.

Panelists included Martha Chen, Affiliated Professor, Harvard Graduate School of Design, Senior Advisor, Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO); James Kwame Mensah, Chief Resilience Officer, Accra Metropolitan Assembly; Janice Perlman, author, Favela: Four Decades of Living on the Edge in Rio de Janeiro; Patricia Holly Purcell, Head of Partnerships, UN Global Compact Cities Programme; Frederick Steiner, Dean, Paley Professor, Weitzman School of Design, University of Pennsylvania; Christopher Williams, Director, New York Liaison Office, UN-Habitat; and Theresa Williamson, Founding Director, Catalytic Communities.

The event also featured case studies prepared by current Penn students. Topics included informal real estate in Mumbai, India; street vending in Johannesburg, South Africa; social enterprise policies in Monrovia, Liberia; mobile banking in Nairobi, Kenya; motorbike usage in Jakarta, Indonesia; community organizations in Nairobi, Kenya; informal employment in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; and urban villages in Beijing, China. In addition, the Penn student presenters collaborated to prepare a Declaration of Urban Informality to be presented at the UN Habitat meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, in May 2019. Key discussion points were the importance of changing stereotypes around informality and incentivizing the sharing of resources; supporting historically and culturally sensitive developments; implementing policies and programs specifically designed for city residents living with forms of informality; improving data collection, dissemination, and use; and facilitating greater integration and coordination of stakeholder institutions.

Support for this program was provided by the Penn Global Engagement Fund and the Office of the Provost University Research Fund in recognition of the Penn Year of Why.