Advancing Research on Urban Informality

Penn IUR is fostering cross-disciplinary exchange among early-career researchers on the topic of urban informality through a new research initiative: the Penn IUR Forum on Urban Informality. Urban informality—individuals’ negotiation of jobs, shelter, and public services outside of customary legal and regulatory institutions—is exploding around the world, especially in rapidly urbanizing places and places with high rates of poverty. “Informality is a growing and seemingly intractable problem, but there are solutions and this forum will help study the problem and solutions currently being advanced,” says Penn IUR Co-Director Susan Wachter. 

Part of the Penn IUR Lab on Sustainable Development and Informality, the forum convenes graduate and post-graduate researchers across disciplines to explore the way informality is shaping sustainable urban development. “Right now we meet monthly for peer review of research in progress,” said Kimberly Noronha, a founding member of the Forum and doctoral candidate in City and Regional Planning at the Weitzman School of Design. “We want the group to evolve organically to meet the needs of its members,” she added.

Noronha will be presenting the framework for her dissertation analysis—on the lived experience of urban informality in Ghana and India—in an upcoming meeting. Previous meetings have included presentations on research into how the state engages with informally collected data on water quality in peri-urban Mumbai; findings of a multi-dimensional study of slum neighborhoods in Karachi, Pakistan; and informal mediators to access basic services in a slum in Hyderabad, India.

In addition to the monthly research exchanges, the Forum will hold seminars, structured as dialogues on informality between academics and practitioners, beginning in June 2021 covering informality in settlements, services, livelihoods, water supply and waste, and transportation. Still in the planning phase, the seminar series will be open to the public.

“Informality is an issue of growing global importance that engages many disciplines,” said Penn IUR Co-Director Eugénie Birch. “Since fostering multi-disciplinary research and instruction is at the core of what we do, we’re thrilled to provide support—and access to a global network of experts—to this dynamic group of early career researchers.”

Launched in late 2020, the Forum is already sparking ideas for joint research projects. Indivar Jonnalagadda, a joint Ph.D. candidate in Anthropology and South Asia Studies in the School of Arts & Sciences who is studying informal real estate markets in slums of Hyderabad, India, and Noronha are discussing undertaking an ambitious look at the origin of India’s Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). Indivar said they also hope other members will begin talking about joint projects.

Currently, the Forum totals about 30 members who come from schools across the University of Pennsylvania as well as from Columbia University and Georgia Tech. Membership is open to any graduate or post-doc studying informality. To learn more or to join, visit the Penn IUR website or email Indivar Jonnalagadda.