The Forum on Urban Informality Continues to Build a Community of Practice

Launched in late 2020, the Penn IUR Forum on Urban Informality continues to build a community of practice and scholarship around the study of informal urbanism. Currently led by a steering committee including Samuel Geldin, postdoctoral researcher at Penn IUR; Kimberly Noronha, doctoral candidate in the Department of City and Regional Planning; Stephanie Rivera-Kumar, doctoral student, City and Regional Planning; and Anushka Samant, master's candidate, City and Regional Planning, the Forum engages early career researchers and practitioners, in an array of events and workshops that build the membership’s understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing informal settlements.

The students leading the Forum share a deep interest in urban informality, researching different contexts around the globe. Geldin studies climate change adaptation in informal communities in the Phillipines, Noronha’s work focuses on the lived experience of urban informality in Ghana and India, Rivera-Kumar focuses on migration from the Global South to the U.S., and Samant explores the intersection of the built environment, technology, and cities. They see value in bringing together researchers with disparate focus areas to share their scholarship on urban informality.

“We wanted to unify these different disciplines and build a network and community of people who are interested in the subject [of urban informality] and share notes and observations across different regions, perspectives, and fields,” Geldin says.

“Informality is a multi-disciplinary topic of critical importance today,” says Penn IUR Co-Director Eugénie Birch. “Penn IUR is thrilled to provide support—and access to a global network of experts—to this dynamic group of early career researchers.”

The Forum’s membership is primarily composed of Penn students and has doubled in size to 60 people over the past year. At regular meetings, members give short presentations on their research in progress and seek feedback to incorporate into their work.

“Informality poses social, economic and environmental challenges to cities, but there are solutions and this forum will help study the urban innovations being advanced,” says Penn IUR Co-Director Susan Wachter.

The Forum also hosts public events featuring international scholars and practitioners. In October 2022, Chandan Deuskar, a former Penn IUR postdoctoral fellow and now a World Bank urban specialist, engaged Forum members in a discussion about his new book, Urban Planning in a World of Informal Politics.

On March 23, 2023, the Forum will host a 'Conversation on Informality' Seminar, featuring James Mensah, senior lecturer, Department of Public Administration and Health Services Management, University of Ghana Business School, in conversation with Dr. Vincent Kitio, Head of Urban Energy Unit, UN Habitat. The speakers will debate how to combine the concerns of sustainability and needed access to electricity in informal urban settlements. In particular, the seminar features research conducted by Penn IUR Co-Director Eugenie Birch and James Mensah entitled “Powering the Slum” and funded by the Kleinman Centre for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania.

To learn more about the Forum, join its events, or become a member, please visit the Forum’s website.