2023/11/29 by Oluwafemi Olajide · 1 voice
Social Sciences · #Social and Economic Development in India #Urban Planning and Governance #Urban and Rural Development Challenges
paper · pdf · doi:10.1177/20438206231217572
openalex publication_date 2023/11/29 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
This article is inspired by Finn's work which historizes the structure of formal–informal dialectic in Africa, arguing that the origin dates to the colonial era. I extend Finn's argument through the prism of formal–informal as a racialized binary embedded in the coloniality of Africa's socio-spatial policies. Drawing insights from African cities generally and Lagos in particular, I argue that the formal–informal binary has always been a tool of colonial domination, which (re)produces and maintains racial hierarchies and racialized displacement in contemporary times. This provides a useful frame to understand and challenge the hierarchical positioning of informality relative to formality.