Formal Institutions and the Production of Informal Urban Spaces
Special issue of the Geography Research Forum – In order to advance knowledge on a rarely studied field in geography of informality like power on the formal/informal continuum, it is necessary to discard the notions that there is a clear dichotomy between formality and informality, that informality characterizes the poor, and that public institutions always oppose informality. On the contrary, we consider it essential to start from different notions: the formal/informal continuum in the production of space; the continuous construction and reconstruction of categories of legitimacy and legality; the existence of informality in many sectors and types of development; and the exploitation of informal techniques by formal institutions in order to control territory and society.
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Reading Development 