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Claiming the Streets: Property Rights and Legal Empowerment in the Urban Informal Economy

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  • Brown, Alison

Abstract

This paper looks at the concept of law and urban development with a focus on property rights and land, exploring the potential collective rights in the public domain to underpin a more equitable approach to the management of public space and challenge inappropriate regulation that criminalizes the lives of the poor. The focus is on street trade and the informal economy. The hypotheses are that: collective use rights extend to public land and are crucial to the livelihoods of the urban poor; such use provides public good as well as private profit, and legal traditions in sub-Saharan Africa can often accommodate the broad definition of rights entailed. The literature review interrogates debates on property rights, legal empowerment, and public space, to suggest that urban public space should be considered as a common resource where open access remains. Fieldwork draws on comparative studies of Dakar, Senegal, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, based on in-depth interviews with street traders and key informants, and a legal review in each city.

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  • Brown, Alison, 2015. "Claiming the Streets: Property Rights and Legal Empowerment in the Urban Informal Economy," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 238-248.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:76:y:2015:i:c:p:238-248
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2015.07.001
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Elinor Ostrom & Charlotte Hess, 2010. "Private and Common Property Rights," Chapters, in: Boudewijn Bouckaert (ed.), Property Law and Economics, chapter 4, Edward Elgar Publishing.
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    9. Michal Lyons & Alison Brown & Colman Msoka, 2012. "(Why) Have Pro‐Poor Policies Failed Africa'S Working Poor?," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(8), pages 1008-1029, November.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Kohnert, Dirk, 2022. "The impact of Islamist terrorism on Africa's informal economy: Kenya, compared with Ghana and Senegal," MPRA Paper 113603, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Gabriel Hoh Teck Ling & Pau Chung Leng & Chin Siong Ho, 2019. "Effects of Diverse Property Rights on Rural Neighbourhood Public Open Space (POS) Governance: Evidence from Sabah, Malaysia," Economies, MDPI, vol. 7(2), pages 1-33, June.
    4. Thelma de Jager & Mashupye Herbert Maserumule, 2021. "Innovative Community Projects to Educate Informal Settlement Inhabitants in the Sustainment of the Natural Environment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-13, June.
    5. Nogueira, Mara, 2019. "Displacing Informality: rights and Legitimacy in Belo Horizonte, Brazil," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 100837, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Chris Garbers & Guangling Dave Liu, 2017. "Macroprudential policy and foreign interest rate shocks: A comparison of different instruments and regulatory regimes," Working Papers 719, Economic Research Southern Africa.
    7. Lin, Wanlin & Lin, George C.S., 2023. "Strategizing actors and agents in the functioning of informal property Rights: The tragicomedy of the extralegal housing market in China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    8. Nogueira, Mara & Shin, Hyun Bang, 2022. "The “right to the city centre”: political struggles of street vendors in Belo Horizonte, Brazil," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 116876, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    9. Hesam Kamalipour & Nastaran Peimani, 2019. "Negotiating Space and Visibility: Forms of Informality in Public Space," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-19, September.

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