Urban Informality and its Explanatory Dimensions

Urban Informality has a great role in deepening the gap between theory and practice in urban planning. The weakness in addressing the dualities surrounding the concept of urban informality and the lack of a comprehensive explanation of its various dimensions are the major gaps in the previous studies. This paper seeks to investigate the impact of Global North and South division on the understanding of urban informality and its dynamics in the different urban contexts. Furthermore, this study tries to dimensionalize urban informality and explain the dynamics of each dimension. Using Web of Science Core Collection as the database, 152 articles have been extracted based on a search of “urban informality”. Applying the inductive latent content analysis method, the texts of selected articles related to the urban informality concept have been analyzed. “The global north and south division and its effect on the understanding of urban informality” and “different dimensions of urban informality and the dynamics of each dimension” are the two core categories that have shaped the theoretical literature of this concept. The first core category is formulated from the interaction between the two major categories including “comparative urbanism and the negation of Global North and South division” and “characteristics of urban informality in the Global North and South”. Negating Global North and South division through comparative urbanism studies, the common belief that urban informality exclusively belongs to the Global South and subaltern has been transformed. In contrast to the previous belief, a new common belief is emerging in the theoretical literature, according to which the Global North is also facing urban informality, and besides, other social classes, especially urban elites, are also involved in the formation of urban informality. The second core category includes six major categories that form the various dimensions of urban informality. The cultural aspect implies, on the one hand, the needed-based urban informality formed by subalterns, and, on the other hand, the desired-based urban informality shaped by the urban upper and middle class. The social aspect can be addressed on two local and global scales. The economic dimension includes an explanation about the common belief of the economic aspect of urban informality and those schools of thought which deny the common belief. The legal dimension considers urban informality as the result of interaction between social classes and the legal system governing society. It addresses the causes for incompatibility of the actions of different social classes with the mechanisms of the legal system. It explains the role of the legal system in shaping urban informality and vice versa. The legal aspect is engaged with the quality and quantity of urban law, regulations, and codes. Therefore, it is needed to rebuild the legal system to move towards a just city. The political dimension is faced with a paradigm shift. Also, it focuses on sovereignty as the main factor in the formation of urban informality. The spatial aspect addresses the relationship between public space and urban informality. Also, it explains the interaction between urban informality and marginal spaces, spaces of exception, and gray spaces.