The urban informal economy, local inclusion and achieving a global green transformation

Brown, Donald A.; McGranahan, Gordon

doi:10.1016/j.habitatint.2015.11.002

Cited by 174 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Electricity access can improve education, by extending the time for studying, and improve human welfare as a consequence of a more amenable life, once the time devoted to domestic activities decreases and spare time increases (Magnani & Vaona, 2016). Poor urban households are mostly engaged in the urban informal economy as they have less skill, less education and less capital (Brown & McGranahan, 2016). The informal economy is an important part of urban economies in the global South (Martinez & Estrada, 2017).…”

Section: Electricity Supply and The Informal Economy In Zambiamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most residents of poor neighbourhoods in the Global South participate in the informal economy by engaging in economic activities with low barriers to entry. Ongoing trends indicate that the non-agricultural informal economy is expanding in urban areas, especially in countries experiencing rapid urbanisation (Brown & McGranahan, 2016). This entails that its capital city, Lusaka, has an increasingly larger number of its poor residents dependent on informal activities that use electricity.…”

Section: Electricity Supply and The Informal Economy In Zambiamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Socio-Economic Effects of Load Shedding on Poor Urban Households and Small Business Enterprises in Lusaka, Zambia

Umar¹,

Kunda-Wamuwi²

2019

EER

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Zambia has in the recent past witnessed an increase in economic activities which has led to an increased energy demand. This increased demand for energy has overshot the hydroelectric power generating capacity. Consequently, the national power utility company, the Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation (ZESCO) instituted nationwide load shedding schedules that last up to 12 hours daily. This development has potentially far reaching social and economic effects on the lives and operations of poor urban residents and small scale business enterprises (SMEs) that routinely depend on stable access to electricity. With a focus on two low income residential areas, namely Ng'ombe and Kalingalinga residential areas, this study explored how residents and SMEs of the capital city, Lusaka have been affected by the recent spate of load shedding in the city. A total of 200 households and 14 SMEs from Ng'ombe and Kalingalinga were interviewed. Results show that load shedding, which occurs daily in the two study sites has caused massive disruptions to the daily lives and operations of the households and small businesses respectively. Over time, the load shedding phenomena has gotten worse and become a major political issue, reflecting the hardships for households and businesses in Zambia. On this basis, this study recommends that the government provides subsidies on alternative energy appliances such as portable diesel solar generators for small business enterprises and more favourable electric tariff rates for business that shift their manufacturing activities to night time so as to reduce demand for electricity during peak periods.

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Section: Electricity Supply and The Informal Economy In Zambiamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Electricity Supply and The Informal Economy In Zambiamentioning

confidence: 99%

Socio-Economic Effects of Load Shedding on Poor Urban Households and Small Business Enterprises in Lusaka, Zambia

Umar¹,

Kunda-Wamuwi²

2019

EER

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“…Future research may be undertaken to examine whether gradual transformation from informal economy to formal economy will have negative impact on green economy (Brown & McGranahan, 2016). A survey should be conducted in both rural and urban areas to identify the nature of green product, consumer awareness, cost benefit analysis and green VSC management.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Various studies show that motivations to adopt comprehensive environmental management system (EMS) practices to reduce negative environmental impact of business operations is positively influenced by relational motivations as firms consider their image, compliance and prevention of environmental incidents as significant drivers to implement EMS practices (Singh, Chen and Wu (2014) observed that different types of enterprises exhibit significant differences in the strength of the impact of perceived benefits, risks, and control of green business on their intention to implement green business, which tends to be influenced by the perceived benefits, while the manufacturing is more affected by the perceived risk and perceived control. There are parallels to formal private sector engagement advocated in relation to the green economy (Brown & McGranahan, 2016). Eusuf and Shahan (2016) commented that RMG sector in Bangladesh can promote green growth without relying on any external support; succeeded in raising awareness about the necessity of green growth.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploratory results of green production, sale, willing to pay and financing: case of Bangladesh

Islam

Ali

Medhekar

2017

Environmental Economics

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Green production, sale, willing to pay and financing are related to green business. Bangladesh, a developing country in South Asia, is the most fertile delta region and identified as one of the front-line countries to suffer from the adverse consequences of climate change. Research question of the study is limited to examining several relationships related to green business production, sale, and willingness to pay. Primary data were utilized to test the hypothesized relationships. Based on the literature review, several conceptual relationships are presented and empirically tested. Findings conclude that production and sale of green products were related to the plan to produce and sell green products in Bangladesh. Consumers who are environmentally sensitive are willing to pay premium prices for green products and purchase these products frequently. Paper recommends that government, civil society organizations and the financial institutions should take a more active role in promoting and encouraging businesses to produce and market green products. Authors suggest that the government should provide incentives to set up community banking in the rural areas including informal sector, micro savings, and investment through green financing, for green production, green transportation and green consumption.

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“…While the gendered issues of informality were not really the focus of this thesis, future research may build on this theme. Urban informal economy is a highly gendered sector (Brown & McGranahan, 2016) and women's concerns need attention as they constitute a significant number in street trading (Brown, 2006a). One emphasis can be on how women and men may have been differently affected by the policies, practices, and the unequal power relations arising from the formal-informal interface.…”

Section: Research Limitations Topics For Future Studies and Reflectmentioning

confidence: 99%

Who Governs the 'Ungovernable'? Examining Governing Relations in Urban Informality

Recio¹

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For several decades now, Metro Manila's Baclaran district has been home to thousands of street vendors who have capitalised on its functions as a commercial centre, a transport node, and a Filipino Catholic devotional site. This presence of informal hawkers, which some government officials consider as an urban blight, has generated a range of policies that seek to manage, if not eradicate, the informal hawkers. Years of street occupancy, however, have enabled the tenacious vendors to enforce grassroots mechanisms to appropriate streetscapes. I refer to this interplay of state interventions and grassroots practices as the formal-informal interface. Seen from an urban planning perspective, the Baclaran context offers an opportunity for scholarly inquiry into how the complex spatio-political ordering and socio-economic realities unsettle the essentialist formal-versus-informal categories of work and state interventions. In sum, these findings reveal how understanding the formal-informal interface contributes to the evolving conceptual and empirical conversations on worlding cities. The Baclaran case shows how worlding practices arise from the interplay of global North-oriented planning ideals and policy approaches, the unequal socio-spatial relations, and the continuing struggle of marginalized street vendors in the global South. These issues require rethinking of policy direction and planning trajectory.iii

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The urban informal economy, local inclusion and achieving a global green transformation

Cited by 174 publications

References 34 publications

Socio-Economic Effects of Load Shedding on Poor Urban Households and Small Business Enterprises in Lusaka, Zambia

Socio-Economic Effects of Load Shedding on Poor Urban Households and Small Business Enterprises in Lusaka, Zambia

Exploratory results of green production, sale, willing to pay and financing: case of Bangladesh

Who Governs the 'Ungovernable'? Examining Governing Relations in Urban Informality

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