Two Dimensions of Existence of the ‘Slum’ in the Global City: A Comparative Case Study of Informal Settlements in Nairobi and Mumbai

Abstract

The cities of the Global South have been predominantly approached as dual cities being embedded within the formal/informal dichotomy. This article provides an analysis of the power dynamics of formal and informal, using an example of public space in two informal settlements: Kibera in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dharavi in Mumbai, India. Based on my middle-term ethnographic research conducted in both settlements, I argue that the former binarism of coloniser and colonised has been transformed into the post-independence binarism of formal and informal. I interpret my ethnographic data by using Frantz Fanon’s theory about space and psychology of colonialism. I associate the formal sphere with Fanonian whiteness and the informal sphere with Fanonian blackness. From this perspective, I interpret the development of informal settlements as forcible formalisation. In such a process, by being pushed by the demands of the formality, local patterns of the informality are largely omitted and the elite-designed solutions frequently fail or –  even worse – lead to the deterioration of the inhabitants’ situation.