Transforming Informality

Transforming Informality examines the politics of informal settlement redevelopment in China, India, and Brazil. As three of the world's largest emerging economies, these countries have recently experienced rapid urbanization, with a substantial share of their urban population living in unplanned residential areas known as informal settlements. These communities have increasingly become focal points of urban restructuring, yet the purposes, processes, and outcomes of such transformation vary significantly, with profound consequences for the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of urbanites. The book compares the redevelopment of four types of informal settlements across the three countries: urban villages in Guangzhou, China; slums in Mumbai, India; and favelas in Rio de Janeiro and movement occupations in São Paulo, Brazil. It argues that their divergent redevelopment trajectories are shaped primarily by different models of urban governance, through which state and nonstate actors interact to make and implement policy decisions. Building on two key dimensions-effectiveness and inclusiveness-the book develops a typology of urban governance (integrated, directive, contested, and transactional) to explain how governance configurations vary and how this variation produces distinct spatial and social outcomes across countries. As China, India, and Brazil assume increasingly prominent roles in the global economy and world affairs, the comparison of their urban transformation provides a distinctive lens for understanding their broader national development pathways. Drawing on comparative historical analysis and extensive fieldwork, the book offers new insights into urbanization, governance, and citizenship in the Global South.