In relation to African and Latin American cities we have begun thinking about informality and its relation to inequality. Informality refers to economic activity like working under the table, to housing, such as squats and self-built shacks as we saw in Maquilapolis, and to alternatives to government service provision, like the example of people purchasing water from trucks that we saw in the video on Mexico City. In this week’s material we considering rethinking questions of formality and informality in relation to African cities where informality actually dominates local economies and settlements.
Drawing on forms of informal activity you read about in the article “Boomtown Slum” in this post please discuss forms of urban informality–the DIY city–that you have witnessed or taken part in here in Philly or elsewhere, and how you think they are related to broader society. Please include a discussion of both informal economic activity and informal settlements. What might be the relationship of these forms of informal activities to income inequalities in cities? What do you make of the persistence of these forms of informality in a place like Philadelphia? (One page)
2nd PAGE:
Choose two of the six themes from the following list and address both of them in your post in relation to the film MaquilapolisLinks to an external site.. You should answer the following: How are they depicted? What is the argument the film is making? How do they relate to the broader themes of this course? You can also comment on the artistic/aesthetic elements of the film. You should post at least 2 paragraphs for each theme.
Health implications of maquiladoras
Workers rights
Environmental clean-up
Organizing women
Migration
Mobility of Production
Last Completed Projects
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