Planners, blended (in)formality and a public interest of fragments

ABSTRACT

Planners need to manage the plurality of everyday living conditions faced by monetary poor communities in South African cities. Here, we develop the concept of blended (in)formality to move beyond binary approaches which classify these communities as having either formal or informal status. Drawing on McFarlane’s (2018, 2021) notion of fragments, we explore how formal planning and spontaneous unplanned urban interventions do not merely co-exist but work together. We formulate a public interest of fragments to demonstrate how communities can benefit from approaches to planning which employ a more fluid understanding of the interactions between the formal and informal.

KEYWORDS:

• Planners
• blended (in)formality
• fragment
• public interest
• South Africa

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council [ES/P00198X/1].