Send message to Author

Paper short abstract

I propose the concept “Informal Public Goods” (IPGs), community-driven solutions to limited public services. I compare cases in Belo Horizonte favelas and Cape Town townships to explain why communities facing similar structural challenges display varying levels of agency and sustain different IPGs.

Paper long abstract

Urban development debates increasingly recognise alternative sources of public goods provision when the state fails. This paper introduces the concept of “Informal Public Goods” (IPGs): community-driven solutions to the lack or limited availability of public goods. I examine how communities create and sustain IPGs amid inequality and uneven service delivery with case studies comparing favelas and occupations in Belo Horizonte (Brazil) and townships in Cape Town (South Africa).

At the centre of the paper is the relationship between Structure - the government and its policies - and Agency - the ability of individuals and groups to act. The interplay between structure and agency influences the genesis of IPGs; however, structural components do not determine precise levels of agency. Agency can vary within the same context (for example, IPGs may occur in one township but not in another in the same city). This leads to the core puzzle: why do some communities, despite confronting comparable structural challenges, exhibit varying levels of agency?

I use qualitative research (semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and local documentary sources) to trace how residents improvise and innovate to meet needs, with cases ranging from food provision to sanitation, through informal networks. I also analyse glocalisation dynamics, showing how global ideas and practices are adapted to local realities to produce hybrid solutions.

By centring a bottom-up approach to public goods provision - where communities are the protagonists - this paper contributes to debates on urban informality, grassroots agency, and alternative visions of progress beyond state-centric frameworks.