‘Displace, Dump and Cage?’: Contested logics of formalization of street trading in Harare and Kumasi

Abstract

This paper examines the contested logics of spatial formalization of street trading in Harare (Zimbabwe) and Kumasi (Ghana), two cities shaped by the complex interplay of rising urban informality, colonial legacies, and modernist urban aspirations. Both cities have witnessed increasing tensions between state-driven urban planning initiatives and the everyday spatial practices of informal street traders, who rely on public spaces for their livelihoods. We argue that the spatial rationalities of urban officials in both cities fundamentally clash with the spatial practices and survival strategies of street traders. Urban authorities view spatial formalization as a governing technology aimed at exerting control over urban space, often justifying it through discourses of order, modernity, and economic development. This logic aligns with broader efforts to sanitize and regulate public spaces, reinforcing exclusionary urban policies that seek to marginalize informal trade in favor of structured, state-sanctioned economic activities. However, from the perspective of street traders, these formalization efforts are experienced as acts of displacement, economic dispossession, and spatial exclusion. Traders contest these interventions by developing their own adaptive strategies, including informal negotiations with authorities, strategic mobility, and collective resistance. However, bold resistance to spatial formalization is more prominent in Kumasi compared to Harare due to different political environment. Our study contributes to scholarly discourse on the power dynamics, urban governance tensions, and the everyday struggles of informal workers in the face of state-imposed spatial formalization.