Work

Beyond the Policy-Implementation Gap: How the City of Johannesburg Manufactured the Ungovernability of Street Trading

Year: 2018

Type: article

Abstract: Contemporary cities are said to have become ‘ungovernable’, especially in the Global South. They are certainly more difficult to govern due to the complexification of states’ apparatus (under the double dynamics of neoliberalisation and decentralisation), cities’ larger size, massive poverty, and informality. Yet, the ungovernability thesis arguably stems from a theoretical shift, from local government to urban governance, that has rendered the questions of steering, political choices, and accountability almost impossible to conceptualise. Unpacking the policy instruments used to govern street trading in Johannesburg, the paper shows that its so-called ‘ungovernability’ was largely manufactured by municipal choices.

Source: The Journal of Development Studies

DOI: 10.1080/00220388.2018.1460468

Author: Claire Bénit-Gbaffou

Institution: University of the Witwatersrand

Language: English

Topic: Urban Planning and Governance

Subfield: Urban Studies

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Peace, justice, and strong institutions, Sustainable cities and communities

Open Access status: green

Funder: National Research Foundation