Urban informality and public space. Erasure of street trade in Cotonou, The Republic of Benin

Seminar paper from the year 2017 in the subject Sociology - Habitation, Urban Sociology, grade: 95, , course: Urban Political Ecology, language: English, abstract: Streets are part of public spaces and for many people constitute the best places for human interactions and for economic activity. This paper analyses streets as center of trading and being part of public spaces, which constitute presently a deeply contested informality in the city of Cotonou. It demonstrates that the perception of public space by authorities in Cotonou is rooted in western modernist discourse and that this perception affects the regulations around street vending and all those who rely on it for a living. It also questions the dynamic relationship between street vending as an informality within the formality of Cotonou, considering the complexity of the two and advocates for an approach that challenges the conception of urban development and informality.