ENTERPRISES IN NEIGHBOURHOODS: INFORMAL ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES IN FORMAL RESIDENTIAL AREAS

Abstract

The peculiar stance of Africa as the least urbanized and the fastest urbanizing continent in the twenty-first century makes it top on global urbanization debates. Though the qualification of Africa’s urbanization as rapid has been debated, yet it remains the fastest urbanizing continent and so deserves some focus. In contrast with global North urbanization, global South’s urbanization challenges are not being tackled adequately with strategically planned solutions, resulting to intensified challenges. One major unmatched urbanization challenge especially in African cities is unemployment.  The result of the unmatched approach to the unemployment challenge in Africa is the proliferation of informal enterprises. Nigeria’s over population makes her unemployment and informality case unprecedented. Nigeria’s predominantly residential-based informal economy necessitates the focus of this paper on informal enterprises in formal residential areas using Uwani layout, a typical formal, planned neighbourhood of Enugu city in Southeast Nigeria as case study. The paper argues that the attitude of African governments and her development agencies towards informal economy especially in residential areas need to be switched from the current neglect/confrontation to co-operation for sustainable development to be effective in African cities where informal economy has become a resilient feature. The paper employed quantitative and qualitative research methods to examine the informal enterprises in Uwani, effects of the enterprises on the planned neighbourhood and proposes practical measures city-managers could adopt to ensure elimination of/minimal distortion of the environment while sustaining the enterprises of residents. The paper shows how informal enterprises have become instrumental in ensuring functional and effective neighbourhoods and emphasizes that a positive and synergic approach by urban planners to enterprise operations will unravel many unexploited potentials of informal enterprises and contribute to sustainable development in Africa.