Zimbabwe’s urban landscape has grappled with the challenges of urban informality for over three decades. This widespread urban informality has become prevalent across various sectors, including trading, housing, manufacturing, and transportation, among others. The economic meltdown that peaked in 2008 in Zimbabwe significantly contributed to the growth of the informal sector (Chagonda, 2016; Dube and Gumbo, 2022). As a result, cities like Bulawayo had over 40% of their total workforce employed in the informal sector in the year 2024 (Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency, 2024). The informal sector, often framed as “survivalist” (Crush et al., 2023), has become a vital source of urban livelihoods, particularly for the urban poor, not only in Zimbabwean cities but also in other cities facing increasing informality. It is worth noting that the growth of informal economies has become a common feature not only in Zimbabwe but in many cities across the globe, including African, Asian and Latin American Cities, with the impact being less felt in the developed countries. Coupled with rapid urbanisation and weak economic fabrics, urban informality in Zimbabwe is bound to present deep-seated urban governance and spatial management challenges.

The concept of informality stems from the term ‘informal’- a common term whose definition is often taken for granted. Simply put, informal means not formal. Informality has constituted itself as a sector in African city contexts (Chigwenya, 2020; Christian, 2016; Dube and Gumbo, 2022; Gumbo, 2013; Kamete, 2013; Matamanda, 2020; Megersa, 2020). When applied to the urban context, informality might mean a lot of things depending on the activity it is applied to (Banks et al., 2019; Kamalipour and Peimani, 2021). In urban studies, urban informality typically refers to various activities, including governance and communication methods, trading, manufacturing, small-scale enterprises, transportation, and housing development. For purposes of this paper, informality refers to the trading activities taking place both in the designated and undesignated sites, such as road sides, public open spaces, roads, pavements, markets, and car parking spaces. Such trading activities do not fall within the purview of national and municipal policies that govern urban affairs and moderate the urbanisation process. From a Global South perspective, the expansion of economic informality in cities is often viewed as ‘survivalist’ (Crush et al., 2023). The ‘survivalist’ viewpoint emanates from the realisation that most informal trading participants are driven into this sector out of necessity rather than choice. By engaging in various informal activities, the traders aim to make a living as a way of navigating through the challenges posed by national economic hardships and lack of employment opportunities in the formal sector (Banks et al., 2019). Nonetheless, the informal economy sector is regularly subjected to the disruptive aspects of any spatial reorganisation strategy that seeks to restore urban sanity and order, often pushing the needs of informal traders to the margins.

Navigating the concept of urban informality within the broader framework of spatial governance elucidates the relationship that develops between municipal/state authorities and informal sector participants. In their scholarly work, some scholars criticize urban spatial governance practices that criminalize informal economic activities (Lemaire and Kerr, 2017; Madanipour, 2015). This is because economic informality has become the hallmark of cities in the Global South (Kamalipour and Peimani, 2021; Kamete, 2013), which contributes to the functionality of urban economies. In many African cities, economic informality plays a crucial role in sustaining urban daily life by providing vital goods and services (Banks et al., 2019), despite often being framed as ‘disorderly’ (Kamete, 2013).

From the negative connotations associated with urban informality emanates the rejuvenated energy to restore order and sanity in cities (Roy, 2005). Moreover, the notion of sanitized cities also illuminates the implications of interventionist urban spatial governance strategies. In seeking to align urban economic informality, interventionist urban spatial governance strategies typically utilise planning laws and regulations as tools to ensure the optimal utilisation of spaces (Berrisford and Kihato, 2006; Dube et al., 2023). Thus, city centre decongestion initiatives often involve the weaponisation of planning regulations, displacing informal traders from overcrowded zones, such as the city centre. The spatial reforms of this nature usually overlook the economic contributions of informal trading as a sector, while perpetuating spatio-economic inequalities (Madanipour, 2015) resulting from spatial re-planning that will not favour all traders, particularly those pushed to marginal areas, which experience restricted access to customer bases.

Intersecting urban informality and spatial exclusion raises awareness of the sustainability and inclusivity of urban spatial reorganisation strategies (Song, 2016). The spatial and economic marginalisation of informal traders resulting from these spatial reorganization activities usually disrupts their business activities (livelihoods) and exacerbates the broader socio-economic fragmentation of urban communities. As informal economic activities are pushed to the margins, the resilience and adaptability of informal traders are put to the test (Alessandria, 2016; Madanipour, 2015; Song, 2016), often leading to intensified skirmishes with city authorities and an increase in illegal trading practices. To achieve more equitable urban community environments, it is necessary to rethink urban spatial governance strategies in a way that legitimises urban informal economies.

The sustenance of informal sector trading work is generally embedded in social networks, geographical economic viability, and spatial proximity to markets. Any municipal intervention that seeks to spatially reorganize urban economic informality may displace informal traders and disrupt the relationships necessary for business sustainability. Such displacement typically disrupts well-established social and business networks, compelling informal traders to adopt a survivalist coping strategy (Skinner, 2008). The survivalist mode usually begets resistance (Crush et al., 2023; Tamukamoyo, 2009). From an economic informality standpoint, resistance, as theorized by Kamete (2013), manifests itself through an everyday act of non-compliance with city statutes and regulations that govern the use of space and the conduct of informal trading. This situation results in acute illegal trading.

It can thus be noted that, as Mago (2018) has observed, an intricate association exists between informal trading, social capital/networks, and physical proximity to markets. The well-established relationships between the informal traders and their community of customers lead to spatial embeddedness, which fosters a sense of belonging and identity in certain urban spaces. When urban authorities roll out city decongestion strategies, the resultant disruptions become multifaceted (Babb et al., 2020). The economic activities of informal traders are not only physically displaced, but their social fabric, which is essential for business sustenance, is also undermined. Consequently, many informal traders are driven into unfamiliar trading spaces where they will lack the usual level of customer support. Therefore, they are likely to resort to alternative strategies to evade the city’s regulatory enforcement machinery as a coping mechanism (Chigwenya, 2020; Donovan, 2008). Literature suggests that these coping mechanisms often reflect high levels of desperation in an attempt to evade systemic marginalisation resulting from spatial governance strategies. The ability of the informal traders to remain in business highlights resilience against adversity (Mehmood, 2016; Zhang and Li, 2018).

Resilience, as theorized by several scholars (Reyers et al., 2022), has multiple meanings in various contexts. With its origins stemming from ecology (Holling, 1973) in the 1970s (Arup, 2014), the available literature highlights that the term resilience has been defined several times (Barnes and Nel, 2017). The multiplicity of definitions for resilience denotes that the concept is fluid and adaptable, which makes it elusive. The concept is not straightforward, as it has been defined in various operational ways by different researchers (Reyers et al., 2022). The concept can, therefore, be used in varying ways by different research communities to suit their respective research interests, and the meanings can thus vary from their common usage (Dalziell and McManus, 2004). The concept of resilience, when applied to cities, can be simply defined as the capacity of a city to rebound from destruction (Campanella, 2008). This destruction stems from the fact that cities have always faced risks, and those that have existed for centuries, despite the unpredictability and complexity of disasters, including health pandemics, have demonstrated their resilience (Arup, 2015). According to Zhang and Li (2018), urban resilience is defined as a process of monitoring, maintaining, facilitating, and recuperating a virtual cycle between ecosystem services and human wellbeing through intensive effort under external influencing factors. Mehmood (2016) aligns resilience with a proactive urban planning system. In his opinion, resilience can be achieved through continuous learning, robustness, innovative ability, and a willingness to adapt to change.

For this paper, resilience is defined as the ability (of a city) to withstand the pressure emanating from the pressing urban stressors, such as informality. The quest to address urban stressors has necessitated the inclusion of resilience as a key objective in urban planning and management, both in the developing and developed worlds. When informal traders display resistance to disruptive urban spatial reorganisation strategies, they typically continue to operate their businesses. When their business continues to thrive, whether by hook or by crook, it can be said that they are displaying the much-praised urban resilience. Thus, their resistance would not be merely an act of defiance but a strategic response to the dislocation of their livelihoods, which begets urban resilience. Ultimately, the interplay between economic informality disruptions and resistance to spatial rearrangement reveals the complexities of urban informality.

We employ an integrative analytical framework to examine the twin processes of spatiality in informal trading and disruptions arising from Bulawayo’s city decongestion strategy. Spatial justice, the right to the city, and the sustainable livelihoods approach are integrated to develop an analytical framework that unpacks how physical planning systems perpetuate systemic marginalisation and exposes the contradictions between technocratic urban spatial governance and the survivalist essentials of urban economic informality. The spatial justice paradigm emphasizes the equitable and fair distribution of resources and opportunities across space (Fainstein, 2016; Moroni, 2020). Thus, this paradigm has a spatial dimension that makes it relevant to critique or unmask the deeply embedded inequitable outcomes associated with ‘order-making’ of spatial re-planning of economic informality in Bulawayo. For this paper, the spatial justice demands scrutiny of how city authorities set out technocratic rhetoric (“city centre decongestion”) to [legitimise the displacement of informal traders who are generally labelled as “disorderly” (Madanipour, 2015)].

In a complementary fashion, the right to the city paradigm rhymes with the spatial justice paradigm (Szpak, 2016). The former portrays urban space as a shared resource that should be shaped by all urban inhabitants, not just the elites (ibid). This analytical lens positions Bulawayo’s informal traders as active and key stakeholders contesting exclusionary spatial governance, whose outcome is the destabilisation of their livelihoods. The disturbing nature of city interventions to the informal traders’ livelihoods necessitates the application of the SLA. In this paper, SLA contributes to the conceptualization of the interplay between disruptions, adaptations, and resilience (outputs) (Chambers and Conway, 1992), which informal traders often experience frequently. Adaptation resembles the throughputs (processes in the SLA terms), whereas outputs represent resilience (Chambers and Conway, 1992; Morse and McNamara, 2013). More importantly, the SLA emphasizes social capital as one key component of sustainable urban livelihoods (Evans, 2002). As such, this highlights the disturbing aspect of the municipal spatial reorganisation on informal traders who may benefit from local community networks that support their clientele base. Thus, the chosen tripartite framework considers Bulawayo’s city decongestion strategy as a source of spatial destabilisation to urban livelihoods, which provokes resistance (which begets resilience) by the traders. The growth of resistance (an indication of the drive towards economic informality resilience) indicates the propensity of urban systems to restore to the state of equilibrium. From an urban livelihoods perspective, the status of equilibrium denotes sustainable urban livelihoods as postulated by SLA.

Findings show that the initiative to restructure the spatiality of economic informality in Bulawayo was triggered by the influx of illegal informal traders in the city centre. Thus, to properly plan for the economic informal activities, municipal authorities designated newly planned trading sites in both the CBD and other zones, such as medium- to low-density suburbs and high-density suburbs. To decongest the city centre, as shown in Table 1, over 10,000 trading bays were created in high-density areas, whereas 1,825 trading bays were created in medium- to low-density suburbs.

Despite the creation of more trading bays in the high-density residential zone, findings reveal that Bulawayo’s CBD remains the most preferred zone by traders, as it has the highest uptake of 2,642 bays out of the total of 2,698 CBD planned bays. Thus, the CBD space uptake of the designated space is at 97.9%. The high occupancy rate of the CBD by the informal traders in Bulawayo defies the city’s drive towards a decongested city centre.

The spatial distribution of planned informal trading sites in Bulawayo is shown in Figure 2. The same map denotes the distribution of the shopping centres, which, according to the new policy, are now required to accommodate informal trading sites in order to decongest the city centre. A bi-sectional view of Bulawayo city reveals that trading sites are predominantly located in the high-density residential suburbs and the city centre, as illustrated in Zone A of Figure 2. On the contrary, both planned trading sites and shopping centres are scarce in Zone B, which is mainly comprised of medium to low-density suburbs in Bulawayo. The impact of this outlook on the marginalisation of informal economic traders is explained in detail in the ‘Population Density and Marginalisation Effect’ subsection.

To unpack the interplay between distance and marginalisation, the study investigated the role and influence of distance from the city centre on informal trading markets. The distance factor plays a crucial role in determining the market behaviour of any business, mainly due to accessibility and concentration tendencies of human traffic (Amidi and Fagheh Majidi, 2020). As shown in Figure 3, informal traders located far from the city centre, in the low to medium-density suburban zone, suffer from serious spatially induced economic marginalisation due to the low population density that supports their businesses. Image ‘D’ in Figure 3 shows a deserted informal trading site in Leeside due to a very low number of customers. The site is situated in the emerging medium- to low-density suburbs of Bulawayo city. The marginalisation of informal traders, stemming from municipal spatial restructuring of economic informality, is also evident in places such as Njube (see picture ‘A’) and Nketa 9 (see picture ‘C’) shopping centres. Both cases involve shunned trading sites due to low customer volumes that cannot support the business. The same type of marginalisation is experienced in the Mashumba trading site in Mzilikazi, where only one informal trader was found operating from the planned trading bay. The trader lamented the lack of customers at the site, a situation that led other traders to return to the CBD to engage in illegal trading. She had this to say:

It can thus be noted that the Bulawayo municipality’s spatial restructuring exercise of informality brought about the marginalisation of economic informality, as illustrated in Figure 4. To further understand the marginalisation effect of the spatial restructuring exercise in Bulawayo, the economic viability analysis in relation to distance from the centre was taken into consideration. We analysed the size of the clientele base in different distance zones that we created in Figure 4. The outcome is expressed in Table 2, which shows a cross-tabulation of the number of clients per day at trading sites, categorized by distance zones.

As shown in Table 2, the 0–3 km zone appears to be the most economically lucrative, as indicated by the highest number of respondents, which is 57, who underscored that they receive 10–20 clients per day, whereas respondents received as many as 40–50 clients per day in this zone. On the contrary, and as an indication of the distance effect, the number of clients gradually decreases as one drifts from the city centre, as illustrated in Table 2. For instance, in the 16-18 km distance zone, which is the furthest, there are no respondents who received between 20 and 50 customers per day. Only 3 respondents received 10–20 customers in this distance zone, whereas 4 indicated that they received fewer than 10 clients per day. The size of the clientele base declines as one moves away from the city centre. This data illustrates the relationship between client traffic and proximity to the centre, indicating that locations within a 3 km zone attract a significantly high number of clients compared to those that are far from the CBD. Thus, informal traders located far from the city centre are marginalised due to limited traffic volumes of clients.

Based on the cross-tabulation of the average number of clients per day across different distance zones (refer to Table 2), a Chi-squared test of independence was conducted to assess whether there is statistical evidence of an association between the average number of clients and the distance zone. Table 3 show the results of Chi-Square Tests.

Chi-Square tests of enterprise location distance zone and average number of clients per day variables was performed. The tests were based on the following hypothesis:

Null Hypothesis (H₀): There is no association between distance from the CBD and the average number of clients per day in given distance zones.

Alternative Hypothesis (H₁): There is an association between distance from the CBD and the average number of clients per day in given distance zones.

As shown in Table 3, the Pearson Chi-Square results of the p-value of 0.688 that is much greater than the typical alpha level of 0.05 indicates that there is no statistically significant association between the two variables tested. This means we fail to reject the null hypothesis that distance from the CBD does not influence the average number of clients per day as one moves away from the CBD, suggesting that the clientele base that supports the informal enterprises is not impacted by the distance factor. Other factors, such as transport nodal points (where people congregate) and residential density, imply a huge clientele base for the local informal enterprises. In line with the Chi-Square results, the p-value for the likelihood ratio of 0.649 similarly indicates no significant association between these two variables. This supports the conclusion drawn from the Pearson Chi-Square test.

To further understand the role of distance in the marginalisation of informal economic activity, we cross-tabulated the distance zones with the informal traders’ willingness to relocate to other, better trading sites. Table 4 denotes the cross-tabulation of distance zones in relation to informal traders’ willingness to relocate to other economically viable sites.

Within a 0–3 km distance from the centre zone, as shown in Table 2, only 31 informal traders indicated a willingness to relocate, whereas 93 are content with trading from the CBD. Of the 31 traders, none indicated that they want to leave the city centre, but only preferred to be relocated to the 5th Avenue market, which is the busiest marketplace in Bulawayo. This suggests that other informal traders operate within the CBD but still feel that their designated trading site suffers from marginalisation due to the low volume of pedestrian traffic. Such places include the Parirenyatwa-1st Street market as well as the Lobengula Street-Masotsha Ndlovu trading site. Furthermore, as presented in Table 2, there are more informal traders operating within the 4 to 18 km zone who wish to be relocated to more economically viable trading sites than those who wish to stay in this distance zone. In this 4 to 18 km trading zone, a total of 68 traders interviewed wish to be relocated compared to a total of 20 traders who are adamant about not relocating. In an attempt to understand why some traders were adamant about being relocated, despite the distance from the city centre, findings reveal that the cost of space in the CBD and the conveniences associated with trading within residential areas influenced the locational decision of the informal traders. In narrating their case, one trader who sells their wares in front of their residential property had this to say:

It can be noted that whilst the CBD is seemingly a preferred trading zone, high-density areas are also preferred by some informal traders who enjoy social capital benefits. Informal traders are attracted to high-density suburbs for several reasons. These areas typically have a higher concentration of potential customers, resulting in increased foot traffic and sales opportunities. They also foster strong community ties and social networks among and between traders and their customers. Additionally, operational costs are often lower in these neighborhoods compared to prime central business district locations, with flexible rental agreements easing financial burdens. The specific preferences of residents in high-density areas create demand for tailored goods and services, enhancing these locations’ appeal.

Population density was considered another strong indicator of the marginalisation effect of the spatial restructuring exercise on economic informality activity. This would mean that traders allocated space in areas of higher population concentrations had a better chance of making a profit than those relocated to areas of low population density. Figure 3 shows the distribution of trading sites in relation to population density in Bulawayo.

Using housing data, a GIS application was used to create a residential density value map, which was superimposed over the space where the distribution of planned trading sites was plotted, as shown in Figure 3. Densely populated areas are denoted in red, whereas areas with scant population are denoted in yellow. Similarly, there are higher concentrations of planned informal trading sites in Zone A than in Zone B, primarily due to the higher population density, as indicated by the highest value in Figure 3. Thus, BCC strongly considers residential density in the planning and distribution of informal trading sites across space, despite instances of some trading sites being located in very marginal areas.

The re-planning of spaces of informal trading and the enforcement of regulations thereof is considered disruptive by some informal traders. Mostly, such traders do not abide by the municipal regulations of the informal sector. The study revealed that informal traders, who are often opposed to highly planned and regulated economic activities, devised coping strategies to ensure their businesses thrived. As part of the coping strategy, some traders preferred to operate on an illegal basis. The study found that one form of illegality is engaging in mobile trading, where some traders preferred to sell their wares whilst moving around the CBD. Some preferred to change trading spots by switching to sites where pedestrian traffic volume is experienced over a given time span. For instance, the traders interviewed indicated that the TM Hyper and Egodini sites generally experience a high volume of pedestrian traffic when people leave work at around 4:30 p.m. According to one trader, this is the time when municipal police are also taking a break, and traders do not experience arrests by law enforcers. One trader who practised mobile selling reported that:

Another illegal trader who falls within the category that changed trading spot (particularly the time-based spatial changes) had this to report to us:

Thus, the marginalisation effect is not only felt in the peripheral areas, which are outside the CBD, but also in some areas within the CBD. This is due to differences in pedestrian traffic, which has triggered illegalities in informal trading, including mobile trading and ‘nomadic’ trading tendencies. Such strategies are devised to circumvent the marginality effect, which is both space-bound and human-induced (particularly through law enforcement blitzes).

This paper suggests several pathways for the inclusive spatial patterning of informal economic activities, emphasising key principles to enhance urban integration. Central to these pathways is the placement of the needs and experiences of urban citizens, regardless of their socio-economic class. This principle mirrors successful approaches observed in various global contexts, where inclusive planning results in more equitable urban environments. Furthermore, prioritizing buy-in throughout the planning process through collaborative workshops can foster stakeholder engagement, a strategy successfully implemented in cities like Barcelona and Medellín, where local participation has led to robust community support for urban initiatives.

Enhancing clarity in policy communication is essential; translating abstract strategies into relatable stories helps demystify complex policies for residents. Additionally, incorporating visuals and storytelling can create compelling narratives around informality as a sector, a method effectively utilised in awareness campaigns across African cities, fostering greater understanding and acceptance of informal economic contributions. Early engagement of stakeholders is crucial to ensuring the plan’s relevance and garnering strong support, as evidenced in participatory urbanism models employed in various urban settings. Collectively, these pathways represent a new approach to spatial planning that cohesively integrates informal economic activities, addressing the unique challenges that urban informality presents.