Urban Informality and Negotiated Space

The scarcity of public space in the densely built-up city of Dhaka results in the remaining spaces being used intensively, especially for economic activities but similarly so for social and religious purposes. An analysis of public spaces reveals that these are produced by society and that rules of access are negotiated among users. In this paper, I analyze how urban informality as an “organizing logic” results in a specific mode of the production of space and thus in continuously changing spatialities of power. Based on the analysis of negotiations of access arrangements to public space at one specific locality I propose to conceptualize informality as part of a triad of three interwoven “spaces” which shape everyday life experienced in a specific place: statutory space, informal space and negotiated space. This analytical framework is intended to contribute to an understanding of how accessibility and use rights of public space are established in the megacity of Dhaka.