Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

Case Study on Informal Workers in the Public Space of Bogotá, Colombia.

by Juan Sebastián Benítez Bustamante

Examined by Prof. Dr. Astrid Ley (University of Stuttgart) Prof. Dr. Md. Ashiq Ur Rahman (University of Stuttgart)

Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience Case Study on Informal Workers in the Public Space of Bogotá, Colombia.

A Thesis submitted in the Partial Fulfillment for the Requirement of the Degree of Master of Science in Integrated Urbanism and Sustainable Design by Juan Sebastián Benítez Bustamante

Examined by Prof. Dr. Astrid Ley

Prof. Dr. Md. Ashiq Ur Rahman

Chair for International Urbanism at the

Visiting Humboldt scientist

Institute for Urban Planning and Design

University of Stuttgart

University of Stuttgart

09/14/2018

Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience.

Case Study on Informal Workers in the Public Space of Bogotá, Colombia.

A Thesis submitted in the Partial Fulfillment for the Requirement of the Degree of Master of Science in Integrated Urbanism and Sustainable Design

by Juan Sebastián Benítez Bustamante

Examined by Prof. Dr. Astrid Ley Chair for International Urbanism at the Intitute of Urban Planning and Design University of Stuttgart

Prof. Dr. Md. Ashiq Ur Rahman Visiting Humboldt Scientist University of Stuttgart

09/14/2018

Signature

Disclaimer

This dissertation is submitted to University of Stuttgart - Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning (USTUTT) for the degree of Integrated Urbanism and Sustainable Design (IUSD), in accordance to IUSD USTUTT regulations.

The work included in this thesis was carried out by the author during the period from January - September 2018 The author confirms that the work submitted is his own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. Any disputes regarding the copy right of the content is the sole responsibility of the author.

The author holds the right to publish the content in any other format.

09/14/2018 Juan SebastiĂĄn BenĂ­tez Bustamante

Signature

Acknowledgements

Firstly, I am deeply grateful to my supervisors, Prof. Dr. Astrid Ley and Prof.

Dr. Md. Ashiq Ur Rahman, for their incredible dedication, patience and invaluable advices. His admirable vocation for teaching, scientific rigor and his eagerness for transmitting with passion the best values of this profession, will mark without a doubt, my way forward. To my friends from IUSD for whom the words are not enough to thank them for the lessons, that without knowing, they have taught me.

To my parents, MoisĂŠs and Myriam, for embarking with me in every dream and adventure of my life, for being my bastion, my right and left hand, my best advice and for giving me daily more than I deserve. Thank you for giving me in my sister Carolina, my most precious gift. Thank you 'parce' for your spark of craziness and creativity that inspires me daily. To Luisa, the best life companion I could have asked for, for her selfless and constant support in this dream that became ours, I cannot express with words how fortunate I fell to have you by my side. To all my family and friends around the world supporting me and sending me good vibes.

Last but not least, to the informal workers that, without knowing me, trusted me with their stories. It is to people like them that I find motivation to pursue a professional life dedicated in favor of the ones who need it most. This work is a modest tribute to their daily dedication and personal growth despite all odds and a general call to practitioners and policy makers to make people a priority.

Juan Sebastián Benítez Bustamante

Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience. Case Study on Informal Workers in the Public Space of Bogotá, Colombia.

Abstract The informal economy accounts for more than 50% of the non-rural working population in Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa and South and East Asia. From this group, the informal workers in the public space (IWPS) are some of the most affected not only by being constantly exposed to the environment but also being subject of neglection from sectors of the society that perceive this practice as negative or illegal. It is often disregarded their great capacities to respond, recover and prevent in the face of social disturbances and therefore, their level of social resilience. As a component of resilience of communities, the social resilience has raised attention of researchers across a multitude of academic discipline but has been highly associated with environmental studies. However, there is a growing need to articulate the resilient practices in the face of other stressors like social, political or economic disasters. Using the case study of IWPS of Bogotá, this research will provide empiric evidence of the adaptation and survival mechanisms of the IWPS and the inexorable relation between those and the production of social resilience. Ten attributes clustered in five sub-dimensions of Social Resilience were mutually associable with the field of Informal Economy in order to contrast them with the reality of IWPS. For this, 14 semi-structured interviews were conducted to IWPS in two different localities of the city. Field observations and analysis of institutional reports also complemented the qualitative analysis. With the exception of one attribute (Community Engagement), evidence showed positive characteristics of the other nine attributes which can be associated with the production of social resilience. Through synthesizing the observations and their responses, a set of recommendations is raised to articulate the findings with urban resilience agendas

Keywords: Informal economy, informal workers, public space, social resilience, urban resilience, social vulnerabilities.

- Research Statement and Objectives

Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................................... 1 INFORMAL ECONOMY IN THE PUBLIC SPACE AS A DRIVER OF SOCIAL RESILIENCE. CASE STUDY ON INFORMAL WORKERS IN THE PUBLIC SPACE OF BOGOTÁ, COLOMBIA. ............................. 2 ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................................. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS .............................................................................................................. 3 LIST OF TABLES....................................................................................................................... 5 LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................... 6 CHAPTER 1 - RESEARCH STATEMENT AND OBJECTIVES ........................................................... 9 1.1 RESEARCH STATEMENT.............................................................................................................. 9 1.2 OBJECTIVES AND CONTRIBUTION ............................................................................................... 11 1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS ............................................................................................................ 12 1.4 OUTLINE .............................................................................................................................. 12 CHAPTER 2 - THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ............................................................................. 14 2.1 THE URBAN RESILIENCE DISCOURSE ........................................................................................... 15 2.2 VISIONS TOWARDS THE INFORMAL ECONOMY .............................................................................. 19 2.2.1 A brief outlook to the Public Space and its relationship with the Informal Economy 23 2.3 BRINGING THE DEBATES TOGETHER – CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK ................................................... 25 2.3.1 The Social Resilience attributes ................................................................................. 28 2.3.2 Screening of Attributes .............................................................................................. 31 2.3.3 Operational Definitions.............................................................................................. 33 CHAPTER 3 - RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .............................................................................. 38 3.1 DATA COLLECTION METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................... 38 3.1.1 Semi-Structured Interviews........................................................................................ 40 3.1.2 Observation ............................................................................................................... 40 3.1.3 Institutional Reports .................................................................................................. 41 3

Research Statement

3.2 THE SELECTION OF THE PLACE .................................................................................................. 42 3.3 RESEARCH LIMITATIONS .......................................................................................................... 46 CHAPTER 4 - THE SOCIALLY RESILIENT NATURE OF THE INFORMAL ECONOMY IN THE PUBLIC SPACE OF BOGOTÁ............................................................................................................... 49 4.1 SETTING THE CONTEXT ............................................................................................................ 49 4.1.1 A Brief Overview of The Informal Economy in Colombia ........................................... 51 4.1.2 Informal Economy in the Public Space in Bogotá ...................................................... 53 4.2 RESULTS ANALYSIS ................................................................................................................. 56 4.2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 56 4.2.2 Social Demography .................................................................................................... 60 4.2.3 Social Cohesion (Community Bonding) ...................................................................... 64 4.2.4 Social Networks ......................................................................................................... 70 4.2.5 Community Engagement ........................................................................................... 76 4.2.6 Community Shared Values and Attitudes .................................................................. 80 4.2.7 Community Competence - Ability to Embrace Change .............................................. 85 4.2.8 Fair Access to Basic Needs and Services .................................................................... 90 4.2.9 Diverse Skill Set (Diverse Workforce) ......................................................................... 96 4.2.10 Institutional Entrepreneurs.................................................................................... 101 4.2.11 Improvisation......................................................................................................... 105 CHAPTER 5 - CONCLUSIONS.................................................................................................110 CHAPTER 6 – RECOMMENDATIONS AND WAYS FORWARD. ................................................115 CHAPTER 7 - BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................119 APPENDICES........................................................................................................................123 APPENDIX 1 - MATRIX OF ANALYSIS OF ATTRIBUTES (PART 1) ............................................................. 123 APPENDIX 2 - MATRIX OF ANALYSIS OF ATTRIBUTES (PART 2) ............................................................. 124 APPENDIX 3 - SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEW MODEL ....................................................................... 125 APPENDIX 4 – TRANSCRIPTION OF SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS ...................................................... 127

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- Research Statement and Objectives

List of Tables TABLE 1. SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT AND THEIR VISIONS TOWARDS INFORMAL ECONOMY. SOURCE: (ALTER CHEN, 2012; BROWN ET AL., 2014) ................................................................................................... 20 TABLE 2. PROFILE OF THE PUBLICATIONS SELECTED FOR ANALYSIS IN SOCIAL RESILIENCE ATTRIBUTES ................. 29 TABLE 3. FRAMEWORK BY ASLAM SAJA ET AL. (2018) COMPOSED BY 5 SUB-DIMENSIONS AND 16 CHARACTERISTICS - OR ATTRIBUTES - OF SOCIAL RESILIENCE. ............................................................ 31

TABLE 4. SOCIAL VULNERABILITIES IN THE INFORMAL ECONOMY................................................................ 32 TABLE 5. SOCIAL RESILIENCE SUB-DIMENSIONS AND ATTRIBUTES SELECTED. ................................................. 33 TABLE 6. SOCIAL DETERMINANTS AND DATA COLLECTION SOURCES ASSOCIATED WITH THE SELECTED ATTRIBUTES TO BE ANALYZED. ......................................................................................................................... 39

TABLE 7. DATA EXTRACTION AND ANALYSIS REGARDING THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF IWPS AND IWPS VICTIMS OF THE ARMED CONFLICT BY LOCALITY. SOURCE: (IPES, 2016) .................................................................. 43

TABLE 8. AGE DISTRIBUTION IN THE IEPS. SOURCE: IPES (2016, P. 41) .................................................... 61 TABLE 9. TYPE OF HEALTHCARE COVERAGE WITHIN IEPS. ADAPTATION BY AUTHOR. SOURCE: (IPES, 2016) ..... 91 TABLE 10. EDUCATIONAL LEVEL AMONG IWPS. OWN ADAPTATION. SOURCE: (IPES, 2016) ......................... 92 TABLE 11. SOCIAL STRATA OF THE IWPS. OWN ADAPTATION. SOURCE:(IPES, 2016) ................................... 94

5

Research Statement

List of Figures FIGURE 1. ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES ACCORDING TO DISASTER PHASE. SOURCE: (GFDRR, 2012) ................ 16 FIGURE 2. COLOR-CODED 'CLOUD' OF RESILIENCE-RELATED LITERATURE. COLORS REPRESENT COMMUNITIES OF MORE CLOSELY RELATED PUBLICATION. SOURCE: (MEEROW ET AL., 2016) ......................................... 17

FIGURE 3. WIEGO MODEL OF INFORMAL EMPLOYMENT. LINKS BETWEEN GENDER, EMPLOYMENT STATUS, EARNINGS AND POVERTY RISK. OWN ADAPTATION. SOURCE: (ALTER CHEN, 2012, P. 9) ....................... 22

FIGURE 4. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK. MAIN CONCEPTS AND ITS LINKS DRAWING THE PATH TO FIND COMMONALITIES BETWEEN THE TWO MAIN DISCUSSED TOPICS. ........................................................ 27

FIGURE 5. DENSITY OF INFORMAL WORKERS BY LOCALITY (WORKERS/KM2). SOURCE: (IPES, 2016) ................ 44 FIGURE 6. AVERAGE PERCENTAGE OF INFORMAL EMPLOYMENT FROM 13 AND 23 CITIES AND METROPOLITAN AREAS (MA). SOURCE: DANE (2018) ........................................................................................ 52

FIGURE 7. PERCENTAGE OF INFORMAL ECONOMY BY CITY. SOURCE: DANE (2018) ...................................... 52 FIGURE 8. MAIN REASONS OR 'TRIGGERS' TO ENTER THE INFORMAL ECONOMY IN THE PUBLIC SPACE ................. 57 FIGURE 9. RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH THE INFORMAL WORK IN THE PUBLIC SPACE ACCORDING TO THE ANSWERS. ... 59 FIGURE 10. GENDER DISTRIBUTION IN THE IEPS. ADAPTATION FROM: IPES (2016) .................................... 61 FIGURE 11. COLOR-CODED MAP OF COLOMBIA WITH THE REGIONS OF ORIGIN OF THE INFORMAL WORKERS. SOURCE: IPES (2016) ............................................................................................................. 62 FIGURE 12. ETHNIC GROUPS IN THE IEPS. SOURCE: IPES (2016) ............................................................. 63 FIGURE 13. DETERMINANTS OF THE SOCIAL COHESION OF THE IWPS. ........................................................ 65 FIGURE 14. PUBLIC SPACE CONFIGURATION #1. 'ENCLOSED STREET COMMUNITY' ........................................ 66 FIGURE 15. PUBLIC SPACE CONFIGURATION #2. 'ENCLOSED PLAZA COMMUNITY'.......................................... 66 FIGURE 16. PUBLIC SPACE CONFIGURATION #3. 'SEMI-ENCLOSED PLAZA COMMUNITY' .................................. 66 FIGURE 17. PUBLIC SPACE CONFIGURATION #4. SEGREGATED AND DISPERSE COMMUNITY ............................. 66 FIGURE 18. INFORMALITY IN THE LOCALITY OF USAQUÉN BEFORE THE 2017 EVICTIONS. SOURCE: (JTRAVELUS, 2017) .................................................................................................................................. 72 FIGURE 19. IMAGE OF THE LOCALITY OF USAQUÉN AFTER THE 2017 EVICTIONS. .......................................... 72 FIGURE 20. FORMAL-INFORMAL ALLIANCES TO PRESERVE BUILT ASSETS OF THE IWPS. MIGUEL’S ‘OBLEAS’ STAND. ............................................................................................................................................ 73 FIGURE 21. IEPS AS ENHANCER OF SOCIAL ACTIVIES. INFORMAL ECONOMY IN THE SURROUNDINGS OF 'LOS ANDES' UNIVERSITY. ........................................................................................................................... 74 FIGURE 22. THE 'CHAZA', A LIVING STORY OF ADAPTATION. ...................................................................... 84 6

- Research Statement and Objectives

FIGURE 23. INFORMAL BUSINESSES AS SOURCE OF LIVELIHOODS AND PRIDE. AFTER BEING DISPLACED BY VIOLENCE, THIS WORKER HAS BEEN WORKING FOR MORE THAN 13 YEARS ‘ON THE STREETS’ OF BOGOTÁ. SHE HAS RAISED A FAMILY AND FINISHED HER PROFESSIONAL STUDIES AS PSYCHOLOGIST .................................... 87

FIGURE 24. 'MOBILE' VENDORS VOLUNTEER TO DISTRIBUTE INFORMATION OF COMMON INTEREST TO IWPS. SOURCE: HTTP://PERIODICOAMARILLO.COM/WP-CONTENT/UPLOADS/2016/10/IMG_22731024X631.JPG ...................................................................................................................... 90 FIGURE 25. AFFILIATION TO THE CONTRIBUTORY HEALTHCARE SCHEME OF THE INTERVIEWEES ......................... 92 FIGURE 26. EDUCATIONAL LEVEL BY AGE GROUP. OWN ADAPTATION. DATA SOURCE:(IPES, 2016) ................. 93 FIGURE 27. ZONAL IDENTIFICATION ACCORDING TO THE SOCIOECONOMIC STRATA IN BOGOTÁ. SOURCE: (EL PAIS, 2017)................................................................................................................................... 94 FIGURE 28. THE IEPS IS MUCH MORE THAN STREET VENDING. INFOGRAPHIC ABOUT THE DIVERSITY OF ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES IN THE PUBLIC SPACE. ................................................................................................. 97

FIGURE 29. DIVERSITY OF ACTIVITIES WITHIN THE IEPS. ........................................................................... 98 FIGURE 30. SKILLS AND CAPACITIES IN THE IEPS. .................................................................................. 100 FIGURE 31. "WE ARE NOT THE INSECURITY. WE HAVE THE SOLUTION". FEB 29TH OF 2017 PROTESTS BY INFORMAL WORKERS IN BOGOTÁ. SOURCE: EL ESPECTADOR – GUSTAVO CORRIJOS........................................... 103

FIGURE 32. DEMONSTRATIONS AGAINST THE NEW POLICIES CONCENTRATED NEAR THE MAYOR'S OFFICE. SOURCE: EL ESPECTADOR – CRISTIAN GARAVITO ...................................................................................... 103 FIGURE 33. ALL KINDS OF IWPS MOBILIZED AGAINST THE POLICE ABUSE AND EVICTIONS FROM THE PUBLIC SPACE. SOURCE: EL ESPECTADOR – CRISTIAN GARAVITO ......................................................................... 103 FIGURE 34. IMPROVISATION 1 .......................................................................................................... 106 FIGURE 35. IMPROVISATION 2 .......................................................................................................... 107 FIGURE 36. IMPROVISATION 3 .......................................................................................................... 108

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Research Statement

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Photo: Carolina Benitez

Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

Chapter 1 - Research Statement and Objectives

1.1 Research Statement The raising urbanization rates currently faced by many countries represent an enormous pressure to the way in which urban centers develop and provide basic services to all their citizens. Many cities around the world have been unsuccessful in providing enough opportunities for the increasing population to create livelihoods. The informal economy has emerged as a survival tool to confront the lack of opportunities. It has been calculated that around 2 Billion people of the total world’s employed population over 15 years old, make a way of living in the informal sector. It represents the 62.5% of the global employment (ILO, 2018), meaning that more people are creating livelihoods in the informal sector than in formal one.

The informal economy is constantly on the frontlines of climatic, social and economic stressors. Often criminalized, diminished and abandoned, the informal workers suffer from a constant stigma and exposure to all kinds of vulnerabilities. Sometimes, and as contradictory as it may seem, the same governmental entities incapable of attending the basic needs of these population, punish their economic practice aggravating the socio-economic situation and levels of vulnerability of this population segment.

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Research Statement

Despite the adverse conditions, informal workers have found ways to survive to the threatening environments. Many of them for example, have found in the public space the perfect platform to carry out their work and make a way of living. Out of the necessity of constantly adapting and reinventing to the imposed threats and hassles of working in the streets, the Informal Workers in the Public Space (IWPS) 1 have revealed individual and common attributes that could be associated with the nature of social resilience. Unfortunately, there is not sufficient empirical and context-based evidence to supports this assertion.

In addition, the traditional linkage of this practice with illegality and underdevelopment, have hindered authorities, academics and policy-makers from properly placing this practice into the resilience and development agendas and therefore, providing adequate and more effective solutions for this widespread phenomenon.

The informal economy is still wavering after decades, from being catalogued as a negative indicator of development to a transformational agent and source of entrepreneurship and resourcefulness (Farajalla et al., 2017; Schoofs, 2015; Theda, 2018; Weltbank, 2012). Hence, this research intents to contribute to the global discourse around informal economy and urban resilience from a different perspective. Using the case study of IWPS of Bogotรก, this research will provide empiric evidence of the adaptation and survival mechanisms of the IWPS and the inexorable relation between those and the production of social resilience.

This study is particularly interested on the IWPS, because they are constantly facing the social threats associated with the unavoidably exposure of their work.

Also, because they make part of the daily life of millions of citizens around the world and their work influence social dynamics still unseen and not yet totally understood. Their constant interaction with the public space also allows to reflect upon their influence on the urban fabric and vice versa. This way, lessons could be drawn on how this is related with the production of social resilience

1

From now on, IWPS will stand for Informal Worker/s in the Public Space.

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Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

and more importantly how this could be embedded with the urban resilience agendas and extended to other vulnerable communities or groups.

Without trying to romanticize the informal practice, the ultimate goals of this research are to develop a better understanding of the urban Informal Economy in the Public Space (IEPS)2 and its key attributes, to contribute to the positive momentum around recognizing the informal economy as transformational agent, to challenge the traditional approaches to formalizing the informal economy which have “proven ineffective and in some instances, even counterproductive” (UNDP, 2014, p. 14) and to make a general call to science and practice to reframe the resilience practice not as a repeatable equation but as a context-based dynamic.

1.2 Objectives and Contribution This research aims to contribute from several fronts to current discourses around the informal economy and the urban resilience practice. The main objectives are stated below: 1. To help improving the understanding of the complex dynamics of the informal economy in the public space from an empirical research approach.

2. To provide evidence of the creation of job opportunities and adaptation mechanisms to social hazards of the IWPS. 3. To study the organization and socio-spatial dynamics around the informal economy in the public space.

4. To understand how the practices of adaptation of informal workers influence – or not – the creation of social resilience.

5. To help improving the image and perception of the informal workers in the public space.

6. To provide recommendations on how to reframe some approaches to the informal economy based on a better understanding of the specific 2

From now on IEPS will stand for Informal Economy in the Public Space 11

Research Questions

contexts and conditions and how to include the informal economy in the public space into the urban resilience agenda.

1.3 Research Questions Drawing from the research objectives, this thesis addresses two main research questions: 1. How do the survival and adaptation mechanisms of the informal economy in the public space work?

2. How are those mechanisms related with the production of social resilience?

1.4 Outline These questions are addressed in six chapters. 0 describes the theoretical framework which will be the backbone of this research along with the conceptual framework which, based on a systematical juxtaposition from the theory around climatic urban resilience into the topic of informal economy.

Chapter 3 describes the research strategy, the selected data collection techniques and the research limitations. Chapter 4 sets the main characteristics of the context and includes the main body of results, it aims to be a clear picture of the collected data and a synthesis on its relationship with the production of social resilience. Chapter 5 concludes by condensing the main results of the research and examining how the IEPS is linked with the social resilience. In Chapter 6, some recommendations are raised on how to readdress the IEPS to enhance urban resilience, it also reinforces the need of a different regulatory approach that recognizes the weaknesses but also the transformational values of the informal economy aiming to exploit all its potential.

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Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

Photo: Carolina Benitez

13

Outline

Chapter 2 - Theoretical Framework

The Informal Economy in the Public Space and the Social Resilience are components of two bigger fields of study, the Informal Economy and the Urban Resilience, respectively. These bigger fields have been vastly studied for decades separately. More recently, some attempts to finding linkages between them have come to play especially influenced by the increasing number of natural disasters associated with climate change and the unavoidably vulnerability of informal workers to its effects. Even though many of them have supported the inclusion of the informal economy within the resilience agendas to reduce the high levels of vulnerability, some others have highlighted the importance of adopting a different posture towards the Informal Economy in terms of recognizing it as a transformational agent and its potential for developing resilient capacities. A smaller body of literature has focused on the type of Informal Economy happening in the Public Space, as well as the Social Resilience as a component of Community Resilience. It was not possible to find any academic publication addressing the connection between these two specific topics to date. A very small group of authors has raised arguments supporting 14

Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

the Informal Economy as a source of creativity, resourcefulness, innovation or flexibility, attributes which could be associable with the fundamentals of the Social Resilience.

This theoretical framework aims to portrait the different views among authors towards the discussed topics, and to unveil the unfilled gaps in which this study seeks to fit in.

2.1 The Urban Resilience Discourse Last decades have been marked by the increasing number of natural disasters and loss of lives around the world. It is estimated that between 2000 and 2012, 1.2 million people died in disasters and an approximate of US$ 1.7 trillion was lost; in addition, more than 2.9 billion people were affected by disasters in different ways (UNISDR, 2013), with women, children, and several other groups impacted disproportionately (Aitsi-Selmi et al., 2015). Conventional crisis response has historically focused – with slight variations -on three main branches which most of the times act separately in the phases of a disaster and seem to be disconnected: 1) Emergency Response, 2) Reconstruction, Recovery or Rehabilitation and 3) Disaster Prevention or Mitigation. The traditional approaches have generated sometimes a disproportionate channeling of resources to attend those phases. In fact, the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) commissioned an analysis that showed that between 1980 and 2009, about 2 percent (US$91.2 billion) of total development assistance was allocated for disaster-related activities (See Figure 1). The majority of this budget was spent on emergency response, while reconstruction accounted for one quarter. Disaster prevention and preparedness accounted for just 3.6 percent (GFDRR, 2012). This picture clearly shows the disproportionate allocation of resources in the process of ‘preparing for the future’.

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The Urban Resilience Discourse

Figure 1. Allocation of resources according to disaster phase. Source: (GFDRR, 2012)

Influenced by the need of adopting more holistic approaches to disaster management, resilience has emerged –with stronger influence in the last four decades (Meerow et al., 2016), very much associated with natural disasters and climate change, producing as a result, a vast amount of literature on this matter.

In spite of the fact that resilience often has a positive connotation, it has been also subject of many interpretations and approaches depending on the issues, context or the academic or professional focus (Meerow et al., 2016), resulting in a wide spectrum of definitions. For example, Campanella (2006) sees the resilience as the capacity of a city to rebound from destruction, while Liao, Le and Nguyen (2016) consider resilience relevant in not only post-disaster recovery but also in hazard mitigation. When it comes to the means and specific issues where resilience plays an important role, the catalogue of options is also very diverse. For example, floods for most of the people living in urban centers could imply harm (Green, 2010) but for the people living in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta, floods translate into economic and environmental benefits (Green, 2010), due to the “ecological wisdom of living with floods� learned by communities throughout the years (Liao et al., 2016, p. 1). The concept of resilience as such, encompasses a manifold of attributes and fields of influence that its analysis usually results in very complex and often divergent assessments and definitions. However, existing attempts by governments and the scientific community to understand what factors contribute to community disaster 16

Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

resilience have resulted in a divergence of resilience indicators, with many of them focused on social, economic, physical, natural and/or institutional systems and conditions (Kwok et al., 2016).

The Habitat III in its most recent Issue Paper on Urban Resilience recognizes that “many national policies address resilience to disaster risk and are increasingly integrated with climate change policies” (United Nations Task Team, 2015, p. 8). The wide amount of literature produced by researchers and academics has also proven this assertion. In their review work, Meerow and colleagues (2016), highlight the scale in which historically, authors have associated the concept of resilience with other fields, finding that the majority have related it with climatic change and natural hazards (See Figure 2).

Figure 2. Color-coded 'cloud' of resiliencerelated literature. Colors represent communities of more closely related publication. Source: (Meerow et al., 2016)

A resilient approach does not just include the main phases of the conventional crisis management. It contemplates the existing pre-conditions and contextual characteristics of the urban systems (Meerow et al., 2016), its vulnerabilities to different kinds of hazards and its possible effects. It is a constant cycle of adaptation, knowledge creation and transformation which also has a ‘crosscutting capacity’. That means that it has the benefit of addressing a wide range 17

The Urban Resilience Discourse

of issues ‘all-in-once’. For example, applying resilient strategies, “Johannesburg’s ‘Corridors of Freedom’ project is using the lines drawn under apartheid to make significant improvements to the city’s urban plan and transport networks”(United Nations Task Team, 2015). The ultimate end is to promote the creation or enhancement of resilient communities which are not just adequately prepared for any disruption but that also learn from its mistakes or past experiences to live a better future.

Evidence cases from past disasters like the one from the Vietnamese community of New Orleans East and its outstanding response and recovery after Hurricane Katrina, have raised attention on the great value of social capital and collective efficacy in fostering resilient communities (Kadetz, 2018). The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction has also highlighted that “while some progress in building resilience and reducing losses and damages has been achieved, a substantial reduction of disaster risk requires perseverance and persistence, with a more explicit focus on people” (Aitsi-Selmi et al., 2015) As a component of resilience of communities, the social resilience has raised attention of researchers across a multitude of academic disciplines. This is of particular importance because social resilience focuses on people, groups and communities and their ability to tolerate, absorb, cope with and adjust to external stresses and disturbances as a result of social, political and environmental change (Adger, 2000; Sakdapolrak, 2015). Yet the scale of analysis for much of the existing assessments has focused on the city level or higher (Kwok et al., 2016) (More on Social Resilience will be addressed in subchapter 2.3).

Based on its catastrophic effects, it seems understandable that resilience, and therefore social resilience, have been associated in a big share with natural hazards and climate change. However, it is relevant to highlight that resilience should also focus “on transforming systems that are inequitable (e.g., poverty traps) or hinder individuals or communities from developing adaptive capacity” 18

Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

(Meerow et al., 2016, p. 46) and that “addressing urban challenges will be dependent not only on the resilience and sustainability of the formal systems that operate within urban settings but will also depend largely on the resilience of informal systems as well, particularly in countries where these systems play a significant role in the function of the overall urban system”(Farajalla et al., 2017), like Colombia. A global call for further attention to harmonizing national resilience policies with related policies that consider resilience in the context of other stressors (United Nations Task Team, 2015, p. 8) should be a priority.

“Awareness of the inter-connected nature of risk and opportunities for transformation could help municipal leaders and investors make more informed and sustainable policy and investment decisions” (United Nations Task Team, 2015, p. 6). Using these assertions, relations can be drawn with practices within informal systems that have the potential to enhance or promote those adaptive capacities, like the informal economy.

2.2 Visions towards the Informal Economy It was just until the 70’s when the informal economy started to receive attention from scholars and decision-makers after what was known as the ‘Lewis turning point’3 started to be proven wrong (LEWIS, 1954). From that moment and up to date, mostly influenced by the unstoppable growth of the informal sector and its emergence in new shapes and places around the world, the informal economy has become “a field of study in its own right” (Alter Chen, 2012).

The concept of informal economy might seem elusive since the catalogue of occupations in the informal economy is as diverse as the places where those activities take place. Rickshaw pullers in Calcutta, street vendors in Mexico City and waste collectors in Bogotá, are just some examples of the most visible occupations for being practiced on the streets (Alter Chen, 2012). Less visible occupations might be home-based or carried out ‘indoors’ and can be related

3

W. Arthur Lewis received a Nobel Prize of Economics for its essay in which he argued that the economic development in developing

countries, would generate in the long-term, enough jobs to absorb labor from the ‘traditional economy’ (Informal Economy).

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Visions towards the Informal Economy

with mechanical repair, recycling or manufacture. The size and scope of some economic practices might not be a limitation for the Informal Economy given that “there are trading networks that operate across borders, artisanal mining activities that exist alongside large-scale mining operations, wholesale markets for pirated commodities such as CDs and DVDs or clusters of informal manufacturing” (Schoofs, 2015) Deriving from this wide diversity, it will not come as a surprise the difficulty on defining and approaching the informal economy. The heterogeneity of this phenomenon has also permeated the way in which the informal economy is perceived and taught, deriving in different schools of thought. Alter Chen (2012) and Brown and colleagues (2014) provide valuable summaries in which they recognize and analyze four main schools: the dualists – or ‘economic reformists’ (Brown et al., 2014) -, the legalists, the voluntarists and the structuralists. Table 1 consolidates the perception of the four along with their appreciations about the causal theories, relations with the formal economy and the major proponents.

Table 1. Schools of Thought and their visions towards Informal Economy. Source: (Alter Chen, 2012; Brown et al., 2014)

SCHOOL OF

DEFINITION OF

THOUGHT

INFORMAL

CAUSAL THEORY

RELATION WITH

RELEVANT

FORMAL SECTOR

AUTHORS

ECONOMY The Dualists

“Marginal activities—

“Imbalances between

“Informal units and

(Hart 1973;

– Economic

distinct from and not

the growth rates of the

activities have few (if

ILO 1972;

Reformist

related to the formal

population and of

any) linkages to the

Sethuraman

sector—that provide

modern industrial

formal economy but,

1976; Tokman

income for the poor and

employment, and a

rather, operate as a

1978).

a safety net in times of

mismatch between

distinct separate sector

crisis.”(Alter Chen,

peoples’ skills and the

of the economy.” (Alter

2012, p. 4).

structure of modern

Chen, 2012, p. 5)

“Intermediate

economic

space between the

opportunities” (Alter

mainstream formal

Chen, 2012, p. 5)

system and complete unemployment.”(Brown et al., 2014, p. 15)

20

Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

The

“The informal economy

“Driven by the nature

Informal and formal

(Moser 1978;

Structuralists

is an attempt by formal

of capitalism/

economies are

Castells and

sector capital, acting

capitalist growth,

intrinsically linked.

Portes 1989).

with the complicity of

especially the attempts

Informal enterprises

the state, to reduce

by formal firms to

and informal wage

wages and enhance

reduce labor costs and

workers are

flexibility by exploiting

increase

subordinated to the

unprotected informal

competitiveness […],

interests of capitalist

workers.” (Brown et al.,

to global competition

development, pro-

2014, p. 15)

and to the process of

viding cheap goods

industrialization.”

and services. (Alter

(Alter Chen, 2012, p.

Chen, 2012, p. 5)

5) The Legalists

“’Plucky’ micro-

Excessive state

The regulatory

(de Soto 1989,

entrepreneurs who

regulation. (Brown et

environments end

2000).

choose to operate

al., 2014, p. 15)

with the neglection of

informally in order to

the informal wage

avoid the costs, time

workers. Formal firms

and effort of formal

collude with

registration and who

governments to set

need property rights to

bureaucratic rules.

convert their assets into

(Alter Chen, 2012, p.

legally recognized

5)

assets. (Alter Chen, 2012, p. 5) The

Composed by “informal

Informal operators

Little attention to the

Levenson and

Voluntarists

entrepreneurs who

choose to operate

economic linkages

Maloney

deliberately seek to

informally after

between informal

(1998);

avoid regulations and

weighing the costs-

enterprises and formal

Maloney

taxation but, unlike the

benefits of informality

firms. They argue that

(2004)

legalist school, does not

relative to formality.

informal enterprises

blame the cumbersome

(Alter Chen, 2012, p.

create unfair

registration

5)

competition for formal

procedures.” (Alter

ones because they

Chen, 2012, p. 5)

avoid formal regulations, taxes, and other costs of production. (Alter Chen, 2012, p. 6)

Even though none of these traditional schools has accurately represented the full picture of the informal economy phenomenon, they have contributed with valuable knowledge to understand the many different faces of it, and therefore to today’s debates.

21

Visions towards the Informal Economy

Aiming to provide further understanding of the informal economy as a system on its own, a more recent approach by Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing Network (WIEGO), developed a hierarchy model based on the links between the employment status, gender and poverty (see Figure 3).

Figure 3. WIEGO Model of Informal Employment. Links between gender, employment status, earnings and poverty risk. Own adaptation. Source: (Alter Chen, 2012, p. 9)

Understanding and engaging with the many variants of the informal economy is one thing, but defining which are the most appropriate policies to address this problematic is another. Especially when during “the course of four decades, prevailing policy attitudes have wavered between endorsing the informal economy as a ‘seedbed of entrepreneurs’ or criminalizing it as a ‘hotbed of racketeers’ (Schoofs, 2015). From taxation and registration models, to the creation of more formal jobs (Alter Chen, 2012, p. 15), the traditional approaches by some stakeholder advocating for the formalization as the best way out, for some others have “proven ineffective, and in some instances, even counter-productive” (UNDP, 2014). Debates in policy making still address 22

Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

questions of what is formalization and how to do it (Alter Chen, 2012, p. 15). On the meantime, the informal workers are constantly faced with stigmas such as the misperception that their work is in some way illegal or illegitimate (Theda, 2018). Their ‘illegal’ status makes them vulnerable to negative connotations which prevent the responsible authorities to see and recognize all their positive inborn attributes.

As stated by Farajalla et al. (2017), “research efforts are needed to gain a more extensive understanding of informal systems within urban settings, how they operate, their environmental, social and environmental impacts, the links to the formal system, as well as their contributions to overall urban resilience”.

Moreover, despite the fact that urban climate resilience has been gaining increasing attention among researchers, urban authorities and donors, the role of the informal economy in achieving urban resilience still remains unclear, deriving in a latent danger that “strategies promoted in the name of resilience will ignore the informal economy, and hence the obstacles and opportunities it presents”(Brown et al., 2014) 2.2.1 A brief outlook to the Public Space and its relationship with the Informal Economy Brown (2004) provides a valuable analysis of the concept of urban public space and its relationship with what she calls “the street economy” (informal economy in the public space for this study).

She first explores the theory around the urban public space concept from four key themes. These are the debates surrounding the definition of the concept, its socio-political significance, the issues in management and governance and the discourse about ownerships and use rights. In terms of the definition itself, the author annotates that the term has been widely used and in different fields – e.g. urban design, geography, sociology, economics. According to her, some practitioners have limited the term to its physical and spatial implications and 23

Visions towards the Informal Economy

associated it with all the space between buildings and the formal spaces of planned cities, like squares, parks or promenades (Carmona et al., 2003). In addition, some others like Carr and colleagues (1992), have recognized its social significance relating it as the ground in which “functional and ritual activities that bind a community” (Carr et al., 1992) take place. A general delimitation is also made with the ‘private space’ - as the place signified by walls, boundaries or social conventions where some people may not enter.

Brown (2004) states that the role of the urban public space has become of political importance since it has been recognized as a symbol of the state power and a platform to raise statements related with the power balance – e.g. military parades – and the struggles in the democracy of the societies (Carmona et al., 2003), like the uprisings by which the so-called Arab Spring was characterized.

Despite its nature as a common resource and even though the management of the public space is often regarded – not exclusively - to be a municipal role, Brown identifies the emergence of two types of commodification, formal and informal. The first is related with the enclosure of the public space for different purposes – e.g. gated housing communities, malls or markets. The second, which involves the informal comodification of the public space for shelter or making livelihoods, brings the author to introduce the means by which the use rights are conferred. She argues that even though countries might posses formal land registration systems, it should not come as surprise that informal use rights might be subject of exchange or trade into the urban public space.

By introducing two comparative case studies from Kathmandu in Nepal and Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania, Brown contributes to the general understanding of the relationship between the public space and the street economy. In her analysis, she identified the different uses of the public space, the relationship between actors, the main products being trade and interesting dynamics like the “sharing of street space by time, with a succession of activities during days and night” like temple offerings in Kathmandu (Brown, 2004, p. 6). The results also 24

Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

revealed that the use rights of the public space are rather defined by contextual and tradition-based characteristics of the place, which at the same time can define taxation or licensing systems or permits in exchange of services - like cleaning or security.

Apart from the on-going debates surrounding the informal economy, the urban public space can be defined as “an asset, both for the livelihoods of the urban poor and as a resource for the urban economy” (Brown, 2004, p. 10) which has been largely ignored. Ultimately, Brown recognizes that “the street economy is not the only user of urban public space, but the role of government should be to mediate conflict, to recognize the needs of the diversity of the urban poor, and to promote the potential of the street economy” (Brown, 2004, p. 10). (More on the significance of Public Space in the context of Bogotá, will be discussed in Error! Reference source not found.).

2.3 Bringing the Debates Together – Conceptual Framework Given the complexity surrounding the debates just exposed, it becomes necessary to define a conceptual framework that establishes the appropriate path to link both discourses. The proposed conceptual framework is a juxtaposition between two urban dynamics which at first do not seem to be connected. Supported by a systematical approach, this conceptual framework aims to break this paradigm (see Figure 4).

The informal economy covers a wide spectrum of activities and facets that are reflected in diverse arenas. It is an extensive and complex phenomenon. Trying to understand its multiple variables would be impossible without understanding their connections and in many cases, their dependence to the formal economy. One of the platforms where this phenomenon is best exposed is in the public space, a place that belongs to 'everyone and nobody' and that, by its essence, represents the best platform to sell, but at the same time reflects all the disadvantages and threats of 'being exposed'. The latter means that it is a 25

Bringing the Debates Together – Conceptual Framework

difficult and constantly threatened scenario in various ways. The individuals working on it, are exposed to high levels of vulnerability and are constantly faced with all kinds of social threats to which they must adapt since their livelihoods and in many cases, their families’, depends on this.

Within this adaptive process and in the face of constant threats (e.g. evictions, bad weather, abuse of authority, insecurity), it is visible how informal workers have created mechanisms to respond often immediately to such events. In order to keep making ways of living, they must recover and quickly return to their normal state. At the same time, they must develop strategies or mechanisms to prevent that such events happen again or at least, that their effects have a lower impact if they are to happen again. This cycle of actions is constantly repeated in the life of the informal worker, because for most of them, this is the only alternative. To respond, recover and prevent, are three words which may sound familiar if seen in a cyclical way and within the urban resilience discourse (see subchapter 2.1 The Urban Resilience Discourse). ÂżIs not this a resilient behavior? (last assertions are pictured in Figure 4).

26

Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

Figure 4. Conceptual framework. Main concepts and its links drawing the path to find commonalities between the two main discussed topics.

The urban resilience practice advocates for communities with the capacities to not just adequately respond to and recover from disruptions, but also learn from their mistakes and prepare for the future. This is what the IWPS have been doing for decades derived from the necessity to adapt to the harsh environment imposed by their working conditions. An adaptation process carried out most of the times without any support from organizations and authorities, making it perhaps imperfect.

Exploring this analogy further is the challenge in which this study has embarked. For doing so, a set of social resilience attributes – characteristics which play an important role in the production or improvement of social resilience – was selected to be further tested on the field. Given the lack of studies relating the IEPS with Social Resilience and leveraging from the extensive amount of literature about Social Resilience with emphasis in natural 27

Bringing the Debates Together – Conceptual Framework

disasters and climate change, an alternative systematic approach had to be implemented.

The selection and definition of the attributes followed three stages: 1. Literature review: identification of attributes of Social Resilience to climate change and natural disasters.

2. Screening of attributes: selection of the ones that could fit both into the discourse of Informal Economy in the Public Space and the contextual characteristics of Bogotá.

3. Operational definitions: definition of the selected attributes for the purpose of this study

2.3.1 The Social Resilience attributes A review of six publications was carried out to identify and extract relevant information regarding attributes or characteristics of Social Resilience for further analysis. The literature search was done in March 2018 and five papers were selected using ELSEVIER’s platform ScienceDirect. The remaining one was a result of a general search on the web. Table 2 shows a general profile of the six publications selected.

The first identification of literature was performed utilizing the key words “Social Resilience” in ScienceDirect database to capture all relevant publications. The initial search yielded 565 results. Based on three relevant journals which focus on disaster risk reduction, social sciences and environmental change, further limiters were applied in a second stage. Only English research and review articles were considered. This resulted in 89 relevant articles from 1991 to day, from which 61 were published between 2014 and 2018. The five most relevant articles were selected for a detailed analysis.

28

Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

A publication by TransRe, a research project funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Environment of Germany, was selected as an additional source to confront with the other five selected.

Table 2. Profile of the publications selected for analysis in social resilience attributes What is

The paradox

A temporal

What is

Identification

An

social

of social

framework

‘social

and

inclusive

resilience?

resilience:

of social

resilience’?

evaluation of

and

Lessons

How

resilience

Perspectives

the

adaptive framework

learned and

cognitive

indicators of

of disaster

components

ways forward

strategies

communities

researchers,

and factors

for

and coping

to flood, case

emergency

affecting

measuring

Name

mechanisms

studies:

management

social and

social

attenuate

Wagga wagga

practitioners,

economic

resilience

and

and

and policy

resilience in

to disasters

accentuate

Kempsey,

makers in

city of

NSW,

New Zealand

Rudbar, Iran

resilience

Australia Markus keck

Duncan Shaw,

Sanaz Khalili,

Alan H. Kwok,

Amir

A.M. Aslam

and Patrick

Judy Scully,

MichaelHarre,

Emma E. H.

Bastaminia,

Saja, Melissa

Sakdapolrak

Tom Hart

PhilipMorley

Authors

Doyle, Julia

Mohammad

Teo,

Becker, David

Reza Rezaei,

Ashantha

Johnston,

Maryam

Goonetilleke,

Douglas Paton

Dastoorpoor,

Abdul M.

Social

Resilience,

Community resilience,

Ziyath Social

Elderly, Flood

Disaster

resilience, risk,

Risk, Social

resilience,

Resilience,

Social

vulnerability,

Resilience,

Social

Community

resilience,

disaster

adaptation,

Social

Resilience,

Resilience,

Earthquake,

management,

Keywords -

transformation,

Vulnerability

Climate

Indicators,

Iran

Focus

sustainable

disaster,

Disasters, New

development.

Qualitative

Zealand

disaster resilience, resilience

research,

assessment,

Kempsey

resilience indicator.

Year of

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018 International

publication.

Global

International

International

International

Journal -

ERDKUNDE

Environmental

Journal of

Journal of

Journal of

Journal of

Publication

Change

Disaster Risk

Disaster Risk

Disaster Risk

Disaster Risk

Reduction

Reduction

Reduction

Reduction

ELSEVIER

ELSEVIER

ELSEVIER

ELSEVIER

ELSEVIER

Source

TRANS RE

Social Resilience attributes are identified, defined and catalogued in different ways, depending on the authors’ perception, discipline, context and approach.

Some attributes, like the Perception of Risk (Bastaminia et al., 2017; Keck and 29

Bringing the Debates Together – Conceptual Framework

Sakdapolrak, 2013; Khalili et al., 2015; Kwok et al., 2016; Shaw et al., 2014) are commonly identified and shared by all authors while some others, like the Improvisation (Khalili et al., 2015) – referring to the level of creativity and ingenuity – are recognized by one or few of them. However, authors do not limit to the reconnaissance of attributes, some of those can be catalogued due to its commonalities or focus. For example, Keck and Sakdapolrak (2013) for example, relate the social resilience attributes with three main categories, 1.

Social Relations & Network Structures, 2. Institutions & Power Relations and 3.

Knowledge & Power. On the other hand, Shaw et al. (2014) identify attributes which attenuate or accentuate social resilience and that are part of two main groups, 1. Cognitive Strategies or 2. Coping Mechanisms of adaptation. The latter is related with the approach by Kwok et al. (2016) in which an important set of attributes is divided by its proximity to the Cognitive or Structural dimension of Social Resilience. On the contrary, authors like Bastaminia et al.

(2017) and Khalili et al. (2015) cluster all the attributes into unique groups of Indicators and Components of social resilience, respectively.

Aiming to unify and generalize these differences and approaches, Aslam Saja et al. (2018) developed a thorough social resilience framework “based on the critical review of existing social resilience frameworks discussed in the literature” between 2005 and 2016, which resulted in 5 sub-dimensions of social resilience, a set of 16 characteristics - or attributes – and 46 corresponding indicators. This framework was particularly relevant for the final selection of attributes for this research study since it includes – with few exceptions – most of the attributes recognized by the other five publications and it was designed to be flexible enough to be adapted to different contexts.

A matrix was produced to gather all the attributes and categories identified by the authors for further analysis and screening as shown in the Appendix 1 and Appendix 2. From this process, it was decided to select the framework by Aslam Saja et al. (2018) - Table 3 - to be the general guide to this stage and further 30

Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

adaptations were carried out to include all the considered relevant attributes for the particular context of Bogotá.

Table 3. Framework by Aslam Saja et al. (2018) composed by 5 sub-dimensions and 16 characteristics - or attributes - of Social Resilience.4

Social Sub-dimension Social Structure

Social Capital

mechanisms/

Social equity

Social beliefs/

competences/

and diversity

culture/ faith

values Social Characteristics

demography

(Attributes)

(Population composition)

Social Cohesion (Community bond)

Household

Social Support

structure (Family

(Norms of

structure)

reciprocity)

Mobility of people and families

Community engagement

Community goals/ efficacy

Fair access to basic needs and services Community inclusiveness and equality

Social Networks

Community

(Social

shared values and

(Diverse

associations)

attitudes

workforce)

Local cultural beliefs/ norms

Religious beliefs/ norms

Diverse skill set

Community processes Community competence

2.3.2 Screening of Attributes The first ‘filter’ aimed to narrow the selection down to attributes that were connected to the topic of IEPS. Since none of the publications selected is dealing specifically with this topic, the selection process was made ‘backwards’ starting from the concept of Social Vulnerability. Although it is important to acknowledge the complexity and ambiguity found in the literature defining and connecting these terms – Social Resilience and Social Vulnerability -, the notion of having the Resilience as the alternative side of Vulnerability was the factor determining the selection of attributes [e.g. if certain community is vulnerable in terms of its ‘reduced social interaction’ (Bastaminia et al., 2017), that means that the attribute of ‘Social Cohesion’ (Aslam Saja et al., 2018; Khalili et al.,

4

The 46 indicators also proposed by the author are not indicated in this table.

31

Bringing the Debates Together – Conceptual Framework

2015) would be relevant to strengthen the overall social resilience]. However, the aforementioned does not necessarily mean that vulnerability and resilience cannot exist in parallel – the “disaster’s casualties may be high (due to vulnerability) but strong social links may quicken recovery (due to resilience)” (Bastaminia et al., 2017). Hence, literature found on social vulnerabilities in the informal economy was reviewed to carry out this process (see Table 4) Table 4. Social Vulnerabilities in the Informal Economy.

Identification and evaluation of Name

the components and factors

Chapter 2. Informal

Dinámica económica de los

affecting social and economic

Employment and Vulnerability

vendedores ambulantes en el

resilience in city of Rudbar,

in Less Developed Markets

centro de Cali

Iran Authors

Amir Bastaminiaa, Mohammad Reza Rezaeia, Maryam Dastoorpoorb,

Keywords -

Resilience, social resilience,

Focus

Earthquake, Iran

Publication

2017

Journal Source

International Journal of Disaster

Simo Mannila

n.a.

2015

Isabella Franco Peláez, Sebastián Molina Gómez Informal Economy, Street vendors, Heterogeneity, Cali, Public Policy 2015 Facultad de Ciencias Administrativas

Sustainable Working Lives

y Económicas con Énfasis en Política

ELSEVIER

Springer Science

ICESI University

Vulnerability

Vulnerability

Threats

Risk Reduction

Sex Age

Publicas

Labor market insecurity/ exclusion/ discrimination Employment insecurity

Weather and environment Variable income Abuse by the authorities for the use

Race

Job insecurity

Health

Work insecurity

Police control

Disability

Skill reproduction insecurity

Social protection

Illiteracy

Income insecurity

Instability

Social isolation

Representation insecurity

Insecurity

Reduced social interaction

Inadequate social or health protection

Poor relationship with organizations

High stress levels

Limited social participation

Inadequate law enforcement

of the space

Access to financial system

Inadequate legal protection Lack of trust Lack of awareness

The author’s experience and knowledge on the context is the main criterion to apply the second and last ‘filter’. It aims to guarantee that the attributes selected 32

Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

are both applicable and relevant in the context where this research is going to take place, in this case, BogotĂĄ, Colombia.

Four out of five sub-dimensions were kept and eight out of the initial sixteen attributes were discarded after the screening process from the framework by Aslam Saja et al. (2018). Since it was not explicitly mentioned in Aslam Saja et al. (2018) framework and it was clearly important for other authors like Keck and Sakdapolrak (2013) and Khalili et al. (2015), one additional sub-dimension - Innovation – was considered relevant to be included, along with two correspondent attributes for further analysis. The final selection of subdimensions and attributes is shown in the Table 5.

Table 5. Social Resilience sub-dimensions and attributes selected.

Social Sub-

Social

Dimensions

Structure

Social Capital

Mechanisms/

Social Equity

Competences

and Diversity

Innovation

/ Values Social Attributes

demography (Population composition)

Social Cohesion (Community bond)

Community engagement

Fair access to basic needs and services

Social Networks

Community

Diverse skill set

(Social

shared values

(Diverse

associations)

and attitudes

workforce)

Institutional Entrepreneurs Improvisation (Creativity, resourcefulness and ingenuity)

Community competence (Ability to embrace change)

2.3.3 Operational Definitions A manifold and diversity of attributes and definitions were found and extracted from the literature analysis. However, and after the final selection of subdimensions and attributes of social resilience, it is relevant to operationalize 33

Bringing the Debates Together – Conceptual Framework

them acknowledging the contextual basis and generating one “same language� that can fit both in the academic field and the target group to be studied, in this case, informal workers in the public space. Following are the operational definitions which will be the basis to define the best techniques and methodologies to collect the necessary data.

Social Structure: The broad definition of social structure includes the arrangement of institutions in which all relationships and connections between human beings happen. In this study, the social structure will be analyzed in terms of the Social Demography of the informal workers. This is, the population composition and its relationships with contextual social aspects such as income, labor, occupation, housing, immigration and migration, and family status.

Some other social issues like residential segregation, unemployment, and income gaps can be obtained through social demography.

Social Capital: Social capital in this study refers to the quality of the relationships between informal workers in terms of their social ties from the perspective of their Social Cohesion and Social Networks. The social cohesion or community bonding is the extent to which the informal workers help each other and work together to prepare, respond and recover in the face of social hazards or vulnerabilities, while the social networks attribute aims to evaluate their networking abilities within the community and with external (governmental or non-governmental) authorities, with special focus on the connection strengths, such as the diversity, frequency or time duration of those relationships.

Social Mechanisms/ Values/ Competences: This sub-dimension refers to the set of abilities, processes, knowledge and common values and attitudes among informal workers which can foster social resilience. Three specific attributes can give an overview of this sub-dimension. The first, Community Engagement, aims to understand the level of participation and common interest and attainment towards political participation and involvement in public affairs as a channel to express and solve complex issues. The second, arises from the 34

Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

idea that “communities that value common understanding to […] risks and their impact can contribute in bringing people together”(Aslam Saja et al., 2018), Community Shared Values and Attitudes then explores the common understanding and awareness of risk and the shared beliefs and coping attitudes towards social hazards of the informal workers. The third, Community Competence, evaluates the set of capacities that the community has developed to build social resilience, this could go from learnings from past experiences to communication programs which foster the knowledge on how to anticipate to, absorb and to adapt from social threats or hazards.

Social Equity and Diversity: This sub-dimension of social resilience circles around the ideals of fairness and justice, the equitable distribution of critical resources and the idea that less socially diverse communities encounter greater difficulties to recover from disturbances (Aslam Saja et al., 2018). Fair Access to Basic Needs and Services is a key attribute to foster social resilience which can include, among others, access to health care services, education or social services. In addition, a Diverse Skill Set – or Diverse workforce - can promote better responses from the community to threats or further recovery from social hazards.

Innovation: “Part of building resilience in complex systems is strengthening cultures of innovation“ (Westley, 2013). The complex, diverse and moreover, dynamic issues constantly faced by informal workers call for creativity, innovation and resourcefulness, whether these components are addressed by informal workers is the main purpose of analyzing this sub-dimension of social resilience. Having Institutional Entrepreneurs that make innovative processes happen is crucial to enhance social resilience, these are people – or institutions - that find opportunities to connect an alternative approach to the resources of the dominant system (Westley, 2013). Having in addition a social or physical platform that allows Improvisation, represents a key factor to foster problem-

35

Bringing the Debates Together – Conceptual Framework

solving abilities, creativity, resourcefulness and ingenuity, skills highly relevant to effectively cope with disasters or social threats.

36

Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

Photo: Carolina Benitez37

Data Collection Methodology

Chapter 3 - Research Methodology

In order to understand how the adaptation mechanisms to the threatening environment of the IWPS work and how are those related with the production of Social resilience, this study followed an exploratory case study research strategy. As stated by (Yin, 1994), this research strategy is particularly suitable for studies that focus on solving questions on ‘how’ and ‘why’, that does not require control from the investigator over the actual behavior events and that focus on contemporary events.

3.1 Data Collection Methodology Three data collection techniques were selected – semi-structured interviews, institutional records and observation - and assigned to each attribute. This would depend on the time and research limitations (see subchapter 3.3) and the nature of each of the attributes to be analyzed (see Table 5). In addition, a set of key social determinants were extracted from selected literature for each of the attributes aiming to facilitate the design of the data collection methodologies and to serve as evaluation criteria for the results analysis. For example, the attribute of Social Cohesion would be analyzed from the perspective of the social trust and the community leadership, having the semi-structured interviews as the main data collection source while in the case of the 38

Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

Improvisation, the observation would be the most suitable technique to collect its information. Table 6 consolidates this information for all the attributes.

Table 6. Social determinants and data collection sources associated with the selected attributes to be analyzed.5

SUBDIMENSION

SOURCE

DATA COLLECTION SOURCE

Gender Distribution

(Aslam Saja et al., 2018; Cutter et al., 2010)

ID

AT1b

Age Distribution

(Aslam Saja et al., 2018; Cutter et al., 2010; Sorensen, 2006)

ID

AT1c

Race Distribution

(Aslam Saja et al., 2018)

ID

AT1d

Geographic variations

(Aslam Saja et al., 2018)

ID

(Aslam Saja et al., 2018; Paton and Irons, 2016)

SI

(Aslam Saja et al., 2018; Kwok et al., 2016)

SI

AT3a Civic engagement in social networks

Aslam Saja et al., 2018

SI

AT3b

Effective civic organizations

Aslam Saja et al., 2018

SI

AT3c

Volunteerism

Aslam Saja et al., 2018

SI

AT4a Political participation

(Aslam Saja et al., 2018; Khalili et al., 2015)

SI

Aslam Saja et al., 2018

SI

Aslam Saja et al., 2018; Paton, 2001

SI

ATTRIBUTE

SOCIAL DETERMINANT AT1a

SOCIAL STRUCTURE

AT1

AT2 SOCIAL CAPITAL AT3

AT4

SOCIAL MECHANISMS/ COMPETENCES / VALUES

AT5

Social demography (Population composition)

AT2a Social Trust Social Cohesion (Community bond) AT2b Community leadership Social Networks (Social associations)

Community engagement

Community shared values and attitudes

Community competence AT6 Ability to Embrace Change

AT4b

Involvement in public affairs

AT5a

Place of attachment - Sense of Pride

AT5b

Shared beliefs towards future

AT5c

Aslam Saja et al., 2018

SI

Traditional coping mechanisms

Aslam Saja et al., 2018; Paton, 2001

SI

AT6a Knowledge and perception of local risks

(Aslam Saja et al., 2018; Keck and Sakdapolrak, 2013; Khalili et al., 2015; Kwok et al., 2016; Shaw et al., 2014)

SI

Learnings from past experiences with hazard recovery

(Aslam Saja et al., 2018; Kwok et al., 2016; Khalili et al., 2015; Shaw et al., 2014)

SI

Information and communication

(Aslam Saja et al., 2018; Khalili et al., 2015)

SI

AT7a Access to health and well-being

Aslam Saja et al., 2018

ID

AT7b

Access to education

Aslam Saja et al., 2018

ID

AT7c

Access to resources

(Aslam Saja et al., 2018; Kwok et al., 2016)

SI

AT8a Diversity of skills

Aslam Saja et al., 2018

OB

AT8b Trained personnel

Aslam Saja et al., 2018

OB

AT8c

Aslam Saja et al., 2018

OB

AT9a Pattern recognition

Moore and Westley, 2011

ID

AT9b Relationship builder and broker

Moore and Westley, 2011

ID

AT9c

Moore and Westley, 2011

ID

AT6b AT6c

AT7 SOCIAL EQUITY AND DIVERSITY AT8

AT9

Fair access to basic needs and services

Diverse skill set (Diverse workforce)

Institutional Entrepreneurs

SOCIAL INNOVATION

Knowledge and resource broker

AT9d Network recharger

AT10

5

Diverse workforce in diverse places

Improvisation (Creativity, resourcefulness and ingenuity)

AT10a Creativity AT10b Resourcefulness AT10c Ingenuity

Moore and Westley, 2011

ID

Khalili et al., 2015

OB

(Farajalla et al., 2017; Schoofs, 2015; Theda, 2018; Weltbank, 2012)

OB

Khalili et al., 2015

OB

Explanatory note for Table 6. ID: Institutional databases; SI: Semi-structured interviews; OB: Observation 39

Data Collection Methodology

The following sections detail the characteristics of each of the mentioned techniques.

3.1.1 Semi-Structured Interviews It is evident from Table 6 that the information about most of the attributes can be gathered from semi-structured interviews, so it was decided to design an interview model that, without being intrusive, could collect as much of the information as possible with respect to each attribute to be analyzed with this technique. Understanding the possible contextual difficulty of interviewing people who may have never heard terms such as 'Social Cohesion' or 'Institutional Entrepreneurs', some social determinants and keywords extracted from the literature were used to design the interview questions (See Table 6).

This process aimed to reflect the scientific essence of each attribute regardless the colloquial language that needed to be used for the conducted interviews.

Each of the attributes and its corresponding social determinants were codified and then related to one or more questions, thus, covering the whole range of attributes. A base model of the semi-structured interview can be found in Appendix 3

3.1.2 Observation

As a complementary technique, and due to manpower and time constraints, it was decided to make a simplified observation log based on a photographic and video record of the attributes to be analyzed - Diverse skill set (AT8) and Improvisation (AT10) -. The characteristics of these attributes did not require, in the opinion of the author, a systematic approach in regard to the frequency and schedules of information collection, but on the contrary, they required a complete catalog of economic activities carried out in the public space along with its unique or specific characteristics. The criteria for the collection of information was based on the social determinants listed in Table 6 for AT8 and AT10 at random daytime and city zones.

40

Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

3.1.3 Institutional Reports The difficulty in keeping control of informal workers in the public space has prevented from carrying out official censuses that accurately assess in detail the activities and total number of IWPS around the country. However, some attempts have been made by governmental institutions being those the most reliable sources of information regarding IEPS. For the city of Bogotá there are two main sources of information detailed below: •

Individual Register of Informal Vendors (RIVI in Spanish): Data collection system developed for the Institute for the Social Economy – IPES (Standing for Instituto Para la Economía Social in Spanish) since 2007 based on data provided by street vendors who voluntarily approach the institute to register or which is collected when the authorities carry out interventions to recover public space in the different localities of the city (IPES, 2016, p. 22). This registry has some limitations since most of the records are 10 and more years old, so it is very likely that many people have registered and do not work in the public space anymore or have died. Likewise, much of the data are not updated after their registration and not all records have information on all the variables since the RIVI has been adjusted throughout the years.

•

Informal Vendors Identification – 2016: This is a detailed and much more updated characterization carried out in 2016 by the present administration of Bogotá. Although it does not account for the total number of workers in Bogotá, it identifies a representative sample of the total registered in the RIVI. The data was extracted from one-to-one surveys carried out by officials from the IPES through the main road corridors and commercial zones of the city identifying 6.250 workers.

Their results offer specific details regarding the demographic characteristics, population composition and economic practices of the informal workers.

41

The Selection of the Place

The limitations of the sources set above are based on the methodological difficulty of keeping trace of informal workers given their mobility in the city and that they may or may not continue in their work. Even with their limitations, these two institutional statistics represent the best sources available and will be used for the analysis of attributes AT1 (Social demography) and AT7 (Fair access to basic needs and services).

3.2 The Selection of the Place The field research took place in the city of Bogotรก, Colombia. The informal economy in the public space of Bogotรก is an extensive phenomenon but not proportional, this means that the presence of informal workers and the types of activities they carry out vary according to the locality of the city. There is no precise information about the specific reasons for this phenomenon, but it may be due, among others, to the low enforcement presence, the socioeconomic stratum of the sector, the nearby distribution networks, unattended demands by the formal sector or high rates of tourism.

Prior to the selection of the place to carry out the field research, a preliminary analysis of the institutional reports was carried out in order to have an adequate sensitivity of the distribution of informal workers throughout the city. Table 7 consolidates some of data extracted from the RIVI regarding the total amount of informal workers by locality along with the total number of victims of the armed conflict working in every specific locality. This last factor is particularly important due to the additional level of vulnerability that this condition might represent for the individuals with conflict-related past experiences. In addition, correlating the number of informal workers and victim-workers with the total area of each locality, a total density value was calculated for each zone of the city. This number would give a more accurate picture of the concentration of informal workers in each locality. The values were color-coded to reflect more graphically the lowest and highest values of each of the variables included in the 42

Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

analysis. These data are pictured in Figure 5 on a simplified map of Bogotá with its respective localities for the reader’s orientation.

Table 7. Data extraction and analysis regarding the total amount of IWPS and IWPS victims of the armed conflict by locality.

Source: (IPES, 2016)

LOCALITY

Area (km2)

Total Informal Workers

Total Victims

Percentage of Victims

Density of workers (workers/ km2)

Density of victims (victims/ km2)

25,6

606

30

4,95%

24

1,2

1

Usaquen

2

Chapinero

12,4

2394

123

5,14%

194

10,0

3

Santa Fe

45,2

9740

551

5,66%

216

12,2

4

San Cristóbal

49,1

3481

194

5,57%

71

4,0

5

Usme

215,1

1926

153

7,94%

9

0,7

6

Tunjuelito

9,9

1054

50

4,74%

106

5,0

7

Bosa

23,9

1933

155

8,02%

81

6,5

8

Kennedy

38,6

4316

322

7,46%

112

8,3

9

Fontibón

33,3

1199

51

4,25%

36

1,5

10

Engativá

35,9

2542

130

5,11%

71

3,6

11

Suba

45,8

2546

161

6,32%

56

3,5

12

Barrios Unidos

11,9

748

40

5,35%

63

3,4

13

Teusaquillo

14,2

1759

97

5,51%

124

6,8

14

Los Mártires

6,5

3385

191

5,64%

520

29,3

15

Antonio Nariño

4,9

1298

68

5,24%

266

13,9

16

Puente Aranda

17,3

2638

118

4,47%

152

6,8

17

Candelaria

2,1

1573

69

4,39%

764

33,5

18

Rafael Uribe

13,8

1076

65

6,04%

78

4,7

19

Ciudad Bolívar

130,0

2492

255

10,23%

19

2,0

20

Sumapaz

781,0

19

1

5,26%

0

0,0

Total

46725

2824

Average

2336

141

5,87%

148

7,8

Minimum

19

1

4,25%

0

0,0

Maximum

9740

551

10,23%

764

33,5

43

The Selection of the Place

Figure 5. Density of informal workers by locality (workers/km2). Source: (IPES, 2016)

From this analysis, several conclusions can be gathered for the selection of the study area: •

The localities of ‘Santa Fe’ and ‘Kennedy’ have the highest number of IWPS and victims of the armed conflict, however, its large surface means that the density or concentration of IWPS is not so high.

•

On the contrary, the localities of ‘Sumapáz’ and ‘Usaquén’ have the lowest numbers of workers in the city. In the case of ‘Sumapáz’, a large part of its territory has not yet been urbanized and includes large natural reserves and fertile areas where agricultural activities are still carried out, so it results normal that informal activities in the public space are not part of the general picture in this locality. On the other hand, ‘Usaquén’ represents the opposite case as it is one of the most densely populated areas of the city and an important part of its territory includes some of the wealthiest areas of the entire country. Large business and

44

Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

development centers are also located in this zone, making it a very controlled space for the development of informal activities.

•

The particular case of the locality 'Ciudad Bolivar' is important to highlight as it has the highest percentage of informal workers victims of the conflict in the city. Historically, this area located on the southern boundary of the city, together with the localities of ‘Bosa´ and ´Usme´also with high percentages of victims -, has been one of the largest recipients of population displaced by violence and also has the highest rates of poverty in the city. The foregoing could explain the reason why many of these people may see the informal economy as a mean of survival.

•

A particular case is represented by the locality of ‘La Candelaria’, its numbers may seem low compared to those of the other localities if only the total number of workers is analyzed. However, its relevance is notorious if it is analyzed from the point of view of the density. Being the smallest locality in the city, it is by far the one with highest concentration of workers per km2. ‘La Candelaria’ gathers the entire historical center of Bogotá and a large portion of the governmental entities of the state are located here, the Presidential Palace, the Mayor’s office and the Justice Palace, are just a few examples. This area of the city is home to many of the most important universities in the country and it is the first tourist destination in Bogotá as it has a wide cultural and commercial offer, many museums, restaurants and all kinds of activities for citizens and tourists can be found during all seasons of the year. It is also very interesting because is one of the very few areas of the city in which one could witness a real socioeconomic diversity both in its floating population and in its residents.

Based on the analysis, it was decided to select two study areas. The first, the locality of 'La Candelaria', which, as already explained, has the highest concentration of workers and which, according to the author, reflects what 45

Research Limitations

happens in the rest of the city. Due to time and staff limitations, its size also makes it very appropriate to easily access workers over very short distances. In addition, the author has considerable experience within this sector, knowing in advance many of the dynamics and language around the IEPS in the area. The second is the locality of 'Usaquén', which, as previously indicated, has one of the lowest concentrations of IWPS in the city; however, there are still workers who, despite the extensive controls and governmental barriers, have legitimized their stay in some of the richest and most controlled places of the city. This condition could not easily be analyzed in the primary location, being this the main reason for selecting this as the secondary study-area.

3.3 Research Limitations Under the scope of this research, it is important to highlight the methodological limitations and shortcomings that might have a potential impact on the results and its consequent analysis. Four main limitations were recognize as shown below: Sample Size: Given the qualitative nature of this research, the results will not result in any generalization among the community of IWPS since the sample size is of course not statistically representative. As explained before, this research will focus rather on giving answers to questions of ‘how’ and ‘why’.

Timing of the research: The field work was carried out during the second half of April until the 10th of May of 2018. During this period, political elections were taking place in the country. The political enthusiasm – or the lack of it – might affect the perception of the workers towards questions regarding political participation or representativeness.

Sample profile: The interviewees profiles correspond mainly to informal workers in the public space. The timing of the research, time constraints and access limitations prevented from carrying out further analysis of other potentially relevant stakeholders such as policy-makers, authorities or other 46

Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

citizens. In addition to the latter and given the great diversity of occupations within the IEPS in Bogotå, it was not viable to conduct interviews that collected answers from exponents of each occupation. The focus of this research is centered on understanding the dynamics around IEPS from the perspective of IWPS and the author’s observation and analysis skills. However, this opens the door for further researchers who wants to expand the knowledge about variations within cluster of activities or bring other stakeholders into the equation, therefore providing a much more complete picture of the facts.

Selected places profile: The great disparity, heterogeneity and inequality of Colombian cities, might represent a great challenge when it comes to understand behaviors and raise conclusions. What might be socially accepted in one neighborhood, might not be in the one next. Aiming to reduce this uncertainties, two localities with socio-economic and spatial differences were selected. However, precautions should be taken in order to avoid misrepresentations or unfunded generalizations.

Self-reported data bias: Factors like selective memory, telescoping, attribution or exaggeration represent limitations from self-reported data since it is hardly verifiable (Labaree, 2018). The data used for the following analysis is relying on the honesty of the respondents and an appropriate recall of the events which might influence the accurate representation of the facts. Even though some attempts to triangulate the information gathered were made, this is still one of the main thresholds of this research.

47

Research Limitations

48

Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

Chapter 4 - The Socially Resilient nature of the Informal Economy in the Public Space of Bogotá

4.1 Setting the Context Colombia, northern south American country, is the place where the so-called longest war in the Western hemisphere has taken place for more than 50 years.

Communist guerrillas, paramilitaries and drug cartels have driven the country towards a very complex and painful conflict. Among many others, one of the most shocking and relevant effects of this war, is the vast number of internal displaced people by violence, most part, coming from rural areas and small counties where the presence of those groups is (or was) stronger. The numbers are not clear and vary from 5’712.506 (CODHES, 2012) to 8’250.270 (RUV, 2017) people displaced –almost 20% of the country’s total population– from rural areas to cities. These statistics place Colombia as the country with the largest number of internally displaced people in the world, only followed by Syria, Iraq and Sudan.

That massive displacement has affected sorely the way in which urban areas have grown and the slow pace and inefficiency in which the countryside has 49

Setting the Context - Institutional Reports

developed. Bogotá for example, the capital city of Colombia, with approximately 8 Million people living in its urban area, contains almost 20% of the total country’s population and it’s the biggest and most important economic, artistic, cultural and industrial hub of the country. Along with Medellin (second largest city of the country), it has become the main recipient of forced migrant and poor population coming from all violence-affected regions which with very few options, settle in the limits of the city, thus magnifying the levels of heterogeneity, socio-spatial fragmentation, sprawling and disaster risk.

In the last years, the country has been experiencing a “reborn from the ashes” with a thriving economy and the security levels increasing, all supported by an on-going peace agreement with the biggest guerrilla group and the constant improvement of different sectors of the economy. However, levels of inequality are on the rise and the service-based economy in which the cities are specialized, is incapable of attending the large number of workers seeking for a job in the urban centers. Even though the country’s economy has been growing faster than many of its continental neighbors, this has not been translated proportionally into benefits for its citizens. In terms of inequality for example, and according to the Gini Index provided by the World Bank, Colombia has been catalogued as the tenth most unequal country on the planet, and the second in Latin-America right after Brazil (World Bank, 2018). That means that the wealth is getting concentrated in a very low percentage of the population, while the rest keep struggling to escape from poverty. In spite the fact that the forced displacement has been reduced during the last years, the countryside land restitution to its former owners is moving in a very slow pace which does not equate with the increasing urbanization rates of the main cities.

Even though Colombian cities have experienced very similar urbanization patterns as many cities in the global south, it is relevant to emphasize on the additional influencing factor which has made diverge this process from being a ‘natural’ one. Violence and its subsequent consequences, have brought an additional component to the already complex dynamics of urbanization, forcing 50

Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

authorities and urban practitioners to reinvent strategies and to create solutions that adapt to the Colombian context and history.

The latter goes in contrast with the tremendous richness and diversity in terms of natural resources, the kindness of its people, the capacity to rebound from adverse conditions and a unique multiethnicity which translates into a cultural and historical endless value. Even though the future seems promising, there is still a long-way run to a more equitable, sustainable and safe country.

4.1.1 A Brief Overview of The Informal Economy in Colombia The National Administrative Department of Statistics -DANE (standing for Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadistica in spanish) - defines as belonging to the informal sector of the economy: family helpers who are not paid a salary, domestic workers, workers who are working for their own account in own or family activities (excluding independent professionals and technicians) and to paid workers and employees of the private sector and employers linked to companies with five or less employed people (DANE, 2018).

Informality in Colombia has emerged as the biggest source of livelihoods across the country over the last decades. Just recently, the average of people working in the informal sector decreased below 50% (DANE, 2018) (see Figure 6). This dynamic is not constant across the country and it fluctuates triggered by different phenomena happening in the different regions. One of the cities with the lowest percentage of informal economy is Manizales (39,4%) while cities like Cucuta or Sincelejo have alarming numbers of 70,4% and 64,3%, respectively (see Figure 7). In the case of Cucuta for example, being located in the geographical border with Venezuela, the city has witnessed in the last years

51

Setting the Context - A Brief Overview of The Informal Economy in Colombia

a huge flow of immigrants coming from Venezuela caused by the economic and political crisis of the neighbor country.

Figure 6. Average percentage of informal employment from 13 and 23 cities and metropolitan areas (MA). Source: DANE (2018)

Figure 7. Percentage of informal economy by city. Source: DANE (2018)

The informal economy is present in many and diverse arenas. Usually the practices within the informal economy are divided by the occupations themselves instead of the places where those are taking place. As already stated before, the occupations of particular interest in this research are the ones which 52

Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

use the public space as a platform. With a manifold of characteristics and dynamics, the following apart describes the specifics around the informal economy in the public space in the context of Colombia.

4.1.2 Informal Economy in the Public Space in Bogotá To define the Informal Economy in the Public Space (IEPS) it is necessary to first understand what is ‘public space’ in the context of Colombia. Officially and according to the Colombian constitutional law, the public space has been defined by the Article 139 in the Law 1801 of (2016) as “the set of public buildings and furniture, goods for public use, fiscal goods, protected areas of special ecological importance and the architectural and natural elements of private buildings, destined by their nature, uses or affectation, to the satisfaction of collective needs that transcend the limits of the individual interests of all people in the national territory”. In the urban context of Bogotá then, one could imply that the IEPS refers to all kinds of economic practices happening in any arena matching the latter description. This could include parks, plazas, streets, sidewalks, public markets or public transport systems.

The IEPS has been highly associated by public authorities and academics with a few occupations. This is the case of vendedores ambulantes (street vendors) or recicladores (waste collectors). Even though these types of practices cluster a big majority of the IWPS, there are many other labors which are left unattended by this prioritization. These might include activities related with services or entertainment offers (e.g. pedicabs, musicians, artists, craftsmen, shoeshine boys, etc.). This is of especial importance because very little work has been done to first, identify and quantify all these alternative practices and people relying on those and second, include them in public programs that reduce their vulnerability and that recognize them as part of the informal labor force. The latter might also be the reason for the constant disagreement concerning the total amount of workers in the IEPS. The district authorities have calculated an approximate of 50.000 workers (IPES, 2016) while others argue that this 53

Setting the Context - Informal Economy in the Public Space in Bogotá

number is too short and could go up to 200.000 working on the public space of Bogotá.

With a very negative image, the IEPS has been catalogued by urban authorities to negatively influence aspects like the natural environment by the production and bad disposition of solid waste, clean, security, commercial image and physical conditions of the constituent elements of the public space (sidewalks, plazas, parks, green zones, etc.). (IPES, 2016) 4.1.2.1 Regulatory framework Even though informal economic practices are considered illegal in Colombia, there is a regulatory framework that allows to carry out productive activities in the public space. At the national level, the action plan of the National Policy of Public Space establishes that the MVCT, standing for the Ministry of Housing, City and Territory, “will review and adjust the economic use of public space, determine models of economic use from the constituent elements of public space and develop methodologies to establish differential rates according to the spaces susceptible to economic use” (IPES, 2016, p. 15). This regulation usually translates in the use of the public space for major events or advertisement campaigns. The National Policy of Public Space recognizes the faculty and independence of each municipality to hire with private entities the administration, maintenance and economic use of public use goods. However, the same document recognizes the very weak urban control to monitor and sanction the irregular use of the public space arguing that municipalities and districts do not have adequate policies, instruments nor budget to enforce the urban control and to avoid the occupation of those spaces due to the complex dynamics of urbanization and formal and informal economy. The latter means that policies and approaches to the use of the public space vary from one city to another.

Highly influenced by political visions, the approach to the IEPS has drastically wavered from full-tolerance to punishment-based policies. In fact, in 2016 a 54

Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

new law – commonly known as “the new Police Code” - was updated in the congress including a stricter approach towards the use of the public space for economic purposes. That would allow the authorities to impose fines to the IWPS and the possibility of confiscating their goods if ‘caught’ more than twice (El Congreso de Colombia, 2016).

For the case of Bogotá, four district actors were identified to be influential in the management and regulation of the public space and the IEPS: •

Administrative Department for the Defense of the Public Space (DADEP): Main actor on administration and protection of the public space and its enhancement to improve the quality of life in Bogotá by promoting collective use and enjoyment and stimulate community participation.

•

District Secretary for the Economic Development: It advocates for the design of effective strategies that lead to the generation and improvement of income of people, businesses and the improvement of the quality of life of the inhabitants of the city in general.

•

Institute for the Social Economy (IPES): It has been created to offer alternatives of income generation to the population of the informal economy that exercises its activities in the public space. Its strategies are based on training, entrepreneurship and business strengthening management of competitive commercial platforms.

•

Urban Renewal and Development Company of Bogotá (ERU): Its main objective is to identify, promote, manage and execute projects related to the public policy of development and urban renewal of Bogotá.

55

Results Analysis - Introduction

4.2 Results Analysis 4.2.1 Introduction From the results of the semi-structured interviews, it is evident that the resilient process of the informal worker starts even before the person decides to enter the informal economy in the public space. The access to the informal economy itself is used as an adaptation mechanism to cope with personal or professional life experiences. The reasons to entering the IEPS are as diverse as unexpected and can go from an option to deal with unemployment and lack of opportunities to a type of “rebellion against social rules” (See Figure 8). In some cases, it is recalled as a “salvation” choice taken after several or many failed attempts to succeed within the formal sector as stated by a worker (Interview #7) who likes his profession to be called as ‘barista’ - professional on preparing coffee-based drinks and with extensive knowledge of processes, machines and methods for the coffee treatment - and who has been working for six years in front of one of the most renown universities of the city selling different kinds of coffees using a very stylish cappuccino maker which is a common attraction to the passers-by of the area for its authenticity and crafty-look. Despite the fact that he has gotten technical degrees and a lot of self-training on this practice, he manifested that it is very difficult to get a formal job with his age: “To work on this [barismo], one can go to Dunkin Donuts, Juan Valdez [national coffee chain store], but there are many processes and they are getting there a lot of young people, I am 33 years old, and because of my age they do not hire me. I manage my time, my space, I have time for my family too, I do not have to be working on a Sunday. One is his own employer”6 Sometimes, it is the first and only option available as it is the case of many Venezuelan immigrants arriving as a result of the economic and political crisis of their country and for whom it is impossible to access the formal job markets 6

All quotes and references to the interviews used in the Chapter 4- The Socially Resilient nature of the Informal Economy in the Public

Space of Bogotá can be consulted following the instructions described in Appendix 1Appendix 4 56

Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

due to their visa restrictions and formal regulations. On the contrary, for others, entering the informal economy in the public space is the ideal scenario as a newcomer in the city arguing the level of independence and flexibility gained, this is described by one worker (Interview #8) who arrived in Bogotá 18 years ago: “When you get here [to Bogotá], that's the ideal, to work independently.

It is better for you [economically] and one is not subject of being ruled by anybody. And for the commitments, if I do not work for myself, I will not fulfill many of my commitments. One has more advantages to do better.”

From the information gathered, it is also evident that in some cases, there is not just one or a unique reason but a combination of several which lead individuals to finally take the decision of making a living out of the IEPS, as pictured in Figure 8

Figure 8. Main reasons or 'triggers' to enter the informal economy in the public space

In all cases, the access to the informal economy is an option which achieves to fill many gaps that past attempts were not successful to. But entering the informal economy is recognized as just the beginning of a series of other adverse conditions or threats to overcome – if possible - before reaching a ‘state 57

Results Analysis - Introduction

of calm’. When asked, the workers mentioned a manifold of negative aspects as being the main difficulties of their jobs. For some, “working in the street is the hardest” as stated by one of the interviewed workers (Interview #4): “the street is the hardest, the most difficult, water, sun, environment.

Here the enemies are not the thieves, sadly, the enemies are the same authorities, it is the truth. And even more sad, instead of fighting the problem […] instead of looking for a solution, they practically fight it with weapons, not guns or pistols, but there are other weapons, the verbal abuse, the psychological abuse, taking things away from you.”

Several negative factors can be extracted from this apart like the weather exposure, seeing the authorities as enemies, the confiscation of goods or the police abuse. Same analysis was carried out with all the interviews having as a result a general overview of the main difficulties or threats identified by the workers and which is condensed and presented in the Figure 9.

“You have to take care of yourself, because this is breakfast lunch and dinner, not only mine but my family’s, my heritage” a worker says meaning that his job represents the main source of income and livelihood for him and his family, exposing the general necessity, for not just him but many of them, to adapt or come up with strategies to cope with the negative effects of this threats as in many cases, the informal work in the public space is the ‘last resource’ and there is no other alternative.

58

Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

Risks associated with the Informal Work in the Public Space Evictions Police abuse Weather exposure Authorities as enemies Public space "Ownership" Envy Forced displacement Low Salaries in the Formal sector Agglomeration Drug trafficking Insecurity Inequality Violence Contempt by the people Confiscation Intermittent Sales Socio-Political volatility Inmigration Lack of Social Protection Political corruption - Bribery Pessimism Disability New Police Code Private Entities Child Labor Ownership of the "Chaza" Intermittent solutions Psychological Abuse Verbal Abuse Governmental entities Abuse by distributors Poverty Lack of opportunities Abandonment Poor people as statistics Killing attemps Street violence Street dwelling 0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Figure 9. Risks associated with the informal work in the public space according to the answers.

59

Results Analysis - Social Demography

This overview of perceived threats was presented beforehand since it will be essential for the subsequent sub-chapters’ analysis. Are to those threats, which the IWPS are constantly responding to, recovering from and devising mitigation mechanisms to, therefore driving the emergence of social resilience attributes.

The following subchapters will present the main findings of the field research along with a detailed analysis on how those are related – or not – to the production of social resilience within the community of IWPS. 4.2.2 Social Demography This attribute was analyzed from the perspective of four social determinants: gender, age and race distribution and geographic variations. As related in Table 6, the data for analysis was extracted from the official institutional reports available at the moment of the research (see 3.1.3 Institutional Reports).

According to the RIVI, by January of 2017, there was a total 50.039 registered informal workers in the public space across the city (IPES, 2016). This number however can be very misleading since there are individual registers 10 or more years old and there are people who may or may not keep working. There are also people who might have entered informality but never registered or that may have registered and already died. The data analyzed below, is extracted from the characterization of the informal workers developed by the IPES in 2016 from a representative sample of the total number of workers calculated by the RIVI, therefore it does not stand for totals but for distributions.

In terms of the gender distribution, there is a slight majority of men practicing informal activities in the public space. Although, there is a significant participation of women as it is shown in the figure below:

60

Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

Gender Distribution 0%

Men

47% 53%

Women

Figure 10. Gender Distribution in the IEPS. Adaptation from: IPES (2016)

While these tendency does not elaborate on the conditions and quality of the jobs for both men and women, it does reveal a positive tendency with regard of the gender inclusiveness within the informal practice in the public space worth of further analysis.

In terms of the age distribution, the data shows that is homogeneous although around 70% of the worker population are older than 39 and the elderly account for almost 20% of the total as shown in Table 8.

Table 8. Age distribution in the IEPS. Source: IPES (2016, p. 41)

AGE GROUP

VALID PERCENTAGE (%)

LESS THAN 18

0.5

BETWEEN 18 AND 25

6.6

BETWEEN 26 AND 38

22.5

BETWEEN 39 AND 48

24.7

BETWEEN 49 AND 59

26.2

MORE THAN 60

19.2

TOTAL

100.0

61

Results Analysis - Social Demography

According to several authors, the percentage of elder population is related with the level of social resilience - specially to climatic hazards - of a community.

Accordingly, having a big share of elderly seems to be disadvantageous when dealing with climatic or natural disasters (Aslam Saja et al., 2018; Cutter et al., 2010; Sorensen, 2006). This body of literature pictures the elderly as a ‘weight’ instead of an asset in times of crisis. However, the IEPS is one of the few sectors of the economy in which the elderly can find opportunities for creating livelihoods in such a considerable share. One might suggest that this ‘inclusive’ characteristic (also perceived around the gender distribution) could foster or contribute to the overall social resilience of the community to social threats.

With very little evidence to prove this assertion, this aspect is worth to be further researched and analyzed.

The informal workers come from different regions of the country and have come to Bogotá and entered the IEPS for many different reasons (See Figure 8).

The following map shows the main regions where the workers come from: As expected, there is a large concentration of people originally from the capital district. However, more than 50% of the informal working population comes

Figure 11. Color-coded map of Colombia with the regions of origin of the informal workers.

Source: IPES (2016)

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Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

from other regions of the country. Whilst there is a notable concentration of people coming from regions bordering the capital district, there is representation from almost every department of the country.

In addition, according to the official data by the IPES (2016), there is also a small minority of ethnic groups carrying out economic activities in the public space. Figure 12 shows the distribution of ethnic groups in which the minority from the Indigenous and Black, Mulatto and Afro-Colombian communities is evident.

Ethnicity in the IEPS 2%

2%

Indigenous Raizal people from the Archipelago Black, mulatto, afrocolombian

96%

Palenquero None

Figure 12. Ethnic groups in the IEPS. Source: IPES (2016)

Moreover, the last lustrum has witnessed a huge migration of Venezuelan population due to the political and economic crisis of the neighbor country.

Although not pictured in Figure 11 by the lack of official data, it has been estimated that by June of 2018, at least 118.000 Venezuelans would have arrived to Bogotรก (El Espectador, 2018), from which many them would have entered the informal economy in the public space unable to get a formal job because of visa restrictions (RCN Radio, 2018) .

With this amalgam of cultures and origins, the informal environment may be subject to sporadic outbreaks of discrimination or segregation. However, such diversity also exhibits a great benchmarking potential to exploit in terms of the

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Results Analysis - Social Cohesion (Community Bonding)

cultural, gastronomic and entertainment activities which the IEPS could offer if addressed adequately.

If affecting the social conditions of certain population, some social determinants like the age, gender, ethnicity and geographic variations have been recognized by some authors to be drivers of vulnerability, and therefore as negative indicators of social resilience (Bastaminia et al., 2017; Cutter et al., 2010; Martin, 2015). Making use of official data, the community of IWPS was analyzed through the lenses of those social determinants, as part of the Social Demography attribute. Although the evidence presented is limited and yet nonconclusive on this matter, several interpretations were offered which somehow contrast the latter vision. The final aim was to raise a discussion around if those social determinants should be seen as an actual threat to the overall social resilience of the community or on the contrary, have a hidden potential waiting to be further explored and recognized.

4.2.3 Social Cohesion (Community Bonding) The attribute of social cohesion within the IWPS arises as a result of several adaptation mechanisms to some of the imposed threats (see Figure 9). It exhibits several variations from the individual to the community level. The attribute was analyzed from the perception of the interviewed workers towards two social determinants: the social trust and the community leadership.

Those factors were translated into questions regarding the perception towards de organization and union within the community of IWPS and the relationship between workers (see Appendix 3) From the responses, it was inferred how the concepts of ‘community’ and ‘legitimacy’ are being redefined influenced by the configuration of the public space and a sense of protectionism of the workplace, respectively. These last two, are the main variables which seem to be defining the intermittence in the levels of social cohesion according to the type of place and the social threats experienced by the informal workers.

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Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

Figure 13. Determinants of the social cohesion of the IWPS.

4.2.3.1 Redefinition of ‘Community’ The configuration of the public space seems to be strongly linked with a reinterpretation of the concept of ‘community’. This interpretation of the concept appears to be influenced by the spatial borders and barriers imposed by the urban fabric. The more compact, enclosed and ‘protective’ the space, the more bonding among individuals, while in less dense, more open and interrupted configurations, the less connection between workers was evidenced.

The different types of spatial configurations where the interviews were carried out are pictured below and linked with extracts from the perception of the workers located in that specific place.

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Results Analysis - Social Cohesion (Community Bonding)

Space Configuration

Extracts from interviews “We come from three different families, but while we are here, we are just one. I am a street vendor and I talk about my environment, if they come to mess with

Figure 14. Public Space configuration #1. 'Enclosed street community'

her, they automatically mess with me […].

What do we have to do? Take the three of us by the hand and face it”

“It's excellent [the relationship with other workers], in this sector you know everybody. All-in-all, the 17 of us, mobilize as a group. The truth is I do not know Figure 15. Public space

how they handle things over there

configuration #2.

[referring to another place with

'Enclosed plaza

concentration of informal workers], I do

community'

know people, but over there, it is another story”

“We all support each other, and I have never had any problem [with any of them] because here we are the five of Figure 16. Public space

us and let's say, if the police come, we

configuration #3.

help each other.”

'Semi-enclosed plaza community'

“People here for example, are very odious, very annoying. Here everyone is in their own space, there is a lot of envy. I do not greet them because if you do not get greeted, why would I beg for Figure 17. Public space configuration #4.

Segregated and disperse community

greeting, no no. There are parts in which there is that communion, they understand each other and get along, but there are others that do not. People here are very selfish.”

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Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

In all responses, when asked about the organization and union within the community of IWPS, workers refer to the closest group of people around them as ‘their community’. According to that, it can be inferred that the scale of the perceived community is being reduced from a ‘community of informal workers’ in general, to a cluster of individuals working in the same place, a ‘subcommunity’.

In all cases, it was also evident how they manifested not knowing very well about how things are “handled” in other places different to the ones in which they work, showing disconnection between groups of workers. However, the majority of those groups exhibit very strong personal links and levels of trust among individuals. For example, interviewed workers from Figure 14, Figure 15 and Figure 16 manifested a very strong bonding between all ‘red-colored’ individuals within that specific spatial configuration referring to their colleagues as “friends” and in some cases as “family”.

Figure 14 and Figure 16 show how some individuals (blue dots) end up being isolated from the ‘sub-community’, seemingly by the spatial and visual barriers set by the nearby buildings or public facilities. On the other hand, Figure 17 exposes a configuration characterized by a big share of open public spaces interrupted by a very segregated distribution of isolated buildings and a complex street layout. This configuration was the only one in which the interviewees manifested not having good relationship with their ‘neighbors’ and in some cases, without being asked, unveiled some of the difficulties of working “in the street” presented in Figure 9.

The latter does not exclude the existence of another type or ‘level’ of community, a bigger one, however this will be topic of discussion in the following subchapters. The evidence presented here can open the door for further research around the relation between the spatial form and the social cohesion among IWPS. This might extend the understanding behind this 67

Results Analysis - Social Cohesion (Community Bonding)

apparent connection and its many variations and can even be tested in other contexts and communities.

4.2.3.2 Redefinition of ‘Legitimacy’ As pictured in Figure 9, working in the public space is not an easy task, there are many obstacles to overcome and it may take years before reaching a stable state. The IWPS are aware of that thorny path and therefore become very protective of their working arena, which they have “fought for”. Even though their economic practices in the public space are not legal in the eyes of the authorities, they have raised arguments seeking to legitimate their ‘stay’ in the public space. The following extract from Interview #4 might elaborate on this assertion: We know it, this is not ours [the space where they work], but at the same time, it is ours. Why? Because we've been here all our lives, we earned it, this was not free. How is it that people dare to say that we are illegal? That is an accusation and a presumption.

Some of those arguments include the years of intense struggle to get a permanent work spot in the public space, to build a reputation, to maintain a clientele, to create livelihoods even in the most difficult conditions or the common argument of not having an alternative work option. At some point in time, this new definition of ‘legitimacy’ is sometimes even extended to the authorities (public or private) in charge of ‘protecting’ the public space where IWPS work, for whom those arguments become sufficient to valid their ‘stay’ in the public space.

This alternative perception of ‘legitimacy’ becomes relevant because it is the main ‘trigger’ of Social Cohesion when the informal worker feels his/her working environment being threatened by external factors or individuals. In these scenarios, all personal and community linkages are activated by a sense of solidarity as explained by a worker (Interview #05): 68

Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

It's like if it happened to him, it could happen to all of us afterwards, we would all join together.

Even though this perception of what is and what is not legitimate might go against the social established rules, it seems to be the most effective and convenient survival strategy for the IWPS to preserve their built assets.

While this protectionism over the working space activates the attribute of Social Cohesion among the IWPS, it can also lead to exclusionary behaviors towards other informal workers which are not part of the communities. Some of them manifested that letting new workers enter into their businesses’ areas of influence and the consequent possible agglomeration, can attract more problems related to police abuse, evictions and confiscation of goods. The latter might be the reason for the relatively small size of the groups and the very low renovation of individuals in time.

As it could be intuited, the above represents a problematic for new individuals seeking to find economic opportunities in the public space which are confronted against very close environments and with a sometimes-painful path until finding their own ‘legitimacy’. Two workers with different experiences can exemplify the latest: Interview #07: It was a bit difficult because at the beginning there was a lot of trouble with the same colleagues. Everyone made a face [...] But I endured and endured. At first, I did not talk to anyone [...] And yes, there were characters that were difficult at first, not anymore. But it's the same thing that I do here when someone new arrives

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Results Analysis - Social Networks

Interview #10: “At first it is not easy because you have to go accrediting the business, then little by little we started taking clients, we started with very few people, and that is how they get to know you, little by little. Then profits are being improved and the monthly budget goes up” In conclusion, the redefinition of ‘legitimacy’ over the public space originate in the IWPS as a result of a set of survival experiences and the ‘right to work’ which validates their ‘stay’ in the public space. This at the same time, transforms into a response strategy when facing immediate threats.

4.2.4 Social Networks For the purpose of this study and based on the selected literature, three social determinants were selected to analyze this attribute: the civic engagement in social networks, the existence of effective civic organizations and the level of volunteerism in those organizations. The responses by the informal workers interviewed were the main input for the analysis of this attribute which is shown below.

At first glance, the overall picture of this attribute seemed to be blurry and very weak. For example, when asked about the knowledge of organizations working towards the interests of the IWPS, none of them named one in specific, yet some of them did recognize the existence of several. Instead, some of them mentioned specific individuals who, by their own, are helping the IWPS in different arenas and levels of the society, although, next subchapters will elaborate on this topic (see 4.2.10 Institutional Entrepreneurs) In addition, all respondents manifested not being part of any of those civic organization and consequently to not volunteer or participate regularly in any related activity with those kinds of organizations. Although many of them have had experiences either with attempts of ‘recruitment’ or with assisting to formal gatherings organized by some associations, most of them manifested currently a 70

Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

very strong lack of interest based on the corruption or ‘clique’ within these organizations, the high membership rates and their low efficiency. A response by a worker (Interview #13) may add to this: “At this moment, there is an association. I was once so desperate of being so screwed by the police that I went to look for them in Chapinero [locality in Bogotá] and they even have an office and everything. But it is a scam! I mean, there's nothing if it's not with money [...] you have to pay a tuition, 35 thousand pesos [€10], and every Friday they come to your stand collecting 10 thousand pesos [€3]. And when there are problems with the police you need them and, where are they? no, they are not anywhere... it's a robbery!”

Strictly looked at, the above is presenting an image which, according to the author’s perception, is not accurately representing the networking capacities or abilities of the IWPS. However, it is indeed unveiling a problematic worth of being further analyzed.

According to Carpenter, (2013) the importance of the attribute of Social Networks relies on the beneficial factor that social ties have been recognized to have on the face of a disturbance or disaster. Even when at first glance, the social networks seem to be very limited since none of those ‘sub-communities’ (at least the ones where interviews were carried out) have been materialized into civic organizations as such, the IWPS are very social individuals and in most of the evidenced cases, have created meaningful social links not just within the ‘sub-communities’ but also with other social entities (citizens, authorities, institutions). Far from being mere social relationships, these links have been proven effective in many cases where the integrity of the IWPS has been threatened. Three short stories from interviewed workers aim to exemplify the last assertion:

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Results Analysis - Social Networks

4.2.4.1 Formal-Informal Alliances At the end of 2017, the Bogotá City Hall ordered the removal of all the informal vendors who, for years, occupied the public space around one of the most traditional plazas in the Usaquén locality. The place that once had dozens of sellers of all kinds of products and crafts (see Figure 18), today looks desolate (see Figure 19).

Before

After

Figure 18. Informality in the locality of Usaquén before the 2017

Figure 19. Image of the locality of Usaquén after the 2017

evictions. Source: (Jtravelus, 2017)

evictions.

From the approximately 200 workers who use to occupy the sector (El Tiempo, 2017), only one of them managed to stay after the evictions. His name is Miguel (Interview #14) and since 2000 he sells 'Obleas' (traditional Colombian dessert) in this traditional sector of the Colombian capital. Before the evictions of December 2017, he was forced to decide between leaving the area or keep fighting for his business, which he manifested to do "with great pleasure and with lots of love" and in which he says, he has "a very good clientele for the so long time of being” there.

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Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

His strategy was to "ally" with one of the businesses in the sector, a well-known bar-restaurant which allowed him to use a small part of his private area adjoining the sidewalk, to offer his product. This way, he would not be invading the public space and therefore be evicted by the authorities while at Figure 20. Formal-Informal alliances to preserve built assets of the IWPS. Miguel’s ‘Obleas’ stand.

the same time, he could have a direct showcase to the public.

When asked about the main reason to get the permission from the formal establishment he explained: “It must have been because I am very obliging, I like to help, I like to keep an eye out for what I see strange and I like to give information to people, for all those things they have given me permission here, it will not be for bad people” 4.2.4.2 Solidarity network 'El paisa' (Interview #13), as everyone in the sector knows him, is a former street vendor who, 2 months before interviewing him, had managed to formalize his street sales business. He leased a small store one block from where, after arriving displaced by violence, he worked for more than 13 years selling snacks on the street. He used to work right next to the headquarters of the biggest advertising company of the country, located in one of the most thriving and wealthiest business districts of the city. Workers from the area use to be – and still are - his most loyal customers.

One of his multiple shared experiences was related to a time when the police, in one of the multiple attempts to recover the public space, evicted him and seized 73

Results Analysis - Social Networks

all his products and confiscated his small work cart. Without any product to sell he still decided to go back next day and sell cellphone minutes.

“By that time, I had made a good friendship with two guys from Sancho [aforementioned advertising company] who come from wealthy families. They saw what happened to me and decided to coordinate a money-pool inside the company. The next day they gave me a bag with COP $2’500.000 [€800] and told me ‘Look Paisa, to start your business again’.”

4.2.4.3 External Community Mobilization The public areas surrounding ‘Los Andes’ University in ‘La Candelaria’ locality have seen for decades dozens of informal workers who the students refer to kindly as ‘los monitos’. For them, they are almost “part of the landscape” and have become not just very close and appreciated by the students but also necessary for the Figure 21. IEPS as enhancer of social activies. Informal economy in the surroundings of 'Los Andes' University.

sector (see Figure 21).

With the new city’s administration, things have become tough for the IWPS. With a public-space-protection policy, the mayor’s office has implemented different kinds of fines and penalties targeting individuals occupying the public space along with police operations to evict them if not obeying the rules. Due to the new regulations, the IWPS of this area have seen how the number of police operations to reclaim the public space have increased during the last two years and therefore, the difficulties to maintain their built assets. However, the students and teachers of ‘Los Andes’ have become their biggest ‘lifesavers’ and allies. An anecdote told by an interviewed worker explains why: 74

Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

“I was working here with my daughter when a police captain arrived with all the rudeness of the world and said, ‘go away!’. She parked two trucks and a minivan here, unfortunately a drug dealer will not be picked up with as much violence as that woman came to pick us up.

‘You better leave, or I confiscate everything and take all of you in detention’. We started to argue with the lady, ‘we will not let go’. The students from the faculty of law, all of them have been our "babies" in here, when they realized that my daughter was fighting with the captain and told her the arguments, they all got involved [...] there was an uproar and she could not take us.”

Similar to this, several other anecdotes were shared by interviewees matching on the beneficial connection between informal workers and the student community of ‘Los Andes’ university.

Aside from the data collected from the interviews and aiming to get deeper information regarding the overall phenomena, further desk research was carried out to confront these findings with other studies in the city. (Navarro Algarra, 2014), in his analysis of the organizational structure behind the community of IWPS on a specific locality in Bogotá (Teusaquillo), he found that in fact, there are many registered formal associations of IWPS around the city.

His findings revealed that for example in the locality of Teusaquillo, there are at least 15 authorized and legal associations of IWPS. Those have carried out different political agendas but unfortunately very little has been seen as result of their management. He also identified a set of flaws which have prevented those associations from being a real support and change-agents within the community of IWPS. In fact, it was evidenced how competition, power disparities and lack of transparency among associations have also limited the interactions and joint work with one another. Those factors were also recognized at the same time, as the main causes to the lack of engagement and confidence of IWPS in those associations.

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Results Analysis - Community Engagement

Although not formalized, the ‘sub-communities’ of IWPS have been acting as social entities with inner organizational structures and own strategies. As evidenced, they have been able to create, develop and maintain certain links and alliances which have been effectively translated into high levels of trust, respect standards and help networks between entities (formal and informal).

Recognizing the aggregate value and importance that it would be to materialize those efforts into stablished and more important, effective organizations with the ability of reaching out to more people and effectively address common issues, it is equally important to highlight the efforts and networking capacities that IWPS have developed on their own to protect their built assets.

The initial social determinants selected were proven not to be the most effective to analyze the IWPS since its nature contemplate a certain level of formality which certainly goes in contrast with the main human target of this study. This self-critical analysis would be a matter of discussion in the Conclusions chapter.

4.2.5 Community Engagement Literature refers to the political participation and involvement in public affairs as tools to raise social problems to the political spheres and decision makers, but also as indicators of community engagement (Aslam Saja et al., 2018). For the analysis of this attribute, interviewees were asked about their perception towards these two chosen social determinants. More than a simple count, it was intended to know the reasons behind the different perceptions.

The political participation was analyzed with questions towards the willingness and reasons to participate – or not - in local, regional or national elections or other forms of political participation. In addition, they were consulted about their mechanisms to raise or transfer their problems to higher spheres of the society as a way to understand their involvement in public affairs.

From the answers, it was clear how both social determinants are connected.

This means, if an individual manifested a high level of political participation, 76

Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

he/she would be more likely to manifest also a high level of involvement with public affairs, and vice versa. This led to a division of the interviewees into two groups, the ones who are not interested at all and the ones who are very committed to the public and political spheres. Both are fundamentally different and reveal critical variables worth of being considered for further analysis.

Without enough evidence to raise any particular conclusion, the differences in the responses of workers from one locality to another called the attention.

Workers from ‘La Candelaria’ manifested a very repulsive attitude towards the analyzed factors while the ones from ‘Usaquen’ were more positive on their answers.

There is one specific element which seems to be the polarizing factor between these two groups and was the reason for all the respondents who manifested not being interested in politics: the lack of trust on the political system with the political corruption on the ‘top of the iceberg’. Some of the opinions on this regard are related below: Interview #1: “The republic and the politics were born attached to the economy, which means they are children of the bourgeoisie. So, what happens is that the politician does not respond to the wishes of the people but simply to other interests. So, obviously Peñalosa [current city mayor] is the result of that school and that world and he is a person of high economic level who is not interested in the low class at all because, let’s say, the poor are statistics, we are figures that are essential, that means, we are not human beings.”

Interview #2: “No, I do not like it [politics]. Because they promise you, they try to buy you with a ‘lechona’ or a ‘tamal’ [typical Colombian dishes]. Or they say to you, ‘Vote for me and I give you 50 thousand pesos’, to me that is 77

Results Analysis - Community Engagement

tempting because today I don’t have those 50 thousand, tomorrow either, but I won’t give myself away for that” Interview #4: “I really do not like it. I do not like politics because it is the most corrupt thing there is. It is not because I am not concerned about things, or because it does not harm me, but I believe that this is not the way that one has to achieve things.”

These common feelings are also not groundless, many of them claimed to have had any sort of negative experience when it comes to politics or public affairs.

Bribery, false promises, inefficiency, lies, ‘cliques’ of power, political volatility or degrading treatment are just some examples of the causes. What the latter reveals, is a full distrust on the political system with the aggravating that this becomes the reason for the lack of involvement in public matters.

On the other hand, there are individuals with a complete opposite opinion on this matter. As a worker explains (Interview #11), for them, involving with politics and participating in public affairs are the best mechanisms to first, “raise their voice about their common issues” and second, “to be informed and updated about different matters”.

This manifested involvement gets usually translated into participation in local and national elections, demonstrations or protests and assistance to gatherings of IWPS. This group of workers is also particularly aware of politicians or other individuals with relevant roles on the protection of their rights in different spheres. This topic will be discussed when analyzing the attribute of Institutional Entrepreneurs in chapter 4.2.10 This might seem as an almost ‘ideal’ scenario. However, what may be problematic in this case, is that the level of involvement, according to the author’s perception, seems to be circumstantial or conjunctural. This is, that it 78

Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

depends on specific events or ‘triggers’ which raise the attention of the workers for specific periods of time, making this apparent involvement a non-constant phenomenon. The following remarks from interviews can support this assertion.

Interview #10: “Well, the truth is that when they [authorities] took them [group of informal workers] out of the 72 [street], they cleaned a whole block of vendors, there was a guy who used to come here and distribute flyers saying that we had to fight because they [the authorities] would not let us work” Interview #12 “The meetings are done when the police is bothering a lot, for example like a year ago that the police for 20 days were taking everything away from us. We only went to one protest and it was when they took out all the people of the 85 [street]” There was also no evidence in the answers of any established engagement strategy to maintain alive the interest of the IWPS in constantly commit with public affairs in the studied areas. The lack of associations or the low efficiency of the existent ones – if there is any - (see Social Networks attribute) might be one of the reasons for this.

Being the main source of lack of interest in politics, the corruption inside the political spheres presents a very negative panorama in terms of the great complexity and scale of this issue. The danger of not having and promoting adequate political representation mechanisms for the IWPS is also creating a ‘snowball effect’ which only increases the social gaps and vulnerabilities of the community of IWPS.

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Results Analysis - Community Shared Values and Attitudes

The community engagement in politics and public affairs is understood as a key attribute of socially resilient communities (Aslam Saja et al., 2018). From the analysis, this attribute seems to be very affected in the community of IWPS, mostly by external factors. A resilient strategy should contemplate the raised issues with considerable attention on how to address the lost confidence in the fractured political system. Strategies to create effective organizations of IWPS or to strengthen and connect the already stablished ones, could be a starting point to reclaim a place in the decision-making process and therefore, become the true change-agents that the workers might be waiting for.

4.2.6 Community Shared Values and Attitudes At first sight, this attribute might seem broad in terms of its significance. As explained in sub-chapter 2.3.3, it is based on the resilient capacities likely to be acquired by communities with a common set of values and attitudes towards the imposed threats. This attribute was analyzed from the perspective of three social determinants: place of attachment and sense of pride, the shared beliefs towards the future and the traditional coping mechanisms to the social hazards.

Last attributes have shown how the selected social determinants are connected and, in some cases, intertwined. However, in this case, the selected social determinants explore dimensions which are fundamentally apart from each other, reason why, the findings will be presented separately. A final conclusion aims to bridge those findings into an overall picture of the attribute.

4.2.6.1 Place of attachment and sense of pride.

According to (Paton, 2013), the place attachment, understood as “the degree to which people feel that they are embedded within their physical environment�, increases people’s emotional investment in their community. This emotional investment could provide them with the impetus to prepare for hazards and therefore, protect their valued built assets (Paton, 2013, p. 6). In the case of the IWPS, a shared sense of pride could add to that emotional investment, 80

Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

increasing the potential for acting as a community. The feelings towards these topics were also explored during the interviews resulting in very homogeneous opinions. Some extracts from the interviews are shown below as example: Interview #04: “I love it for one simple reason, I have made a living from this and provided for my family. And I do not feel more or less than anyone and I feel proud of what I am. I am very grateful with life, with my God and with ‘my children’ [university students]” Interview #08: “That is the best! I like to serve the customer, that’s my vocation. Not everyone has the vocation for that” Interview #11: “Yes! Oh, I love this «chaza» [colloquial name for the showcase stand].

I adore it, I have a huge affection for it. Anyway, it has allowed me to meet many people, and that is very enriching for me, thanks to my «chaza» I have my career now and many things, what my life is right now I owe it to this business, the love is immense.”

Two main findings are prominent among the interviewed workers. The first one, is the recognition of the informal economic practice as the main source of livelihood and progress for them and their families, therefore the main reason to feel proud of what they have achieved in life. The second, which can go in contrast with the concept of place of attachment by Paton (2013), reveals that they do not feel connected to a geographical boundary as such. Instead, they value human connections and manifest a high sense of gratefulness for being able to establish relations with people from different social backgrounds which in many cases, have legitimated their work and help them when needed. Far from being negative, this reveals just another face of what ‘attachment’ can mean when talking about IEPS. This ‘social/human attachment’ becomes not 81

Results Analysis - Community Shared Values and Attitudes

just a result of experiences in life but also a tool when dealing with social hazards as it was exemplified in chapter 4.2.4 (Social Networks).

4.2.6.2 Shared Beliefs towards the future According to Aslam Saja and colleagues (2018, p. 20), “the availability of a shared vision, can serve as an indicator of measure of shared beliefs and values”. This can contribute to bring people together if there is a common understanding to emerging risk and their impact (Aslam Saja et al., 2018).

Questions related with the perception towards the future were asked to the interviewed workers getting as a result, as for the last social factor presented, a very homogeneous picture of the phenomenon. Asked about the future of the IWPS, a worker (Interview #11) answered the following: “That depends on the mayor, I say that it [the IEPS] will never end. In all the years that I have spent here, many mayors have passed, some allow us to work, others give us war, however, the people who have come to give war and not to give solutions, there will always going to be ways to fight against them, especially in the legal side.”

Answers were characterized by a common feeling of “uncertainty”, especially influenced by the political volatility that the city and the country have experienced during the last decades. Even though some are more positive than others, they see this as a determinant of the future of their economic practice.

Opinions towards the ideal scenario in the future are divided into a group of individuals for whom continuing the informal practices (without the legal and social barriers) would be the best option, and the ones who foresee a ‘jump’ of their businesses to the formal sector as way of escaping all the associated risks of the IEPS (see Figure 9). There is also a matching factor in all responses related with the criticism towards the strategies being used by the authorities and local governments as they seem to be battling the problem “with aggressions and not with solutions”.

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Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

4.2.6.3 Traditional coping mechanisms Traditional coping mechanisms, referring to problem-focused coping strategies, are recognized to facilitate resilience (Aslam Saja et al., 2018; Paton et al., 2001). Those mechanisms are the ones adopted to confront an emergent issue and according to Aslam Saja and colleagues (2018), can be measured understanding coping strategies used in the past – if there is any – to manage ‘disasters’.

Throughout the last attributes, some of the strategies used by IWPS to cope with external social stressors have been mentioned and analyzed. Some of them are related with an appropriation of reinterpreted concepts like the ‘legitimacy’, as a way to give support to their economic activities in the public space (see Social Cohesion in Chapter 4.2.3). Some others are related with the creation of networks with external communities as a supportive mechanism in the face of a disturbance (see Social Networks). Some others are still to be mentioned in following sub-chapters. It is important to acknowledge that all of those are part of the traditional coping mechanisms used by IWPS but are not included in this chapter because its nature might be more revealing if connected to other attributes of the Social Resilience.

There is no more tangible manner to exemplify IWPS’s coping mechanisms than giving a quick look to their showcasing devices, commonly known as ‘chazas’. Figure 22 shows an example of one of the many ‘living stories’ of how the IWPS have adapted their showcase devices as a way to cope with many of the daily experienced hazards while working (see Figure 9), while at the same time try to create an appealing business to improve their sales.

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Results Analysis - Community Shared Values and Attitudes

Figure 22. The 'chaza', a living story of adaptation.

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Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

There are three social determinants which appear to be common among IWPS. A very high sense of pride, an uncertain yet positive perception towards the future and similar coping mechanisms are part of the common picture among almost all the interviewed workers. What the findings from the last three social determinants reveal, is a yet not exploited commonality among IWPS which in fact could be a starting point for effectively mobilizing the community of IWPS, but also to develop alternative and innovative bottom-up strategies to solve issues associated with the social hazards experienced by the IWPS. 4.2.7 Community Competence - Ability to Embrace Change The attribute of community competence and its ability to embrace change was analyzed from the perspective of three social determinants: the knowledge and perception of local risks, the learnings from past experiences with hazard recovery and the existence of information and communication plans.

4.2.7.1 Knowledge and perception of local risks According to Aslam Saja et al. (2018) and Kusumastuti et al. (2014) the level of knowledge of risk helps increasing social resilience and can be measured by the “awareness of disaster risks and disaster prone areas through education programs, understanding of coping style and recovery efforts needed to manage disaster risks, and availability of public awareness disaster drills� (Aslam Saja et al., 2018, p. 21).

The introduction of this chapter revealed all the perceived risks of working in the public space by the respondents (see Figure 9). While this is not a representative statistic sample, it shows an evidence of the more common, recognized and perceived risks by the IWPS. Although, this extraction does not reveal the deepness of the knowledge about every risk nor is measuring or evaluating the severity of its effects on different temporalities. For instance, Figure 9 shows how evictions are the biggest perceived risk while the access 85

Results Analysis - Community Competence - Ability to Embrace Change

to social security and health coverage is not very commonly recognized by respondents as a risk. Undoubtedly, an eviction can put at risk the built capital in an immediate period of time, but as shown before, an adequate construction of social networks for example, could ensure a lifeline to recover from this disturbance. On the other hand, the lack of access to retirement and health insurance, can put at risk not just current but also future assets with stronger effects on the life and well-being of the worker, for example, in the event of an illness or reaching an age which disables the worker to carry out their economic activities in the public space.

For the specific context of Bogotá, there is a long story of lack of social risksrelated educational programs around the IEPS. To date, it was not possible to allocate any institutional or public program aiming to raise awareness among IWPS about the specific risks associated with the economic practice in the public space. On the contrary, public programs have concentrated efforts on persuading the IWPS to enter the formal sector offering training to pursue different kinds of jobs, as well as to ‘formalize’ their businesses (IPES, 2018).

From the answers it is pertinent to acknowledge the great diversity of perceived risks by the interviewed workers, however there is still much further research needed regarding the level of knowledge of each specific risk to give a full overview of this social factor.

4.2.7.2 Learnings from past experiences with hazard recovery What the findings from the last social factor exhibit is that all the perceived risks condensed in Figure 9 are linked with experiences and not with awareness programs as such. That also means that there has been a big share of exposure to hazards and therefore learnings gathered by the IWPS from their own past experiences with hazards recovery. In fact, when asked, all the interviewed workers manifested at least one negative experience from which they have learned something “valuable” for the present. When asked about negative experiences of the past and what they learned for the present, this is what a worker (Interview #10) answered: 86

Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

“The time our «chaza» was confiscated, because the other chaza was smaller, and things of God because in this new «chaza» we can put more products, it looks more appealing. That change, suddenly gave us to earn more [money]. In the other one you couldn’t store things well because it did not fit, but this has a better storage ‘room’, it is renewed.”

Many of the most experienced ones, also manifested being more and better prepared after those events in the past. The following short story of an interviewee aims to elaborate on this.

A story of displacement Paola (Interview #11) is 30 years old and has been working 13 years as informal street vendor. Her father was murdered when she was a child and she, her 4 brothers and her mother were forced to leave their coffee farm in eastern Antioquia [Colombian region] due to the violence. They arrived in Figure 23. Informal businesses as source of livelihoods and pride. After being displaced by violence, this worker has been working for more than 13 years ‘on the streets’ of Bogotá. She has raised a family and finished her professional studies as psychologist

Bogotá with nothing and with the help of some relatives they managed to get money to pay a month's rent and get a

job for their mother. At the age of 15, as a result of her "inexperience and ignorance" of the urban environment and the desire to "experience many things", she got pregnant.

At that time, I was not even graduated from high school, for being pregnant at 15 I could not even finish [the high school], and because of the displacement I was like in 7th grade.

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Results Analysis - Community Competence - Ability to Embrace Change

Her lack of education and the need to look after her son forced her to enter the IEPS at the age of 17. Aiming to get better opportunities for her and her son, she finished high school during the weekends and then she was offered a scholarship to study a technical career in administration. She managed to get a job but had to leave after 8 months.

I had to go back again [to the informal work] because there has not been a job that in a way compensated for the time you spent there, they wanted to pay you very little and have you for a long time working.

They offered me very little, they asked me for experience, all the ‘buts’ they give when one wants to work When faced with this difficulty, she made the decision to go back to school, but this time to pursue a professional career. She started studying Psychology, all financed by her informal business and by June of 2018, she was expecting to receive her professional diploma.

During her years “on the street”, she states that she has gone through many negative experiences, like when, while working in her ‘chaza’, someone stole all the money to pay her tuition fees at the university. Of all those experiences, she admits to having learned something. When she was specifically asked for those lessons, this is what she answered: "I say that there are many people who are displaced and get stuck in grief, they can spend years never believing they can get ahead, all the time they play the victim, ‘help us because we lost everything’. They never think that, just as they lost everything, one is born with nothing, then, just as one lost everything at some point, God will also help you to start over again, and the opportunities are given, but if you look for them, that is what we have learned. We [her family] have all striven to get ahead, we have been able to study, we have always tried to survive, to get our things..."

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Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

From the answers, it is evident a constant exposure to different kinds of social hazards as well as the transformation of those experiences into learnings for the future. It was evidenced in many of the respondents how the fact of entering the IEPS is recalled as one of the first coping mechanisms to deal with hazardous events, therefore the first sign of social resilience. There is hardly other arena in which the individuals experience the level of exposure and frequency of hazardous events as in the IEPS. Far from being an ideal scenario for the ones experiencing it, it does reveal certain level of flexibility and toughness from the IWPS towards disruptions. Those learned faculties could be effectively exploited in other arenas or better channeled towards more positive outcomes if an inclusive resilience agenda were to be introduced.

4.2.7.3 Information and communication plans By now, it could be deduced by the reader that the informality permeates almost every aspect of the IEPS and this social factor is not the exception. The lack of ‘formal’ associations or institutions of IWPS has limited the scope to which any formal procedure is implemented ‘on the ground’. However, as it has also been stated already, this does not represent a barrier for the IWPS to establish and implement their own ‘informal’ strategies and plans. When it comes to communicate and inform, they have adopted two main mechanisms.

The first one, resembles an ‘early warning system’ to natural disasters. It is mostly related with police operatives and it is based on a rapid warning network which alerts the possibly affected workers in a snowballing effect. It is sometimes activated by the first worker aware of a possible threat and sometimes can be activated by any supportive citizen who provides the alert to a trusted worker.

The second one is related with the spread of information regarding gatherings, mobilizations or updates on legal terms and defense mechanisms. For this purpose, some workers, for whom their work rely on walking the streets 89

Results Analysis - Fair Access to Basic Needs and Services

offering their products (e.g. ice cream sellers, delivery couriers), are assigned to deliver this kind of information. This was revealed by some workers as stated below: (Interview #05) “A lot of Bonice [ice-cream Brand] sellers come here to give away little flyers to join a concentration or something. They have invited me. The invitations are to protest so that they [the authorities] look for an accommodation for us�

Figure 24. 'Mobile' vendors volunteer to distribute information of common interest to IWPS. Source: http://periodicoamarillo.com/wpcontent/uploads/2016/10/img_2273-1024x631.jpg

While these information and communication strategies are just activated in certain cases, it reveals informal connections and protocols that the interviewees could not explain nor name the initiators. What these and other similar responses also revealed is the existence of certain individuals behind the coordination and logistics of the spreading of information and calls for gatherings and mobilizations. However, this will be a matter of discussion in one of the following sub chapters (see Institutional Entrepreneurs). Further research on how these communication and information mechanisms work on the practice and how those can be enhanced or institutionalized for other purposes would be valuable for contributing to the overall understanding of this social factor and therefore, to contribute to the social resilience of the community of IWPS. 4.2.8 Fair Access to Basic Needs and Services Three social determinants were investigated to analyze this attribute: Access to health and well-being, Access to education and Access to resources. As shown in Table 6, most of the data extracted for analyzing this attribute is quantitative and has been extracted from institutional databases.

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Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

However, some additional information from the semi-structured interviews will add on the topics discussed.

In general terms, there are two main ways to be covered by the Colombian healthcare system. The first is the contributory scheme, which affiliates formal and independent workers, and their families, as well as the retired with payment capacity. The second, the subsidize scheme, is the mechanism through which the poorest population of the country, without capacity to pay, has access to health services through a subsidy offered by the State. Who can qualify for the subsidized regime is determined by the SISBEN (standing for Sistema de Selección de Beneficiarios in spanish) – or Beneficiaries Selection System.

According to the official data, a big majority of IWPS are part of the subsidized scheme, as shown in Table 9.

Table 9. Type of healthcare coverage within IEPS. Adaptation by author. Source: (IPES, 2016)

Type of Healthcare

Valid Percentage (%)

Subsidized scheme

77.2

Contributory scheme

19.8

Special Regime

1.2

Other

1.8

Total

100.0

Even though the subsidized scheme might seem ideal and very inclusive at first sight, it is usually characterized by a degrading treatment of the users, long waiting periods for medical appointments, insufficient coverage and poor infrastructural conditions. These are some of the reasons why, according to the interviewees, some workers have opted for upgrading their healthcare status to the contributory scheme by either paying the established fees or becoming beneficiaries of a family member that meets the requirements established by law. Figure 25 consolidates these figures for the interviewed workers.

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Results Analysis - Fair Access to Basic Needs and Services

Affiliation to the contributory healthcare scheme of the interviewees.

10 8 6 4 2 0 Total

Beneficiary NO

Figure 25. Affiliation to the

Own Affiliation

contributory healthcare scheme of the

YES

interviewees

In addition, the available data exhibits a very negative picture in terms of the access to formal education since almost 90% of the IWPS have a maximum of secondary education level as shown in Table 10.

Table 10. Educational level among IWPS. Own adaptation. Source: (IPES, 2016)

Educational level

Valid Percentage (%)

None

4.2

Primary incomplete

19.0

Primary complete

24.0

Secondary incomplete

24.0

Secondary complete

21.8

Technical incomplete

1.0

Technical complete

2.6

Technological complete

0.8

Technological incomplete

0.3

Professional incomplete

1.4

Professional complete

0.8

Postgraduate complete

0.1

Postgraduate incomplete Total

0.0 100.0

A better understanding of this phenomena is given by analyzing the educational level by age group where the elder exhibit a great disadvantage against the younger ones (see Figure 26). It is visible how just a small percentage of people older than 60 got a full secondary education while these conditions improve in 92

Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

considerable measures with the age group between 18 and 39. Even though none of them represent an ideal scenario, they do reveal a starting point for defining priorities and identifying certain levels of vulnerabilities according to different factors – in this case, the age. What the traditional representation of education levels among individuals cannot portrait, is the set of skills that the IWPS might have acquired either by experience or informal learning processes and has not been recognized, however this will be a matter of discussion in the following subchapter (see 4.2.9).

EDUCATIONAL LEVEL BY AGE GROUP

Older than 60 4%

40-59

18-39 2%

2% 8%

14% 43%

17%

9% 49%

43%

25%

Primary Complete

Secondary Complete

Primary Incomplete

Secondary Incomplete

17%

53%

11%

Higher Education

Figure 26. Educational level by age group. Own adaptation. Data source:(IPES, 2016)

In addition, Colombian urban and rural areas are divided into ‘socioeconomic strata’ which establish a ‘proportional’ system of economic obligations and social ‘benefits’ according to the different levels of income of the population.

This division defines, among others, how affordable is for a person to live in certain zones of a city. For example, in a stratum 1 neighborhood, the water or electricity services are subsidized by the state and therefore very economical.

Areas with this stratum usually accommodate people with very low income and 93

Results Analysis - Fair Access to Basic Needs and Services

high levels of poverty. With few exceptions, stratum 1 neighborhoods are located far from the economic and leisure centers and with major deficiencies in terms of infrastructure and provision of basic services such as transportation, hospitals or educational centers. Some of them also present high rates of crime, insecurity and informal housing. These zones are very common in the peripheries and the south side of Bogotá (see Figure 27). The social stratum therefore, is an indicator of both well-being and access to economic resources in the context of Bogotá. Table 11 presents the official data about the social strata of the IWPS’ place of residence and compares it with its geographical location in the city in Figure 27.7 Table 11. Social strata of the IWPS. Own adaptation.

Source:(IPES, 2016)

Stratum

Valid Percentage (%)

1

25.9

2

52.3

3

21.3

4

0.4

5

0.1

6

0.0

Total

100.0

Figure 27. Zonal identification according to the socioeconomic strata in Bogotá. Source: (El Pais, 2017)

From this comparison is possible to determine that more than 75% of the workers live in the outskirts of the city in stratum 1 and 2. The fact that more than 20% of the IWPS belong to the stratum 3 or higher draws attention. On a contextual basis this is worth of being further analyzed to determine whether

7

As reference for the reader, number 17 corresponds to La Candelaria and number 1 to Usaquen locality in Figure 27.

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Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

this is a result of the economic activity in the public space or external factors which might be enhancing the well-being of the workers.

The evidence provided by the data portraits highly disadvantageous conditions in terms of access to the basic needs. However, it is also evident that a considerable portion of the population in the IEPS have reached more positive standards of life presumably driven by the economic activities in the public space. As also supported by the opinions of the interviewed workers, the IEPS has provided some of them with the tools to progress economically and socially,8 therefore and according to Aslam Saja et al. (2018), making them more socially resilient. Hence, it is important to better understand what are those specific factors which have allowed some workers better than others to reach more favorable conditions and prevented them from falling into poverty traps. A characterization of the individuals based on those factors in addition to the ones presented above, could be the stepping stone to define priority groups for ‘tailor-made’ social interventions.

8

Chapter 0 exemplifies this assertion.

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Results Analysis - Diverse Skill Set (Diverse Workforce)

4.2.9 Diverse Skill Set (Diverse Workforce) This attribute has been analyzed from the lenses of three social determinants: Diversity of Skills, Trained personnel and the Diversity of workforce in different places Contextual and statistical information presented throughout this research has showed that the IEPS is not an isolated phenomenon across the city. In fact, Figure 5 showed that the distribution of IWPS in Bogotá is rather homogeneous with some specific concentrations in certain localities but ultimately, with presence in the entire city.

In Colombia, the informal work in the public space has been highly associated with street sales – specially of ‘on-site’ prepared food and manufactured products. The most representative and available censuses and statistical information have concentrated on a group of workers trading these kinds of products and have left out a very important percentage of workers in other trades or services. Figure 28 and Figure 29 compile many of those observed alternative economic activities in the public space of Bogotá.

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Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

Figure 28. The IEPS is much more than street vending. Infographic about the diversity of economic activities in the public space.

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Results Analysis - Diverse Skill Set (Diverse Workforce)

9

10

11

12

13

Figure 29. Diversity of activities within the IEPS.

9

Human statues are very common, especially in touristic places. Photo: Diana MontaĂąo Sechague

10

Juggler performing on the streets. Photo: Alejandro Gomez_CIVICO

11

Venezuelan offering devalued bolivares (venezuelan currency) as a souvenir. Photo: Raul Arboleda

12

Empirical and professional musicians use the streets as performance platform. Photo: Diego Zambrano

13

98

Pedicab drivers are among the most common occupations in the public space. Photo: Raul Arboleda

Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

Industrialization have made ‘quality’ and standardization necessary as part of its transformative capacity (Lange et al., 2015), however this has imposed exclusionary barriers for the ones for whom the access to formal education and training services have not been guaranteed like many IWPS. Not being able to make part of the formal and standard education system does not necessarily imply they do not have valuable skills. By experience, observation or trial and error, the IWPS acquire most of their capacities to carry out their work. The fact that these ‘informally-learned’ skills are not recognized nor assessed by the institutions, imposes additional barriers to access to formal sector. Figure 30 aims to gather and unveil some of the skills which according to the author’s perception, are necessary to be acknowledged and integrated with public programs.

The analysis of this attribute reveals that there is still a lot we do not know about the IEPS. Further deep understanding about the types and variations of the economical practices is needed to address more accurately the issues faced by every ‘cluster’ of activities. More important, it is essential to start acknowledging and integrating the capacities or skills of the IWPS within public programs and formal enterprises. Understanding and systematically assessing their skills could be the stepping stone for an incentive-based program – instead of a ‘punishment-based’ one - which is able to value and recognize their capacities and trajectory but also demands quality and provide adequate training. This could result in a culture of ‘healthier’ competition among IWPS driven by the eagerness of reach positive levels of business reputation and professional pride.

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Results Analysis - Diverse Skill Set (Diverse Workforce)

Figure 30. Skills and capacities in the IEPS.

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Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

4.2.10 Institutional Entrepreneurs Knowing beforehand very few information about this kind of actors within the community of IWPS, the initial approach to investigate this attribute was to question the existence of individuals – if there was any – who could fit into the definition of an institutional entrepreneur - or system entrepreneur (Westley, 2013) – (see 2.3.3 Operational Definitions). Interviewed workers were asked about the knowledge of either an IWPS or a natural person who might be working towards representing or defending the interests of the IWPS in any level of the society and at the same time had been successful on accomplishing any meaningful achievement towards this purpose (see Appendix 3) More than half of the respondents were not aware of any person with these characteristics while the rest mentioned unanimously the same person: Inti Asprilla. They referred to this individual as a person who does not want them “to be taken out [of the public space]” or as one of the interviewed workers (Interview #11) referred to him positively: I have realized that he is a person who knows the subject very well, who has been around for many years and already know the whole trajectory of how laws have emerged and how to fight the fights. They [people like him] are people who, apart from the knowledge, have the experience.

Aiming to deep the knowledge about this or other related individual, interviewees were interrogated about further information about him, his achievements or the reasons for such a recognition. However, answers were very vague and lacked much details. These are the reactions from some workers when asked for further details about him: (Interview #08) He is the only person, I don’t know him though, who speaks for the informal sellers and demands legal protection for us […]. But this will 101

Results Analysis - Institutional Entrepreneurs

always be the same, this will always be frowned upon by the government (Interview #10) He is from the green party, he is in the defense of us, the street vendors, but I stopped hearing from him The on-going election period taking place in Colombia by the time of the field research made it impossible to reach him for an interview. Hence, further desk research was carried out to get better insights about this person and to confront the presented findings with his trajectory. For the purpose of this study, it was of special interest to analyze if this person exhibited some of the key entrepreneurial skills recognized by Moore and Westley (2011) – Pattern recognition, Relationship building and brokering, Knowledge and resource brokering and Network recharging – were anyhow present or part of his achievements.

4.2.10.1 A Story of Institutional Entrepreneurship Inti Asprilla is a lawyer and specialist in International Economic Law. He was elected to be representative of Bogotá in the House of Representatives of the Colombian Congress in 2014 and since his arrival, he “has put his profession to the service of the people in need” (Congreso Visible, 2018). Asprilla’s visibility within the IEPS’ sphere was triggered by the current mayor’s policy of public space protection ‘at-any-cost’. Year 2016 and the beginning of 2017 were marked by constant evictions and police operations to reclaim occupied public spaces all over the city. As expected, informal workers reacted with furious demonstrations demanding their ‘right to work’ and a ‘vital minimum’ (minimum wage), as well as denouncing police abuses (See Figure 31, Figure 32 and Figure 33). Inti Asprilla was one of the main defenders and spokesperson of the IWPS during gatherings and main demonstrations happening happening during these two years. He became an important node within the IEPS sphere 102

Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

Figure 31. "We are not the insecurity. We

Figure 32. Demonstrations against the

Figure 33. All kinds of IWPS mobilized

have the solution". Feb 29th of 2017

new policies concentrated near the

against the police abuse and evictions

protests by informal workers in Bogotá.

Mayor's office. Source: El Espectador –

from the public space. Source: El

Source: El Espectador – Gustavo Corrijos

Cristian Garavito

Espectador – Cristian Garavito

since many IWPS started seeing him as a ‘shield’ and even phone calling him when ‘attacked’ by the authorities.

On the meantime, the government was processing an update to the Police Code (law 1801 of 2016) which among other modifications, included more strict regulations towards the occupation of the public space for economic purposes and contemplated fines and full confiscation of assets in case of recidivism (El Congreso de Colombia, 2016).

Considering these measures disproportionate and illegal, Asprilla interposed a lawsuit against the new Police Code in the Supreme Constitutional Court arguing in addition, that this new law did not include affirmative actions for the IWPS violating the principles of the social State of law, human dignity, the effectiveness of rights, participation and fair order, the special protection of vulnerable subjects , work, due process, legitimate trust and work placement of people of working age (Corte Constitucional, 2017). As a result, on April 5th of 2017, the supreme court emitted the C-211-17 judgment in favor of the IWPS clarifying that correctional measures like evictions, confiscations and fines could not be applied to them until they have been offered by the competent authorities relocation programs or alternatives of formal work, in guarantee of the rights to human dignity, vital minimum and work (Corte Constitucional, 2017).

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Results Analysis - Institutional Entrepreneurs

The district government was forced to modify the existent mechanisms and implement new ones to comply with the C-211 judgment. The Institute for the Social Economy or IPES (standing for Instituto Para la Economía Social in Spanish) which until that point was handling all matters related with the informal economy in the public space, had to be restructured to offer a wider spectrum of formalizing opportunities and inclusive strategies for the IWPS. A better characterization and profiling of the IWPS in each locality to define the level of vulnerability among workers was also part of the new implemented measures. Some positive changes resulted from these modifications especially regarding the training programs to strengthen their skills to link them with the labor market. By August of 2018, a total of 5165 street vendors had received training on different professions (IPES, 2018). However, the reception from the IWPS towards the offered programs of relocation and formalization is still very low, and the rate of workers who have found a formal job is still not considerable.

As for Inti Asprilla, he is still very critical about the local government’s management arguing that the measures implemented still remain insufficient and that the district “is not offering alternatives which answer to the necessities of the street vendors”(Murad Rodriguez, 2018).

In conclusion and according to the author’s perspective, this individual matches the four entrepreneurial skills defined by Moore and Westley (2011). The reasons are stated below: •

The pattern recognition was manifested by identifying the anomalies in the new police code.

•

He built a strong relationship with a sector of IWPS and acted as a broker to bridge the gap existent between the community of IWPS and the higher levels of the judicial, legislative and executive powers.

•

His knowledge served to both gain trust among IWPS and to channel resources as part of the modification of certain local institutions to address issues faced by IWPS.

104

Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

•

His actions and engagement with the IWPS’ cause have acted as a recharge of hope and energy for many affected workers.

The case of Inti Asprilla is especially important for its successful results in protecting the integrity and rights of the IWPS. However, it leaves room for reflections regarding the sustainability of this attribute within the community of IWPS. Inti Asprilla is not and has not been an IWPS, meaning that his knowledge about the problems faced by them and his commitment with this sector of the population could be compromised anytime by his political aspirations. During this research, it was not possible to evidence any case of an IWPS with the characteristics of an Institutional Entrepreneur, which opens the discussion about the need to train individuals to develop these key competences. Only in this way, it will be possible to generate more structural changes without relying solely on political actors with a social vocation and which can easily be affected by the country's great political volatility.

4.2.11 Improvisation Improvisation in the context of the IEPS refers to the use of Creativity, Resourcefulness and Ingenuity to deal with the challenging environment or as adaptation mechanisms to be better prepared to confront probable threats and disruptions.

How to measure and rate these determinants in such a diverse context still remains a question. The following results aim to be a purely visual representation of this attribute (See Figure 34Figure 35 andFigure 36).

Portraying examples of IWPS which– according to the author’s opinion – stand out from their colleagues, the three selected determinants are highlighted.

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Results Analysis - Improvisation

Figure 34. Improvisation 1

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Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

Figure 35. Improvisation 2

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Results Analysis - Improvisation

Figure 36. Improvisation 3

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Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience

The public space is not just a contested arena which some individuals have used to create livelihoods. It has also become an open platform for people to showcase their abilities and inventions. While the presence of IEPS can sometimes create chaos and get out of control, it can also become an attraction, enriching the cultural, social and spatial environment of the places. The individuals showed above are just some examples of how, out of creativity, resourcefulness and ingenuity, many IWPS have made the best possible out of their limited resources. The strategies are as diverse as the population itself but the desire to offer the best product, performance, show or service possible is what drive some individuals to stand out from the rest.

Adopting authoritarian and punishment-based policies towards the IEPS goes against the potential for innovation per se. Ensuring a legal framework flexible enough to accept the public space as safer platform to promote a healthier culture of competition, creativity and innovation among the IWPS is an essential challenge still needed to be addressed by decision-makers.

109

- Conclusions

Chapter 5 - Conclusions The results of the fieldwork presented in this study covered a broad panorama of the daily activities and past experiences of informal workers in the public space in the city of Bogotå. These reflected many of the survival mechanisms created by them, the social dynamics happening in the public space, its biggest risks or threats and many of their mechanisms of adaptation to those. The following conclusions consolidate the answers on how those are related with the production of social resilience: •

The Colombian regulatory framework demands the respect for the public space and the search of the collective benefit over the particular or individual benefit. However, there are actors that are being left out of the equation and could change the approach with which this definition is viewed and interpreted. Is it possible that the presence of the informal economy could benefit a collective sentiment? If this is the case, that would, until a certain point, legitimize their stay and their right to work.

Undoubtedly, this is an appreciation that cannot be generalized on a city scale, but on the contrary, must satisfy the wishes of specific communities.

•

Social determinants like age, gender and ethnicity have been widely recognized as negative indicators of social resilience and drivers of vulnerability if affecting the social conditions of the population.

According to the evidence presented in terms of gender equality, opportunities for the elder to create livelihoods and ethnic and geographic diversity, the analysis concerning the attribute of Social Demography offered an alternative vision of the IEPS as a platform with the potential to promote inclusionary capacities.

110

•

The manifestation of the attribute of Social Cohesion or Community Bond was highly influenced by the configuration of the public space and a sense of protectionism towards the workplace. These two findings have led to a redefinition of the concepts of community and legitimacy, respectively. This is of special importance since it reveals first, a connection between the spatial form of the public space and the type and scope of social ties among workers, which is worth of being further analyzed. And second, because it derives in constant conflicts in the dispute for the use of the public space between authorities and IWPS.

•

The social determinants initially selected to analyze the attribute of Social Networks were proven ineffective since they aim to capture certain level of formality which certainly goes in contrast with the population profile of this study. Besides, they do not succeed on capturing the real social networking capacities of the IWPS. Adopting an alternative approach to the answers of the IWPS during the field research, three examples of effective social networks in the face of a disturbance were provided to raise awareness on their achievements despite its informal dimension and lack of awareness on its existence.

•

The results from the attribute of Community Engagement are the clearest evidence of how the community of IWPS has been deeply affected by the structural violence, inequality and political corruption of the Colombian society. The findings show how this has resulted in a deep lack of trust in the institutions and political spheres. Continuing to postpone structural changes in the face of these problematics will just keep fostering the lack of social efficacy and engagement of the community of IWPS and many others.

•

Three social determinants appear to be common among IWPS. A very high sense of pride, an uncertain yet positive perception towards the future and similar coping mechanisms are part of the common picture 111

- Conclusions

among almost all the interviewed workers. Evaluating the attribute of community shared values and attitudes, it was found a yet not exploited commonality among IWPS. This could be a starting point for effectively mobilizing the community of IWPS and developing alternative and innovative bottom-up strategies to solve issues associated with the social hazards experienced by the IWPS. •

All three selected social determinants of the attribute of community competence (or ability to embrace change) exhibited two opposite faces that show evidence on the resilient behavior of IWPS but also the limitations derived from their condition. First, a very wide perception of a diverse set of risks but a very poor knowledge of its actual effects and impacts. Second, a great flexibility and toughness derived from learnings from past experiences but also from its high vulnerability and exposure to constant social threats. Third, it revealed a system of communication and information that works organically but it is only circumstantial, meaning that its purpose is uniquely emergency-driven.

All of these aspects provide evidence on the great resilient capacities of IWPS but also reveal that those are triggered ‘by the wrong means.’

•

The evidence provided by the data portraits highly disadvantageous conditions in terms of access to the basic needs for the average worker. However, it is also evident that a considerable portion of IWPS have reached more positive standards of life driven by the economic activities in the public space. Further research on exploring the specific factors which have allowed some workers better than others to reach more favorable conditions, becomes relevant from the presented results.

•

The analysis of the attribute of diverse skill set provides further evidence for what has been argued since the introductory chapter of this research: that there is still a lot we do not know about the IEPS, including valuable skills that IWPS possess and have not yet being

112

recognized for being informally-learned. Using the access to education as the only criteria to catalogue the IWPS as ‘uneducated’, stays short on portraying the set of skills that the IWPS might have acquired by observation, experience or trial and error. Further evidence is still needed on the types and variations of the economical practices and the capacities and skills associated with each of those.

•

The case of an individual matching the four characteristics of an institutional entrepreneur recognized by Moore and Westley (2011) served as example for portraying the scope of achievements that an individual with these characteristics can reach in favor of certain community. However, it also reinforces the necessity to decentralize and scatter this knowledge and capacities across the community of IWPS. Only this way it would be possible to promote the sustainability of this attribute, reduce the malignant effects of the political volatility of the country and expand the scope of actions and dimensions where this attribute could play and important role.

•

The public space is not just a contested arena which some individuals have used to ‘make money’. It has also become an open platform for people to showcase their abilities and inventions. While the presence of IEPS can sometimes create chaos and get out of control, it can also become an attraction, enriching the cultural, social and spatial environment of the places. The attribute of Improvisation is successful on presenting the manifold of options and capacities which can be explored by ensuring a legal framework flexible enough to accept the public space as a safer platform to promote creativity and innovation. Keeping the adoption of authoritarian and punishmentbased policies towards the IEPS just will keep overshadowing its potential for innovation. How to measure and rate the determinants of creativity, resourcefulness and Ingenuity in such a diverse context still remains a question.

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- Conclusions

114

Chapter 6 – Recommendations and Ways Forward.

The last objective of this research was to provide recommendations on how to reframe some approaches to the IEPS and ways to include it into the urban resilience agendas of the cities. Based on the main findings, a set of recommendations are set below: •

A truly inclusive process must start by recognizing the values and virtues of the other. Otherwise, any public policy or project will have an imposition factor that, in a context like the Colombian, will only increase the already fractured social gaps.

•

Several initiatives and inclusion programs have been proposed and carried out by the local government in order to reduce informality and improve the conditions of the informal workers. Leaving aside its success or failure, there has been a downside starting from the interpretation of the definition of ‘informal economy of the public space’. The Colombian authorities and institutions have linked informal economic practices with a cluster of few occupations. This interpretation leaves aside people who carry out alternative activities such as musicians, jugglers, shoeshine boys, artists, poets, storytellers, among others. An inclusive strategy should not only contemplate these alternative activities but should understand the dynamics that arise from each of these practices.

•

The amalgam of cultures and origins exhibited within the community of IWPS has a great benchmarking potential to exploit in terms of the

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– Recommendations and Ways Forward.

cultural, gastronomic and entertainment activities that the IEPS could offer if addressed adequately.

•

Even though it is important to highlight the efforts and networking capacities that IWPS have developed on their own to protect their built assets, it becomes necessary to materialize those efforts into stablished and more important, effective organizations with the ability of reaching out to more people and efficiently address common issues.

•

A resilient strategy that includes the IEPS should contemplate the complexity of the raised issues with considerable attention on how to address the lost confidence in the fractured institutional and political system. Strategies to create effective organizations of IWPS or to strengthen and connect the already stablished ones, could be a starting point to reclaim a place in the decision-making process and therefore, become the true change-agents that the workers might be waiting for.

•

Even though the interviewed workers exhibited an extensive range of perceived risks, none of them seem to be reflecting upon the actual risk and the severity of its potential effects. A great focus on awareness and education is necessary to increase the knowledge of the social risks associated with IEPS, especially those related with the access to basic services and social protection.

•

Flexibility and toughness are common characteristics of the IWPS. However, those characteristics are being achieved by the wrong means (e.g. evictions, confiscation, forced displacements). Those learned faculties could be effectively exploited in other arenas or better channeled towards more positive outcomes if an inclusive resilience agenda was to be introduced.

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•

It is important to better understand the specific factors which have allowed some IWPS to reach more favorable conditions and prevented them from falling into poverty traps, therefore enhancing their social resilience. A characterization of workers based on those factors could define priority groups for designing ‘tailor-made’ social interventions.

•

During this research, it was not possible to evidence any case of an IWPS with the characteristics of an Institutional Entrepreneur. This opens the discussion about the need to train individuals to develop these key competences. Only this way, it will be possible to generate more structural changes without relying solely on political actors with a social vocation and which can easily be affected by the country's great political volatility.

•

It is essential to start acknowledging and integrating the capacities or skills of the IWPS within public programs and formal enterprises.

Understanding and systematically assessing their skills could be the stepping stone for an incentive-based program (instead of a ‘punishment-based’ one) which is able to value and recognize their capacities and trajectory but also demands quality and provide adequate training. This could result in a culture of ‘healthier’ competition among IWPS driven by the eagerness to reach positive levels of business reputation and professional pride, while at the same time could facilitate their access to the formal sector.

This research provided understanding and evidence of complex dynamics around the public space and the lives of people making livelihoods out of it.

However, there are still open questions which will be worth of being further addressed by interested researchers: •

In Chapter 2.1, it was stated how according to many authors, resilience always had a positive connotation. In fact, none of the authors’ 117

– Recommendations and Ways Forward.

perceptions talked specifically of resilience as something negative.

However, the results of the field research lighted a spark from some dynamics happening in the public space that are triggering diverse adaptation strategies that far from being beneficial, could be harmful not just for the individuals who apply them but for the social environment around (e.g. drug trafficking, public space mafias, distrust on the political system). All this might be caused by characteristic conditions of a fragile context - inequality, corruption, violence, forced displacement, poverty or political volatility – all of which were identified from the responses of the workers. It becomes necessary to frame further studies into the lenses of the field of Fragile Cities raising discussions and questions on whether the resilience is always positive.

•

Given the apparent connection between the spatial form and the attribute of social cohesion among IWPS, further exploration of this relationship could help understanding its many variations and answer questions regarding how to design public space that foster social resilience.

•

Further research on how the communication and information mechanisms among IWPS work would be valuable for contributing to the overall understanding of this social factor. In addition, defining how those can be enhanced or institutionalized for other purposes would have a cross-cutting capacity since it might be used for education or training purposes.

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APPENDICES Appendix 1 - Matrix of analysis of attributes (Part 1)

Name

What is social resilience? Lessons learned and ways forward

The paradox of social resilience- How cognitive strategies and coping mechanisms attenuate and accentuate resilience

A temporal framework of social resilience indicators of communities to flood, case studies: Wagga wagga and Kempsey, NSW, Australia

Authors

Markus keck and Patrick Sakdapolrak

Duncan Shaw , Judy Scully, Tom Hart

Sanaz Khalili, Michael Harre, Philip Morley

Keywords Focus

Literature Review, Social resilience, risk, vulnerability, adaptation, transformation, sustainable development.

Elderly, Flood Risk, Social Resilience, Social Vulnerability

Disaster resilience, Social Resilience, Climate disaster, Qualitative research, Kempsey

Publication

2013

2014

2015

Global Environmental Change

International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction

ELSEVIER

ELSEVIER

Cognitive Strategies Coping Mechanisms

Indicators

Journal

ERDKUNDE

Source

TRANS RE

Social Relations & Categories Network Structures

Intitutions & Power Relations

Knowledge & Discourses

Attributes

Social Capital

Access to Institutions and Participacion

Perception of risk

Risk perception

Accepting Change

Sense of community

Institutional Entrepreneurs

Access to Land

Social construction New power relations

Self-Perception

Self-Organization

Trust

Roles of trust, reciprocity and mutual Support

Cultural Capital (Gender, kinship, ethnic role models)

Interaction between global and local forces

Informal Social Interactions

Distribution of vulnerabilities

Community Participation

Leadership

Collective efficacy

Community efficacy

Social Capital

Social Cohesion

Community involvement

Communication and information

Resource dependency

Improvisation refers to creativity and ingenuity

Innovation

Social Support

Learning (from previous disasters)

Education (Level of knowledge about risk)

Demographic Information

Coping Style

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- Bibliography

Appendix 2 - Matrix of analysis of attributes (Part 2)

Name

Authors Keywords Focus

What is ‘social resilience’? Perspectives of disaster researchers, emergency management practitioners, and policy makers in New Zealand

Identification and evaluation of the components and factors affecting social and economic resilience in city of Rudbar, Iran

Alan H. Kwok, Emma E. H. Doyle, Julia Becker, David Johnston, Amir Bastaminiaa, Mohammad Reza Rezaeia, Douglas Paton Maryam Dastoorpoorb, Social Resilience, Community Resilience, Indicators, Disasters, New Zealand

Resilience, social resilience, Earthquake, Iran

Publication

2016

2017

Journal

International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction

International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction

Source

ELSEVIER

ELSEVIER

Categories

Cognitive

Structural

Components

Attributes

Adaptability - ability to embrace change

Access to economic resources

Awareness

Collective Efficacy

Community (and individual) preparedness

Knowledge

Connectedness between networks

Democratic and collaborative decision-making and problemsolving policies and processes

Skills

Leadership

Disaster management planning

Attitude

Sense of community and attachment

Diversity of skills and trained personnel

Social Capital

Shared community beliefs and values

Knowledge of community assets and beliefs

Social support

Knowledge of risk and hazard consequences

Trust

Robust community spaces and amenities

Social networks

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Appendix 3 - Semi-Structured Interview Model 1. Tell me a bit about your history and your profession How do you like to call your profession?

2. How long have you worked as _________?

Have you always worked on this?

In what other places have you worked?

On what does the selection of the place depend?

3. Do you like your job? Why? 4. Why did you decide to work as _________?

5. Do you consider that your work is sufficient to meet all your basic needs and those of your family?

If the answer is no, how do you meet these needs?

Do you have access to the health system?

Are you affiliated with a social security system? Do you contribute to pension insurance?

6. What do you consider to be the greatest risks of being an informal worker in the public space?

7. Could you share some negative experience of your work that marked it?

Tell me how you overcame this difficulty and what did you learn from this? Did someone help you?

8. How is your relationship with other informal workers?

Have you made friends with other workers?

Do you trust your colleagues / colleagues / other workers?

Do you help each other?

9. If you saw that any of your partners is in trouble or that his/her rights are being violated, what would be your reaction?

10. How could you describe the community of informal workers in terms of their union and organization?

Do you consider that informal workers are well organized?

Do you consider that informal workers are united?

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11. Are you aware of organizations or individuals that represent the interests of informal workers? How do they do it?

12. Are you part of any of these organizations? Which?

Do you regularly participate in your activities?

Do you feel supported or well represented by these people or organizations?

Do you like what they do? Do you trust them?

13. In recent years, there have been many demonstrations by informal workers.

Why have these protests been? What has been the result of these protests?

How do you find out about these mobilizations?

14. Do you know the case of a worker who has taken the task of representing the informal workers in congress or knows of a politician who represents them in the congress?

15. Do you like to participate in politics? Why? 16. How do you see the future of informal workers in Bogotรก?

17. What personal dreams do you have?

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Appendix 4 – Transcription of semi-structured interviews For accessing the full document with the transcriptions of the semi-structured interviews, please visit the following link: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Juan_Benitez_Bustamante The document with the transcriptions can be found under the “Informal Economy in the Public Space as a Driver of Social Resilience. Focus on informal workers in the public space of Bogotá” folder.

Any questions regarding this research project please contact me through that platform.

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