Urban Crises and the Informal Economy: Surviving, Managing, Thriving in Post-Conflict Cities

Abstract

Political upheaval or violent conflict is often characterised by a fundamental failure of governance and the destruction of local economies, and yet in the aftermath of conflict, through informal mechanisms of survival and support, people reconstruct their livelihoods and rebuild urban services. This report is a synthesis of a three-year research project on Economic Recovery in Post-Conflict Cities: The Role of the Urban Informal Economy, funded under the DFID-ESRC Joint Fund for Poverty Alleviation Research (Project ES-M008789-1).