WIEGO Blog

Waste pickers may keep cities clean, but they face hazardous conditions on the job. Their health and wellbeing is at risk on a daily basis. As they collect and sort urban waste, they are exposed to dangerous materials and workplace conditions, among other issues. 

Os(as) catadores(as) mantêm as cidades limpas, mas enfrentam condições perigosas no trabalho. Sua saúde e bem-estar estão em risco diariamente. À medida que coletam e classificam os resíduos, eles estão expostos a materiais e condições de trabalho perigosos, entre outras questões. 

Photos by Jonathan Torgovnik

About half-a-million people flow through Warwick Junction every day — every one of them a potential customer for the thousands of informal traders selling everything from fresh fruit to prepared meals, from clothing to hardware to traditional medicine.

For over a hundred years, trade has flourished at this major transport hub in the heart of the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality in Durban, South Africa.

Public space provides a window into the soul of a city. It is where collective urban life plays out — cycling to work, playing in a park, enjoying hot food from a street corner, performing music for a tip, coming together in celebration or resistance. This diversity of activity can make public spaces rich, but it can also make managing public space difficult.

This diversity of activity can make public spaces rich, but it can also make managing public space difficult.

Modernization in cities is meant to ease the commute for workers and offer convenience — to make lives easier. But too often, it’s the poorest urban workers who pay the price for change.

Just after 4 a.m., Lima is asleep, streets nearly empty and sidewalks deserted except for a few women in municipal jumpsuits and masks who clean up debris. Even the densely populated San Juan de Lurigancho district of this sprawling metropolis is quiet.