Online/Chalsty Conference Centre, School of Law, Wits University, Johannesburg

Language: English only

The Wits School of Law and WIEGO invite you to the launch of the edited volume, Mapping Legalities: Urbanisation, Law and Informal Work, edited by Dr. Thomas Coggin and Dr. Roopa Madhav.

Covering 15 cities around the world, this book maps the interactions between informal workers and the law within the urban and spatial environment. The chapters in the book focus on access to physical space, revealing the punitive ways in which law regulates space and informal work. The contributions uncover how workers in informal employment remain at the policy and legal margins of urban society and reveal their ongoing endeavour for social and legal protection within local jurisdictional contexts. The book spans multiple themes, ranging from street vending to informal work in the gig economy, and sheds light on the collective influence of the law and the pursuit of a modern city in contributing to the marginalisation of workers in informal employment. Despite this marginalisation, the chapters illuminate the strategies employed by workers to leverage the law in acknowledging their contributions and asserting their presence in the city.

The volume includes chapters written by several WIEGO authors including Sally Roever & Michael Rogan, Teresa Marchiori & Pamhidzai Bamu, and Malavika Narayan, Shalini Sinha & Avi Singh Majithia.