Including the Excluded: Supporting Informal Workers for More Equal and Productive Cities

The launch event of the new working paper, Including the Excluded: Supporting Informal Workers for More Equal and Productive Cities, co-authored by Martha A. Chen (WIEGO) and Victoria A. Beard (WRI). This is the fourth paper in WRI’s flagship World Resources Report, Towards a More Equal City.

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Informal workers account for 50 to 80 percent of urban employment and generate from 25 to 50 percent of the (non-agricultural) gross domestic product of the global south. Yet they are largely excluded from public infrastructure and services, public space, and public procurement contracts. Many cities are either hostile or ambivalent towards informal workers.

A small but growing number of cities are adopting more inclusive approaches to informal workers and this offers important lessons for cities that seek a more equal, productive and environmentally sustainable future. This paper examines different approaches that cities have taken towards the informal self-employed workers and their livelihood activities.

Towards a More Equal City is a series of 16 papers that examines if equitable access to core urban services can help achieve higher economic productivity and better environmental quality for the city. Visit citiesforall.org for more.

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