The Routledge Handbook on Informal Urbanisation investigates the mutual relationship between the struggle for political inclusion and processes of informal urbanisation in different socio-political and cultural settings.

It seeks a middle ground between two opposing perspectives on the political meaning of urban informality. The first, the emancipatory perspective, frames urban informality as a practice that fosters autonomy, entrepreneurship and social mobility. The other perspective, more critical, sees informality predominantly as a result of political exclusion,...