The logic of design: its role in understanding the antecedents of urban informality

ABSTRACT

The everyday life of a city can generate informality in urban space, particularly in emerging economies. Using the grounded theory approach, this paper looks at how urban space in a market precinct is negotiated through tactics of street vendors and strategies of the government. It draws upon Herbert Simon’s work on decision making to show how a vendor moves from an existing situation to a preferred situation and terms this as situation satisfaction. It suggests a theoretical framework to understand the relation between the logic, decision and action of stakeholders to resolve the conflict between planning criteria and ground reality.

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Professor Nikos Salingaros, Professor Saras Saraswathy, Banashree Banerjee and Suresh Bhagavatula for their valuable contributions to the paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. The source for all photographs, diagrams and maps in this paper, unless mentioned otherwise, is the Author.

2. Urban and Regional Development Plan Formulation and Implementation Guidelines (URDPFI), Volume 1. Ministry of Urban Development. Govt. of India. Feb 2014.

3. In an interview with S.P. Shorey, Former Special Officer (Planning), Hyderabad Urban Development Authority (HUDA).