Spaces & Flows: Ninth International Conference on Urban and ExtraUrban Studies

Abstract

This paper grapples with the manner in which the law perceives, and deals with, formal and informal economic interactions and flows between cities, as manifested also through formal and informal intercity trade. Its geographic focus is the cities of the SADC region in sub-Saharan Africa, which are characterised, to differing extents, by poverty, inequality, informality, and high levels of circular migration (including, but not limited to, migrant labour). Questions being investigated include: What are the realities of intercity trade in SADC? To what extent does national, regional, and constitutional systems and international trade laws recognise, reflect, and enable these realities? How, if at all, do legal frameworks deal with the vast informal trade networks in the region? Overall, is the law equipping cities to deal with tremendous shifts in economic power and responsibility towards the urban?