Informal Sustainability
The Informal Sustainability Lab is an interdisciplinary research group led by Brandon Marc Finn at the School for Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan. Our work focuses on informality and sustainability. We aim to do high-impact and courageous work together.
The Informal Sustainability Lab is a space for intellectual risk-taking, mixed-methods approaches to informality, and collaboration within and beyond our research group. Join us as we work to reshape informality scholarship to focus more on sustainable development outcomes and equally importantly, to reorient sustainability research to take seriously the predominant ongoing global labor and urban transformations of the 21st century.
Research Themes and Publications
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Informality and mining for decarbonization
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Informality and climate change adaptation and mitigation
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Informality and governance
1. Structural inequality in the time of COVID-19: Urbanization, segregation, and pandemic control in sub-Saharan Africa
2. The popular sovereignty continuum: Civil and political society in contemporary South Africa
3. Dwindling funds and increased responsibilities: Decentralization, unfunded mandates, and Harare's infrastructure crisis -
What is Informal Sustainability?
Informality is a defining feature of global social and environmental change in the 21st century. Despite this, sustainability scholarship on informality still needs to sufficiently link the concerns, opportunities, and challenges of informality to climate change, sustainability, and sustainable development. Our research group brings interdisciplinary scholars together to respond to this gap. In doing so, we are leading efforts to establish mixed-methods and heterodox research at the forefront of a new subfield of geographical and sustainability-related scholarship on informal sustainability.
While often viewed as marginal or undesirable, informality is crucial for survival and adaptation in vulnerable communities. It provides alternative pathways for livelihoods, housing, and resource management, which are increasingly significant in the context of global challenges such as climate change and rapid urbanization.
The importance of informal sustainability lies in its potential to inform novel approaches to research and practice. Informality scholarship needs to become more ambitious and impactful in order to create equitable and inclusive policies and development. Recognizing and integrating informal practices into sustainable development strategies can address systemic inequalities and improve resilience against environmental and economic shocks.