The Informal Economy and Slums

Active learning works for this topic because it transforms abstract global issues into tangible, human-scale problems. When students examine real street maps or role-play city planners, they move beyond sympathy to analyze root causes and consequences. These activities prevent the topic from feeling like a distant news story and instead make spatial inequality concrete where they live.

• 9th Grade
• Geography
• 4 activities
• 20 min–45 min

Learning Objectives

1. Analyze the push and pull factors driving rural-to-urban migration in developing megacities.
2. Evaluate the role of the informal economy as a survival mechanism for urban populations lacking formal employment.
3. Compare and contrast the challenges faced by residents of informal settlements with those in formally planned urban areas.
4. Design a policy proposal for integrating an informal settlement into a city's formal infrastructure and services.

Think-Pair-Share

⏱ 20 min·Pairs

Think-Pair-Share: Why Do People Live There?

Present a short video or photo sequence of an informal settlement alongside data on rental costs in the nearest formal city neighborhoods. Pairs discuss why residents choose -- or are pushed into -- informal settlements despite insecurity of tenure. Pairs share out, and the class maps the push and pull factors driving residential location decisions.

Prepare & details

Explain why millions of people live in settlements without legal title to their land.

Facilitation Tip: During Think-Pair-Share, pause after the pair share to cold-call two students to synthesize their partner’s ideas, ensuring accountability to the discussion.

Setup: Standard classroom seating; students turn to a neighbor

Materials: Discussion prompt (projected or printed), Optional: recording sheet for pairs

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Awareness
• Relationship Skills

Structured Academic Controversy

⏱ 45 min·Small Groups

Structured Academic Controversy: Eviction vs. In-Place Upgrading

Assign groups one of two positions: that government should clear informal settlements and relocate residents, or that government should formalize and upgrade existing settlements. Groups build evidence-based arguments using case studies from Rio de Janeiro, Mumbai, and Nairobi, then switch sides before the class seeks synthesis on which conditions favor each approach.

Prepare & details

Analyze how the informal economy provides a safety net in developing nations.

Facilitation Tip: For the Structured Academic Controversy, assign roles clearly and require students to present the strongest argument for the opposing side before defending their own position.

Setup: Pairs of desks facing each other

Materials: Position briefs (both sides), Note-taking template, Consensus statement template

• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Social Awareness
• Relationship Skills

Gallery Walk

⏱ 25 min·Small Groups

Gallery Walk: Mapping the Informal Economy

Post stations showing different informal economic activities: street food markets, home-based garment work, informal transport networks, unregistered construction labor, and cash domestic work. Students use a graphic organizer to identify who the workers are, what risks they face, and what benefits the informal sector provides that formal employment does not.

Prepare & details

Design government interventions to integrate informal settlements into the city fabric.

Facilitation Tip: In the Gallery Walk, place a large map at each station so students can physically mark informal economy nodes with sticky notes as they rotate.

Setup: Wall space or tables arranged around room perimeter

Materials: Large paper/poster boards, Markers, Sticky notes for feedback

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Create
• Relationship Skills
• Social Awareness

Jigsaw

⏱ 40 min·Small Groups

Jigsaw: City Case Studies in Informality

Expert groups each analyze one city's approach: Medellin's cable car integration and social urbanism, Singapore's public housing transformation, Mumbai's Dharavi upgrading debates, and Nairobi's Kibera redevelopment. Experts teach their cases to home groups, which then identify which factors -- land tenure law, funding sources, political will -- predict more successful outcomes.

Prepare & details

Explain why millions of people live in settlements without legal title to their land.

Facilitation Tip: For the Jigsaw, give each expert group a city fact sheet and a specific lens (e.g., housing, jobs, infrastructure) to focus their analysis.

Setup: Flexible seating for regrouping

Materials: Expert group reading packets, Note-taking template, Summary graphic organizer

• Understand
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Relationship Skills
• Self-Management

Teaching This Topic

Experienced teachers approach this topic by grounding abstract concepts in students’ prior knowledge of urban challenges they’ve seen in media or local contexts. Avoid presenting informal settlements as problems to be solved by outsiders; instead, highlight resident-led solutions to avoid deficit framing. Research in geography education suggests students grasp spatial inequality better when they trace real data—like the percentage of city workers in the informal sector—onto maps they can see and touch.

What to Expect

Successful learning looks like students citing specific evidence from case studies or maps to explain why informal settlements exist. They should articulate trade-offs between eviction and upgrading with economic and social reasoning. Observing students justify decisions during discussions shows they have analyzed spatial inequality, not just described it.

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

Common Misconception

During Think-Pair-Share, watch for students attributing informal settlement formation to laziness or poor choices.

What to Teach Instead

Use the pair share to redirect students to analyze housing costs and migration data provided in their case studies. Ask, 'How do the formal housing prices compare to rural incomes in the case study? What does that tell us about the choices available to migrants?'.

Common Misconception

During the Gallery Walk: Mapping the Informal Economy, watch for students dismissing the informal sector as marginal or unimportant.

What to Teach Instead

Direct students to the data at each station showing the informal sector’s share of city employment and tax revenue. Ask, 'Who relies on these services or workers? How does the formal economy depend on the informal sector?'.

Common Misconception

During the Jigsaw: City Case Studies in Informality, watch for students assuming land titling alone solves slum conditions.

What to Teach Instead

Have expert groups compare data on titling programs across cities. Ask, 'Which upgrades accompanied titling in each case? What happened to water access or school enrollment? What does that tell us about what upgrading requires?'.

Assessment Ideas

Discussion Prompt

After the Think-Pair-Share, pose the question, 'Imagine you are a city planner. Rank the three most important steps to improve living conditions in a large squatter settlement, and justify your choices using evidence from the case studies we examined.' Listen for references to housing costs, infrastructure, or economic roles to assess their analysis of spatial inequality.

Quick Check

During the Structured Academic Controversy, collect the role cards after the debate. Look for students’ use of economic data (e.g., informal sector employment percentages) or spatial reasoning (e.g., proximity to transportation) to explain their stance on eviction versus upgrading.

Exit Ticket

During the Gallery Walk, give students an exit ticket with one prompt: 'Write one sentence explaining how the informal economy acts as a safety net for city residents and one sentence describing a potential conflict between informal settlements and city governments.' Collect these to assess their understanding of interconnected economies and governance tensions.

Extensions & Scaffolding

• Challenge students who finish early to calculate the cost of formal housing versus informal rents in a given city using provided data tables.
• Scaffolding for students who struggle: Provide a sentence starter for the Think-Pair-Share like, 'One reason people live in informal settlements is... because formal housing costs...' and a word bank of key terms.
• Deeper exploration: Invite students to research a specific informal settlement’s history and create a 2-minute podcast episode explaining its formation and current challenges.

Key Vocabulary

Informal economy	Economic activities and labor that are not taxed or monitored by the government, often including street vending, small-scale manufacturing, and informal services.
Squatter settlement	A residential area where people have built housing on land they do not legally own, often lacking basic services like water, sanitation, and electricity.
Rural-to-urban migration	The movement of people from the countryside to cities, often in search of economic opportunities or better living conditions.
Land tenure	The way in which land is held or owned, including legal rights and responsibilities associated with property ownership.