The central question behind this set of reflections is “What is the relationship between urban
governance and urban citizenship”? The aim of this paper is to explore the relationship
between attempts by the local authorities to manage and develop the city in accordance with
their mandate and the unfolding dynamics of some urban practices within a clearly defined
area of the central city. The paper will point to the complexity of the changes taking place in
social relations, and will highlight the often ambiguous interplay between the formal and
informal, the planned and the unplanned in the daily life of one of its key gateways. The
paper begins with some comments on the question of citizenship in order to draw attention to
some aspects of the literature considered relevant to the issues under investigation. It then
briefly outlines the policy process and context which frames governance of the informal
economy in the light of local government’s constitutional responsibility to be “developmental”.
The question of the intersection between regulation and development and its bearing on
urban citizenship is then raised, and explored further in the light of case studies involving the
use of public spaces; the use of electricity on the streets, the question of public toilets and
the activities of the bovine head cookers. The paper aims to explore the interface between
policy and practice and these urban vignettes capture very well the complexity and ambiguity
of a city in transition and the forces which both impel change in certain directions and impede
it in others.