Informality is growing with Africa’s rapid urbanization. Much like residents of other types of informal housing, backyard dwellers face overall poor living conditions and political marginalization. However, backyard residents are in an ambiguous legal area and have been far less politically active and organized to pursue their rights to adequate housing. Using a qualitative case study of backyard residents in three Cape Town neighborhoods, Harris, Scheba, and Rice bridge theories of infrastructural citizenship and collective action to shed light on how informality may undermine collective action, and they identify four factors influencing collective action.

随着非洲快速城市化进程，非正规性也在增长。就像其他类型非正规住房的居民一样，后院居民面临着整体恶劣的生活条件和政治边缘化。然而，后院居民处于一个模糊的法律领域，在政治上和组织起来追求适足住房权方面的积极性要低得多。哈里斯、谢巴和赖斯通过对开普敦三个社区后院居民的定性案例研究，将基础设施公民身份和集体行动的理论联系起来，揭示了非正规性如何破坏集体行动，并确定了影响集体行动的四个因素。