Informalization of the state: reflections from an urban world of translations

The project to “globalize the concept of informality” requires the circulation of concepts and theories from the “South” to the “North”. It also depends on intertextuality and exchanges between languages and sites of academic production. This essay is a reaction to the collection of texts published in a special issue of the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research. It argues in favor of conversations and exchanges between cities, as well as a reflection on translation, in order to contribute to a general theory of the state.