The concept of informality has often been misunderstood. Its, especially, urban character is rarely appreciated. With respect to urban development, it was once thought to distinguish the Global South, a view that is changing, but an alternative has not been systematically articulated. Based on an extensive survey of literatures, this article clarifies the urban character of informality, articulates its global relevance, and proposes a framework for understanding its major modes: latent, diffuse, embedded, overt, and dominant. Their relative frequency distinguishes cities, regions, and nations while their identification facilitates the comparison of places.

中文翻译：

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非正式城市发展模式

非正式的概念经常被误解。尤其是它的城市特色很少受到赞赏。关于城市发展，曾经有人认为要区分全球南方，这种观点正在发生变化，但尚未系统地阐明替代方案。本文在大量文献调查的基础上，阐明了非正式性的城市特征，阐明了其全球相关性，并提出了一个理解其主要模式的框架：潜在的、扩散的、嵌入的、公开的和显性的。它们的相对频率区分了城市、地区和国家，而它们的识别促进了地点的比较。