WP1 (Urban economies) is concerned with the social worlds, livelihoods, knowledge and occupational cultures/vulnerabilities of informal roadside workers (such as vulcanisers) and the ways in which they interact with the everyday (material and social) flows of the mega-city. In addition to exploring the social/economic worlds and gendered publics of everyday roadside spaces, this Work Package will examine the first stage of the life-cycle of the re-used tyre as chemical/technical processes of vulcanisation reshape and extend its durability.
In focusing on both labour practices and the physical affordances of the rubber materials being worked on we deploy engineering as well as social sciences to highlight the interaction of human and non-human agencies in the sustaining and remoulding of road-related infrastructures. This Work Package will therefore critically bridge informal and formal worlds of economic production, local knowledge and engineering knowledge.