“HALF BREAD IS BETTER THAN NONE”: Surviving in the Accra Airport City

The conceptualization of the Airport City as a neo-liberal space planned to meet the needs of air travelers and people between the middle to high-income brackets has created a “world-class” enclave of multinational business and parastatal organizations. Although the space has low-income workers performing important duties to support the efficient running of the facility, they encounter difficulties in accessing affordable food and other essentials due to their low wages. Barriers such as the nature of their work (menial jobs), their employment status (contract or temporary workers), and the fact that some do not belong to unionized groups have placed them in marginalized positions. Despite these challenges, the workers have devised innovative ways to survive the hegemonic ordering of space. What strategies are they devising to meet their everyday needs? The findings of the research reveal that they are “commoning” the urban enclave and producing liminal spaces that blur the boundary between formality and informality. Accra Airport City may be both restrictive and yet promote provisionality with acts such as informal food vending and constant work opportunities functioning as platforms for critical engagement. Accra Airport City can be viewed as a battleground, displaying the contradictions and tensions surrounding formality and informality.