Entrepreneurship role in the co-production of public services in informal settlements − A scoping review

From a land-use planning perspective, informal settlements emerge because of dysfunctions in contemporary cities, leading to inequities in living conditions and exclusions of people in spaces outside the formal planned areas of cities. This paper explores how entrepreneurship in informal settlements contributes to the co-production of public services. The paper is based on social entrepreneurship frameworks (concerned with infrastructure, environment, housing and technology) that emerged from the literature review, focusing on strategies to solve challenges in informal settlements. The essence of the review was to ascertain the nature of existing and potential entrepreneurial initiatives and the implications for actors, communities, urban governance systems and research. The Campbell collaboration systematic literature review technique was adapted (in a scoping format) as a methodology to screen relevant studies by following the PRISMA Flow statement. The literature review process involved screening 2835 articles from 109 scientific journals published between 2014 and 2022. The outcome of the literature review indicated that current research in this area differed in focus, methodology, and application of theory. It concluded that research that focuses on the contribution of entrepreneurs to the co-production of public services in informal settlements is limited. Using the knowledge that emerged from the literature review, the current study produced an entrepreneurial framework for co-producing public services in informal settlements. It also provided an overview of theoretical and practical knowledge for further research. Future researchers can use the findings of this study to align their research within the interface between entrepreneurship and land management.