Abstract
Spatial justice is key to the pursuit of sustainable livelihoods of the urban poor especially in developing countries and in order to pursue income-earning opportunities for living the urban poor frequently use, albeit illegally, pavements, street spaces, vacant plots, public parks and city squares. As most urban spaces are controlled formally by the urban authorities and informally, by a range of powerbrokers or middlemen aligned to the authority, urban poor do not automatically gain access to public space and thus frequently face difficulties to organise livelihood enterprises, that cause uncertainties and raise costs of operations of their livelihood enterprises. Drawing on the experiences of the urban poor of Dhaka, their powerlessness and the challenges they face in accessing public space to pursue sustainable livelihoods, this chapter demonstrates how exclusionary elite based governance arrangements consistently deny the poor the 'right to the city' and constrain livelihood opportunities. Inclusive governance empowers the urban poor and guarantees access to public space to explore livelihood options and move out of poverty.