This chapter explores the paradoxical trajectory of urbanization in Haiti, where rapid demographic growth and spatial expansion have unfolded largely in the absence of coherent state planning or regulatory frameworks. It examines the hyperconcentration of population and resources in Port-au-Prince, the diffuse and fragmented development of secondary cities, and the uneven distribution of infrastructures and services that produce stark spatial inequalities. By situating these dynamics within broader debates on governance, sovereignty, and the state’s retreat, the chapter highlights the contradictions between formal discourses of modernization and the everyday realities of informality, improvisation, and survival strategies. Urbanization without the state emerges not as a vacuum but as a contested terrain where grassroots actors, informal institutions, and local communities negotiate access to land, services, and opportunities. These practices both compensate for and reproduce systemic inequalities, revealing a fragile equilibrium between resilience and exclusion. The analysis underscores how spatial disorder and social vulnerability intersect to shape a distinctive urban condition in Haiti, one that challenges conventional paradigms of development and calls for new approaches grounded in territorial justice, inclusion, and recognition of local capacities.