Power and Informality in Urban Africa

Power and Informality in Urban Africa PDF Author: Laura Stark
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1786993465
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 264

Get Book Here

Book Description
Urban Africa is undergoing a transformation unlike anywhere else in the world, as unprecedented numbers of people migrate to rapidly expanding cities. But despite the growing body of work on urban Africa, the lives of these new city dwellers have received relatively little attention, particularly when it comes to crucial issues of power and inequality. This interdisciplinary collection brings together contributions from urban studies, geography, and anthropology to provide new insights into the social and political dynamics of African cities, as well as uncovering the causes and consequences of urban inequality. Featuring rich new ethnographic research data and case studies drawn from across the continent, the collection shows that Africa's new urbanites have adapted to their environs in ways which often defy the assumptions of urban planners. By examining the experiences of these urban residents in confronting issues of power and agency, the contributors consider how such insights can inform more effective approaches to research, city planning and development both in Africa and beyond.

Power and Informality in Urban Africa

Power and Informality in Urban Africa PDF Author: Laura Stark
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1786993465
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 264

Get Book Here

Book Description
Urban Africa is undergoing a transformation unlike anywhere else in the world, as unprecedented numbers of people migrate to rapidly expanding cities. But despite the growing body of work on urban Africa, the lives of these new city dwellers have received relatively little attention, particularly when it comes to crucial issues of power and inequality. This interdisciplinary collection brings together contributions from urban studies, geography, and anthropology to provide new insights into the social and political dynamics of African cities, as well as uncovering the causes and consequences of urban inequality. Featuring rich new ethnographic research data and case studies drawn from across the continent, the collection shows that Africa's new urbanites have adapted to their environs in ways which often defy the assumptions of urban planners. By examining the experiences of these urban residents in confronting issues of power and agency, the contributors consider how such insights can inform more effective approaches to research, city planning and development both in Africa and beyond.

The Geography of Climate Change Adaptation in Urban Africa

The Geography of Climate Change Adaptation in Urban Africa PDF Author: Patrick Brandful Cobbinah
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 303004873X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 573

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book takes a comprehensive look at several cases of climate change adaptation responses across various sectors and geographical areas in urban Africa and places them within a solid theoretical context. Each chapter is a state-of-the-art overview of a significant topic on climate change adaptation in urban Africa and is written by a leading expert in the field. In addition to the focus on the geography of urban adaptation to climate change in Africa, this collection offers a broader perspective by blending the use of case studies and theory based research. It examines transformations in climate change adaptation and its future orientation from the perspectives of urban planners, political economists, environmentalists, ecologists, economists and geographers, thereby addressing the challenges facing African cities adaptation responses from all angles. Providing up-to-date and authoritative contributions covering the key aspects of climate change adaptation in urban Africa, this book will be of great interest to policymakers, practitioners, scholars and students of geography, urban development and management, environmental science and policy, disaster management, as well as those in the field of urban planning.

Governing Urban Africa

Governing Urban Africa PDF Author: Carlos Nunes Silva
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1349951099
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 383

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book explores some of the key challenges confronting the governance of cities in Africa, the reforms implemented in the field of urban governance, and the innovative approaches in critical areas of local governance, namely in the broad field of decentralization and urban planning reform, citizen participation, and good governance. The collection also investigates the constraints that continuously hamper urban governments as well as the ability to improve urban governance in African cities through citizen responsive innovations. Decentralization based on the principle of subsidiarity emerges as a critical necessary reform if African cities are to be appropriately empowered to face the challenges created by the unprecedented urban growth rate experienced all over the continent. This requires, among other initiatives, the implementation of an effective local self-government system, the reform of planning laws, including the adoption of new planning models, the development of citizen participation in local affairs, and new approaches to urban informality. The book will be of interest to students, researchers and policy makers in urban studies, and in particular for those interested in urban planning in Africa.

Rapid Urbanisation, Urban Food Deserts and Food Security in Africa

Rapid Urbanisation, Urban Food Deserts and Food Security in Africa PDF Author: Jonathan Crush
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319435671
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 199

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book investigates food security and the implications of hyper-urbanisation and rapid growth of urban populations in Africa. By means of a series of case studies involving African cities of various sizes, it argues that, while the concept of food security holds value, it needs to be reconfigured to fit the everyday realities and distinctive trajectory of urbanisation in the region. The book goes on to discuss the urban context, where food insecurity is more a problem of access and changing consumption patterns than of insufficient food production. In closing, it approaches food insecurity in Africa as an increasingly urban problem that requires different responses from those applied to rural populations.

Africa's Urban Past

Africa's Urban Past PDF Author: David Anderson
Publisher: James Currey Publishers
ISBN: 0852557612
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 321

Get Book Here

Book Description
A selection of papers first delivered at the conference on Africa's Urban Past, held at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 1996.

Routledge Handbook of Urban Planning in Africa

Routledge Handbook of Urban Planning in Africa PDF Author: Carlos Nunes Silva
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351271822
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 384

Get Book Here

Book Description
This handbook contributes with new evidence and new insights to the on-going debate on the de-colonization of knowledge on urban planning in Africa. African cities grew rapidly since the mid-20th century, in part due to rising rural migration and rapid internal demographic growth that followed the independence in most African countries. This rapid urbanization is commonly seen as a primary cause of the current urban management challenges with which African cities are confronted. This importance given to rapid urbanization prevented the due consideration of other dimensions of the current urban problems, challenges and changes in African cities. The contributions to this handbook explore these other dimensions, looking in particular to the nature and capacity of local self-government and to the role of urban governance and urban planning in the poor urban conditions found in most African cities. It deals with current and contemporary urban challenges and urban policy responses, but also offers an historical overview of local governance and urban policies during the colonial period in the late 19th and 20th centuries, offering ample evidence of common features, and divergent features as well, on a number of facets, from intra-urban racial segregation solutions to the relationships between the colonial power and the natives, to the assimilation policy, as practiced by the French and Portuguese and the Indirect Rule put in place by Britain in some or in part of its colonies. Using innovative approaches to the challenges confronting the governance of African cities, this handbook is an essential read for students and scholars of Urban Africa, urban planning in Africa and African Development.

Reconsidering Informality

Reconsidering Informality PDF Author: Karen Tranberg Hansen
Publisher: Nordic Africa Institute
ISBN: 9789171065186
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 240

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book brings together two bodies of research on urban Africa that have tended to be separate, studies of urban land use and housing and studies of work and livelihoods. Africa's future will be increasingly urban, and the inherited legal, institutional and financial arrangements for managing urban development are inadequate. Access to employment, shelter and services is precarious for most urban residents. The result is the phenomenal growth of the informal city. Extra-legal housing and unregistered economic activities proliferate and basic urban services are increasingly provided informally. Recent decades of neo-liberal political and economic reforms have increased social inequality across urban space. After an introductory chapter by the editors, the contributions are grouped into the following sections: - LOCALITY, PLACE, AND SPACE - ECONOMY, WORK, AND LIVELIHOODS - LAND, HOUSING, AND PLANNING The case studies are drawn from a diverse set of cities on the African continent. A central theme is how practices that from an official standpoint are illegal or extra-legal do not only work but are considered legitimate by the actors concerned. Another is how the informal city is not exclusively the domain of the poor, but also provides shelter and livelihoods for better-off segments of the urban population.

Housing and SDGs in Urban Africa

Housing and SDGs in Urban Africa PDF Author: Timothy Gbenga Nubi
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 9813344245
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 347

Get Book Here

Book Description
There is a dearth of collections of scholarly works dedicated wholly to African issues, that comes out of the work done by African scholars and practitioners with both African collaborators and from elsewhere. This volume brings together scholarly works and thoughts that cut across and intertwine the tripods-environment-consciousness, socially just development and African development into options that could deliver on the promise of the SDGs. The book project is an initiative of the Centre for Housing and Sustainable Development at the University of Lagos, which realized the gap in ground research linking the housing sector with the SDGs in African cities. This book therefore presents chapters that explore the interconnections, interactions and linkages between the SDGs and Housing through research, practice, experience, case-studies, desk-based research and other knowledge media.

Resilience and Sustainability in Urban Africa

Resilience and Sustainability in Urban Africa PDF Author: Innocent Chirisa
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 981163288X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 233

Get Book Here

Book Description
Resilience has become a very topical issue transcending many spheres and sectors of sustainable urban development. This book presents a resilience framework for sustainable cities and towns in Africa. The rise in informal settlements is due to the urban planning practices in most African cities that rarely reflect the realities of urban life and environment for urban development. Aspects of places, people and process are central to the concept of urban resilience and sustainable urban growth. It stems from the observation that urban vulnerability is on the increase in Zimbabwe and beyond. In history, disasters have adversely affected nations across the world, inflicting wide ranging losses on one hand while on the other hand creating development opportunities for urban communities. Cooperation in disaster management is a strategy for minimising losses and uplifting the affected urban settlements. The significance of urban planning and design in the growth and development of sustainable urban centres is well documented. Urbanisation has brought with it challenges that most developing countries such as Zimbabwe are not equipped to handle. This has been accompanied by problems such as overpopulation, overcrowding, shortages of resources and the growth of slum settlements. There need is to seriously consider urban planning and design in order to come up with contemporary designs that are resilient to current urban challenges. There are major gaps in urban resilience building for instance in Harare and the local authority needs to prioritise investment in resilient urban infrastructure. ​

Reframing the Urban Challenge in Africa

Reframing the Urban Challenge in Africa PDF Author: Ntombini Marrengane
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000333531
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 201

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book explores the changing dynamics and challenges behind the rapid expanse of Africa’s urban population. Africa’s urban age is underway. With the world’s fastest growing urban population, the continent is rapidly transforming from one that is largely rural, to one that is largely urban. Often facing limited budgets, those tasked with managing African cities require empirical evidence on the nature of demands for infrastructure, escalating environmental hazards, and ever-expanding informal settlements. Drawing on the work of the African Urban Research Initiative, this book brings together contributions from local researchers investigating key themes and challenges within their own contexts. An important example of urban knowledge co-production, the book demonstrates the regional diversity that can be seen as the main feature of African urbanism, with even well-accepted concepts such as informality manifesting in markedly different ways from place to place. Providing an important nuanced perspective on the heterogeneity of African cities and the challenges they face, this book will be an important resource for researchers across development studies, African studies, and urban studies. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781003008385, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license