Urban Dynamics

The growth of cities is one of the most significant transformations taking place in contemporary African societies. Cities in Africa are the sites of major political, economic and social innovation. They are also key platforms for interaction with the wider world. African cities represent major challenges as well as opportunities for the myriad actors engaged in all aspects of urban life. Both challenges and opportunities need to be understood if a sustainable urban future is to be achieved on the continent. Research within the Urban Dynamics cluster examines the multiple processes of urban change in Africa. Thematic areas include urban informality, governance and politics, urban modernities and planning rationalities, urban infrastructure and services, and inequality and social conflict.

Cluster leader:  Annika Björnsdotter Teppo

This research cluster involves the following programmes and projects:

• Beyond Poverty: an insight into the informal solid waste recycling sector in Kaduna, Nigeria
  Researcher: Onyanta Adama-Ajonye
• Urban imaginaries and socio-economic exclusion
  Forskare: Onyanta Adama, Andrew Byerley, Ilda Lindell '(Affiliated Researcher' med start 2012) och Mats Utas
• The Transforming Post-apartheid City
  Researcher: Annika Björnsdotter Teppo
• Seeking the Good City and the Good Citizen: Colonial and Post-Colonial Governmentality and Urban Planning in Africa.
  Researcher: Andrew Byerley
• The Politics of Urban Informality (please note: opens in new window). Affiliated Researcher: Ilda Lindell
• Urban governance and politics in South African cities
  Researcher: Marianne Millstein
• Infrastructure as Divination: Urban life in the Postcolony and
  Medicine for Uncertain Futures: A Nigerian City in the Wake of a Crisis
  Researcher: Ulrika Trovalla (formerly Andersson)