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Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Urban Dynamics

Gugulethu™: revolution for neoliberalism in a South African township

Upphovspersoner: Teppo, Annika | Houssay-Holzschuch, Myriam
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Urban Dynamics |
År: 2013
Ämnesord:
This paper analyses the impact of neoliberalization on post-apartheid spatial practices at the new Gugulethu mall in Cape Town. It examines this impact at two levels: first, from the perspective of neoliberal processes and their ability to adapt to the local township environment and, second, from the viewpoint of the township and its permeability to these ideas and practices, specifically emphasizing the role of local brokers. We study how revolutionary discourses, imagery, spatial design and social engineering were employed to promote the business, and how these attempts were received at the everyday level in the township. We argue that contemporary, ordinary townships such as Gugulethu tell a localized story of neoliberalization processes through which global capital is rooted within South African townships.

Suprastructure : A photo exhibition

Upphovspersoner: Trovalla, Ulrika | Trovalla, Erik
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Urban Dynamics |
År: 2013
Ämnesord: photo exhibition, photos, Jos, Nigeria
The photo exhibition ’Suprastructure’ was first displayed at Museum Gustavianum in Uppsala between 17 November 2012 and 5 March 2013. It was digitally published in March 2013 as part of a research project entitled ‘Infrastructure as Divination: Urban Life in the Postcolony,’ financed by the Swedish Research Council. The scholars behind the exhibition, Ulrika and Erik Trovalla, are researchers in cultural anthropology and ethnology. They are based at the Nordic Africa Institute, Uppsala, and Uppsala University. Drawing on their photographs from the million city Jos in central Nigeria, they here give a glimpse of their research into the meanings of infrastructure in everyday life.

Displacements in the name of (re)development: the contested rise and contested demise of colonial 'African' housing estates in Kampala and Jinja

Upphovsperson: Byerley, Andrew
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Urban Dynamics |
År: 2013
Ämnesord: developmentalism, redevelopmentalism, Uganda, colonial and post-colonial planning
This paper examines historical and contemporary processes of urban (re-)development and displacement in Uganda. Particular focus concerns the often conflicting strategies employed by urban managers and residents to plan, govern and live in both the late-colonial and early twenty-first century city. Both eras can be considered significant, even momentous, for the prominence of strategic projects of socio-spatial urban reconfiguration that incorporate(d) powerful discourses fusing land and housing development with societal progress and national development. The former project putatively centred on orchestrating African development and welfare, the latter on the more ambiguous project of re-development. The ‘Good City’ and the ‘Good Citizen’ are used as heuristic devices to examine the planning ideals and rationalities that inform(ed) these projects and the conflict of rationalities they provoke(d), particularly in terms of competing visions of the good city and good citizen. The paper emphasizes that current projects of redevelopmentalism do not take place in politically inert or historically benign space. Rather, it is shown how historical and place-based specificities articulate with and mediate the process of redevelopmentalism in Kampala and Jinja.

Urban governance and spatial inequality in service delivery: a case study of solid waste management in Abuja, Nigeria

Upphovsperson: Adama, Onyanta
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Urban Dynamics |
År: 2012
Ämnesord: Urban governance, spatial inequality, State, Privatization, solid waste management, Abuja, Nigeria, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP
Spatial inequality in service delivery is a common feature in African cities. Several factors account for the phenomenon but there is growing attention towards urban governance and the role of the state. Urban governance policies such as privatization serve as key strategies through which the state regulates and (re)produces spatial inequality in service delivery. This study examined how governance practices related to privatization and the regulatory role of the state reinforce spatial inequalities in the delivery of solid waste services in Abuja, Nigeria. It focused primarily on the issue of cost recovery. Privatization became a major focus in Abuja in 2003 when the government launched a pilot scheme. Although it has brought improvements in service delivery, privatization has also increased the gap in the quality of services delivered in different parts of the city. Drawing on empirical data, the study revealed that little sensitivity to income and affordability, and to income differentials between neighbourhoods in the fixing of user charges and in the choice of the billing method is contributing to spatial inequalities in service delivery. Furthermore, the study suggests that these practices are linked to a broader issue, a failure of the government to see the people as partners. It therefore calls for more inclusive governance especially in decision-making processes. The study also emphasizes the need for a policy document on solid waste management, as this would encourage a critical assessment of vital issues including how privatization is to be funded, especially inlow-income areas.

Market-based and Rights-based Approaches to the Informal Economy : A comparative analysis of the policy implications

Upphovsperson: Vainio, Antti
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Urban Dynamics | Uppsala, Sweden
År: 2012
Ämnesord: Informal sector, Hidden economy, Government policy, Development research, Research methods, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP
This Policy Dialogue compares two very different conceptions of the informal economy that are prominent internationally: a market-based approach and a rights-based approach. It reflects upon the policy implications of adopting one perspective or the other, and argues that the terms ‘entrepreneur’ and ‘worker’ are often ideologically charged rather than a reflection of the structural positions of the ‘informals’. The paper is critical of a market-based perspective and of the related notion of informal entrepreneurs, as these may lead to policy recommendations that undermine the already fragile livelihoods of many people. The ideas presented in this paper are part of a work in progress and are intended to promote further debate about sustainable policy-making aimed at enhancing the economic and social standing of vulnerable people in the informal economy.

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