African urbanism

One aspect of Nigeria's national life where the Pentecostal movement has impacted on the directions of national discourse in terms of political activism is how some Pentecostal pastors interrogate the essentials of nurturing Nigeria's fledgling democracy. This article examines the use of linguistic resources to thread ideology in Pastor Tunde Bakare's selected political teachings which explore leadership-citizenship responsiveness required for building an enduring democratic culture in Nigeria. Data for the study were collected from the pastor-activist's "State of the Nation" blog between January 2016 and January 2017 at a critical time when Nigeria was sliding into the depths of a recession. The study applies the tools of Jeffries' (2010) Critical Stylisticsa sub-discipline of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)to analyse the linguistic threads which convey the ideology of the text. The study shows that the discourse producer is radical in the ideological structuring of the text to ignite the nationalistic obligations of the audience towards consolidating democratic norms and values in line with global best practices. It also shows that he creatively deploys stylistic markers which fit in with the political context-cum-rhetoric of mobilising his audience for political action.

Market infrastructure plays a fundamental role in shaping the efficiency, safety, and socioeconomic outcomes of urban trading environments. However, most studies on market infrastructure focus primarily on physical availability rather than the lived experiences of market users. This study explores how traders, customers, and market officials in Soweto Market and Kanyama Market in Lusaka, Zambia experience and interpret the adequacy of key infrastructure including roads, lighting, water supply, sanitation and waste management. The study adopts a hermeneutic phenomenological approach, drawing on the philosophical traditions of Heidegger and Gadamer, to interpret the lived experiences of market participants. Data were collected through semistructured interviews with 25 traders, 10 customers, and 5 market officials, complemented by participant observations conducted over two weeks. Thematic analysis revealed that infrastructure is not merely a technical provision but a lived condition influencing economic productivity, safety, dignity, and well-being. Participants described persistent infrastructural inadequacies such as poor roads, inadequate lighting, limited water supply, poor sanitation facilities and ineffective waste management systems. These challenges shaped daily experiences of vulnerability but also revealed adaptive strategies and resilience among market users. The study concludes that improving infrastructure in Lusaka markets requires participatory planning, integrated infrastructure development and gender-sensitive facilities that prioritize the lived realities of traders and customers.

Rapid urbanisation, persistent housing shortages and the expansion of informal settlements continue to challenge sustainable urban development in Nigeria. Conventional slum interventions have often prioritised physical redevelopment while giving limited attention to climate-responsive architectural design, environmental quality and long-term housing resilience. This paper examines how slum upgrading can be integrated with sustainable housing delivery through an architectural lens, proposing a framework that combines climate-responsive design principles with inclusive urban regeneration. A systematic narrative review, guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA), was undertaken using peer-reviewed literature and policy documents published between 2018 and 2025. Sources were retrieved from Scopus, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, SpringerLink, Taylor & Francis Online, MDPI, AJOL and Google Scholar, alongside authoritative publications from the United Nations, UN-Habitat, the World Bank and Cities Alliance. The review synthesises evidence from Nigeria and selected international case studies, including Brazil, Thailand, Kenya, South Africa and India. Findings indicate that successful slum upgrading extends beyond infrastructure provision to include climate-responsive site planning, passive building design, secure land tenure, community participation, resilient infrastructure and effective governance. Drawing on these findings, the paper proposes the Integrated Climate-Responsive Slum Upgrading Framework for Nigerian Cities (ICSUF-N), which positions architectural design as a catalyst for sustainable housing delivery and inclusive urban regeneration. The framework provides practical guidance for policymakers, architects, planners and housing agencies seeking to transform informal settlements into healthy, resilient and environmentally sustainable neighbourhoods.

This article is part of a study on the Sudanese social and political context during the formation of the Modern Movement and the manifestations in built form and spatial expression during the period 1900-1970. The study has been on–going for several years and includes a literature search, local surveys (of unpublished and undocumented information) as well as photographs taken by the authors, sourced from architects or published material. It is argued that the Sudanese response to the International Style was in fact early experimentation in critical regionalism. The most notable architectural heritage in Sudan are the archaeological remains at Kerma and Napata as well as the remains of ancient Meroe about 180 km north of Khartoum. These cultures demonstrated sophistication in building materials and construction techniques. Due to climate changes, political changes and religious changes over a large stretch of time (642AD with the signing of the Bagt Treaty–1898 at the demise of the M...

Most flood risk assessments in rural areas of Low- and Middle-Income Countries rely on outdated, coarse-resolution geoinformation. Participation from exposed communities remains rare, and risk reduction measures are seldom identified. Our purpose is to address these shortcomings in a densely populated, frequently flooded rural area along the Niger River. The novelty of the study lies in the use of fine-grained spatial information and its integration with local knowledge, which led to the selection of appropriate risk-reduction measures. Risk was quantified monetarily as the product of hazard and expected damage. Riverine flooding and flash floods from tributaries are identified as the primary threats. Flood-prone areas for three return periods were identified using a 4-m resolution digital surface model and BASEMENT's two-dimensional hydraulic modelling. Assets were first identified using Google Earth imagery and subsequently verified on-site. Risk reduction measures were initially selected through a participatory SWOT analysis and then prioritised using eight criteria. The study found that the areas under cultivation have remained stable over the last 10 years, but settlements significantly expanded in flood-prone areas. A centennial flood during the dry season could cause €5.4 million in damage, with the municipality of Kourteye accounting for €3.4 million. Risk was primarily determined by damage to irrigated crops rather than buildings. Priority measures included extending and reinforcing levees in rice-growing areas, providing an Early Warning System, and improving sanitation and hygiene. However, the benefits of reducing the risk outweigh the costs only in the municipalities of Karma and Namaro.

Meeting targets under SDG 11 depends on qualitative improvements implemented through planning and design processes. In many less developed countries (LDCs), the upgrading of informal settlements has potential to make significant gains towards SDG 11, but the allocation of limited resources must be targeted appropriately. This paper presents an empirical method for determining the prioritization of settlements for upgrading as part of a national informal upgrading policy in Rwanda. The study constructs an assessment model considering national policies, urban resilience strategies, and progress towards SDG 11 using data that is publicly available or analysable through GIS applications. It proposes that the ease of use of the model and alignment with larger development strategies allows for prioritization of specific settlements for resourcing, highlighting areas of concern from which implementable projects may be developed. Similar models may be applicable to other sub-Saharan African countries and/or other urban upgrading efforts in LDCs.

Climate change presents an escalating global threat to ecosystems, economies, and human settlements. The built environment encompassing buildings, neighborhoods, and infrastructure both contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions and remains among the most vulnerable sectors to climaterelated disruptions. In Nigeria, rural areas experience increasing drought, desertification, and food insecurity, while urban centers face challenges such as rising temperatures, water scarcity, flooding, and sea-level rise. This paper adopts a literature-based analytical approach to explore how architecture can serve as a critical tool for climate adaptation and urban resilience. International and local case studies were examined, including Rotterdam's floating architecture in the Netherlands, which demonstrates how innovative design responds to rising water levels, and the Makoko Floating School in Lagos, which exemplifies communitydriven adaptation in a low-resource context. Findings indicate that climate change alters the built environment through intensified heatwaves, flooding, and structural degradation, with unregulated urbanization amplifying exposure. Adaptation strategies such as resilient design, green infrastructure, modular construction, and water-sensitive urban planning are essential to safeguard cities. Complementary mitigation strategies emphasizing low-carbon materials, passive design, and urban vegetation further reduce environmental impact. Both high-technology approaches in developed contexts and low-cost innovations in developing regions provide replicable pathways toward resilience. In conclusion, architecture plays a pivotal role in addressing climate change through sustainable design and planning. While Nigeria's progress in climate-responsive architecture remains limited by high construction costs and weak regulatory enforcement, these barriers can be overcome by strengthening building codes, investing in resilient infrastructure, promoting sustainable materials, improving climate data collection, and enhancing institutional and community capacity for adaptation.

Globally and regionally in Sub-Saharan Africa, accessibility to safe and clean water remains a cradle component to mediate the high demands for water. One water point center with quality safe, and clean water supply to population health and others in one health concepts of health around us, at the community health level. However, over 37% of the developing world’s population has limited access to affordable clean water. 2.5 billion Population health, have limited access to improved affordable basic sanitation and hygiene infrastructures. Over 780 million population health still have increased uptake of unsafe drinking water, associated with increased low uptake or access to quality hygiene and sanitation practices, Thus, contrary to the 8th ELEMENTS of primary health care PHC resolutions, passed in the WHO conference at Alma Ata Declaration in 1978. Which is one of the pillars of global health. Trans Nzioa County like many Counties in Kenya faces considerable challenges to accessing, affordable clean, and safe water and sanitation infrastructures and non-infrastructures, as one of the key Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Sustainable goals and universal coverage target objectives on Primary Prevention better than cure. The County has four Sub counties namely Bondeni, Suwerwa, Kaplamai, and Waitaluk, which are blended with inadequate access to affordable safe clean water and sanitation services, coupled with poor hygiene practices at the lower Community households, which, kill and sicken vulnerable cohorts in the wide burden of diseases, in society, specifically women, adolescence and under-fives children. Who majority spend 4–5 times per day, fetching water from unprotected springs, rivers, or boreholes and thus, are overwhelmed with various health risks of the burden of water-related communicable diseases. It was these reasons that led to the study Role of community participation in integrated Water Hygiene and Sanitation (WASH) programs in the Supply of Accessible Safe and Clean Water to Community Households in Trans Zioa County to enable the sustainability of structures, through synergistic partnership of the National Government of Kenya, County government of Transnzioa, in partnerships with kind Development partners mainly WHO, UNICEF, USAID and UN-Habitat, to form integrated water resource management programs, for supplying accessible and affordable safe and clean water to its community households, to prevent control water-related communicable diseases. Descriptive Cross-sectional and triangulation designs of mixed research methods were used in data collection. A sample size of 297 respondents participated. Purposive, census, and quota sampling techniques were adopted, using sampling frames of community households in each Division with limited access to safe and clean water services. Structured questionnaire tool was utilized in quantitative surveys, Key Informant Interviews (KII) guides, Focus Group Discussion, (FGD) guides were used, Qualitative interviews to discuss themes into saturations to achieve the values of findings, using triangulation design. Data was statistically managed by MS Excel and SPSS version 27. Analysis was by cross-tabulation of descriptive and inferential statistics, to measure central tendency, and dispersion respectively. Results showed secondary attained households are critical for efficient implementation of safe and clean water supply compared to primary attained households, male participation in water issues was minimal (41%). Accessibility to safe water from one source, by the majority of residents,’ remains low (30 %). Hand washing after visiting latrine is still low (43%). However, the majority of households (88%) utilized latrines. Global health participation in the integrated programs was 37% in the County. Need for more grants and well-wishers for Public Private Provision programs in water resource management, and also policies put in place, to increase male involvement in community participation in integrated accessibility of safe and clean water supply to community households, Water Sanitation and Hygiene WASH programs in Trans Nzioa County is timely required due to their limited involvement as noted in the study.

Climate change presents an escalating global threat to ecosystems, economies, and human settlements. The built environment encompassing buildings, neighborhoods, and infrastructure both contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions and remains among the most vulnerable sectors to climaterelated disruptions. In Nigeria, rural areas experience increasing drought, desertification, and food insecurity, while urban centers face challenges such as rising temperatures, water scarcity, flooding, and sea-level rise. This paper adopts a literature-based analytical approach to explore how architecture can serve as a critical tool for climate adaptation and urban resilience. International and local case studies were examined, including Rotterdam's floating architecture in the Netherlands, which demonstrates how innovative design responds to rising water levels, and the Makoko Floating School in Lagos, which exemplifies communitydriven adaptation in a low-resource context. Findings indicate that climate change alters the built environment through intensified heatwaves, flooding, and structural degradation, with unregulated urbanization amplifying exposure. Adaptation strategies such as resilient design, green infrastructure, modular construction, and water-sensitive urban planning are essential to safeguard cities. Complementary mitigation strategies emphasizing low-carbon materials, passive design, and urban vegetation further reduce environmental impact. Both high-technology approaches in developed contexts and low-cost innovations in developing regions provide replicable pathways toward resilience. In conclusion, architecture plays a pivotal role in addressing climate change through sustainable design and planning. While Nigeria's progress in climate-responsive architecture remains limited by high construction costs and weak regulatory enforcement, these barriers can be overcome by strengthening building codes, investing in resilient infrastructure, promoting sustainable materials, improving climate data collection, and enhancing institutional and community capacity for adaptation.

This chapter argues the case for the Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) integration in the South Africa’s higher education curricula and underscoring the IKS’ potential in the cultivation of resilience, and sense of belonging among students and educators. Within the framework of Transformative Learning theory, education is positioned as a catalyst for individual growth and social change, through critical analysis and inclusive practices. The argument being advanced there is that an embedded IKS into education curricula, can spearhead the transformation. Within the context of persistent, unresolved challenges that stems from South Africa’s systemic legacy of social-economic barriers, such a strategy is a pathway to the transformation of educational practices into models that are culturally relevant and inclusive.

One of the twofold objectives of the chapter examines how the integration of the curricula could reinforce resilience through the cultivation of a teaching and learning environment valuing and recogising the diverse cultural perspectives in South Africa; and analysing how such an approach could be used tin the enhancement of sense of belonging of the students ifrom marginalised populations in the country. The study will employ a mixed methods approach, case studies from the country’s universities that have a successful integrated IKS, interviews with students, educators, administrators and other stakeholders in the education sector. The thematic and content analysis of the data aim at providing insightful perspectives and propositions for policymakers on the effective approaches of integrating IKS within the curricula of higher education. While leveraging transformative learning principles in the country’s higher education curricula could foster the enhancement of resilience and an academic environment which is inclusive and equitable.

The relationship between infrastructure development and intensifying climate crisis is generating new cycles of 24-hour risks in the urban global South. These risks are particularly severe in low-income neighbourhoods and informal settlements. They create complex microgeographies of risk, unfolding across time, space, multiple scales, and intersectionality, compounding gendered vulnerabilities. Complex interactions between risks and infrastructure development are overlooked in research and policy action at the urban scale. Research from Karachi and Nairobi points to opportunities to build resilient infrastructures that strengthen and support community networks and inclusion.

The establishment of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 prompted local governments to prepare flood risk assessments. However, within the rural contexts of low-and middle-income countries, such tools do not account for the details necessary for risk management. Limited data availability is the most frequently reported reason for such deficiencies. Moreover, flood exposure is particularly uncertain. This study aimed to overcome this obstacle through the use of fine-grained open-access information, local datasets, and ground truth data. Its novelty is the identification of flood-prone assets and the formulation of risk reduction measures. This approach was applied to a 58-km section of the Niger River upstream of Niamey. Notably, risk is considered the product of hazard and damage, expressed in monetary terms. On the basis of five hazard scenarios, hydraulic modelling was employed to determine the floodplain, which was then validated against Sentinel-2 satellite images. Buildings and crops were identified through visual interpretation of Google Earth satellite images and verified on the ground. Wells were located according to statistics from the Ministry of Hydraulics and Sanitation. The potential damage resulting from a flood with a 10-year return period was partitioned, with 57% attributed to crops and 43% to buildings. Horticulture alone accounted for 43% of the total damage. Half of the damage to buildings is concentrated in 13 settlements. Nine structural measures are recommended on the basis of the expected inundation depth.

Meeting targets under SDG 11 depends on qualitative improvements implemented through planning and design processes. In many less developed countries (LDCs), the upgrading of informal settlements has potential to make significant gains towards SDG 11, but the allocation of limited resources must be targeted appropriately. This paper presents an empirical method for determining the prioritization of settlements for upgrading as part of a national informal upgrading policy in Rwanda. The study constructs an assessment model considering national policies, urban resilience strategies, and progress towards SDG 11 using data that is publicly available or analysable through GIS applications. It proposes that the ease of use of the model and alignment with larger development strategies allows for prioritization of specific settlements for resourcing, highlighting areas of concern from which implementable projects may be developed. Similar models may be applicable to other sub-Saharan African countries and/or other urban upgrading efforts in LDCs.

Informal smart urbanism is an emerging field that explores how digital technologies shape urban development in contexts marked by informality. We understand informality as a dynamic set of interactions that arise when formal regulations fail to meet people's needs. Our study analyses digital resilience practices-the everyday ways households respond to shocks through digital technologies. These practices are widespread but often overlooked, especially given the vulnerabilities inherent in informal settings. We explore how repetitive digital practices form extra-legal rules. In Mathare, Kenya, four forms of digital resilience practices emerge: (1) belt tightening: households with low resilience use digital networks to receive digital gifts, replacing non-digital support; (2) maladaptive: digital tools are used in ways that undermine community resilience; (3) adaptive: digital platforms are used to strengthen household resilience in the short term; and (4) transformative: digital technologies systemically improve household resilience in the long term.

This review examines urban flooding in three East Africa cities; Kampala, Nairobi, and Kigali. It examines the historical contexts of flooding, global trends, and city specific situations. Flood frequency and intensity have increased across Kampala, Nairobi, and Kigali.
However, differences in flood severity are not fully explained by climatic exposure. Urban planning failures, particularly uncontrolled expansion into wetlands, floodplains, and drainage corridors, are a dominant driver of flood vulnerability. These planning decisions have reduced the natural capacity of urban ecosystems to regulate storm water.
Governance quality plays a decisive role in determining flood outcomes. Kampala and Nairobi demonstrate how institutional fragmentation, weak enforcement, and limited coordination exacerbate flood risks, while Kigali illustrates how stronger governance systems can significantly reduce exposure and vulnerability. Ecosystem degradation, particularly wetland loss, has undermined urban flood resilience across all three cities.
Wetlands function as natural buffers, and their destruction has increased the frequency and severity of urban flooding. Policy frameworks exist in all three cities, but implementation gaps remain the most persistent challenge, especially in Kampala and Nairobi.
Urban flooding in East Africa represents a convergence of climate variability, rapid urbanization, and governance failure. While climate change is an undeniable and growing influence, it is the quality of urban governance and planning systems that ultimately determines whether rainfall becomes a manageable event or a disaster.
Addressing urban flooding therefore requires a fundamental shift in policy thinking. It requires not viewing floods as natural climate events, but instead to understanding them as outcomes of urban development choices and institutional performance. Sustainable urban resilience in these cities will depend not only on adapting to climate change but also on transforming the governance systems that shape how cities grow, manage land, and interact with their natural environments.
City governments must ensure strict adherence to land-use plans, particularly in flood-prone areas such as wetlands, riverbanks, and drainage corridors. Illegal developments in high-risk zones should be prevented through consistent regulatory enforcement rather than reactive displacement after flood disasters.
Restoration and protection of wetlands should be prioritized as cost-effective flood mitigation strategies. The Kigali experience demonstrates that ecosystem-based adaptation can reduce flood exposure when properly implemented.
Fragmentation of institutional responsibilities, as observed in Kampala and Nairobi, reduces effectiveness and delays responses. Establishing clear institutional mandates and coordination mechanisms is essential.
Cities should invest in drainage systems designed for future climate conditions rather than historical rainfall patterns. This includes upgrading storm-water infrastructure, expanding drainage capacity, and integrating green infrastructure such as retention ponds, permeable surfaces, and urban forests.
Policy responses should move beyond forced evictions toward inclusive upgrading strategies that improve drainage, housing quality, waste management, and access to services while reducing exposure to flood risk.
If flooding is viewed primarily as a climate issue, adaptation efforts may focus on meteorological forecasting and infrastructure investments. However, if governance and planning failures are recognized as central drivers of vulnerability, greater emphasis must be placed on institutional reform, land-use regulation, and urban management.

Knowledge of river flood risk in semiarid rural areas is often based on outdated, lowresolution geoinformation. Consequently, identification of exposed settlements, assets and risk-reduction measures remains challenging. This dataset provides up-to-date, finegrained information for a rural area spanning 931 km 2 that is exposed to flooding from the Niger River and the Karma Wadi. The dataset includes information on (i) areas exposed to the two flood types that characterise the river's hydrological regime and flash floods from the wadi, (ii) flood-prone crops, buildings and (iii) measures for risk treatment. Discharge data, a 4 m horizontal-resolution digital elevation model, and two-dimensional hydraulic modelling with BASEMENT were used to identify flood-prone areas. Visual interpretation of high-resolution satellite imagery in Google Earth, together with field inspections, enabled the identification of exposed assets. The Information System on Rural Markets of Niger and house compensation values recognised during resettlement-related works enabled asset valuation. Risk was expressed in monetary terms as the product of flood probability and expected damage. Risk-reduction measures were identified with stakeholders through a SWOT analysis and prioritised using eight criteria. The dataset can support emergency plans, flood early warning systems, rescue and recovery operations and flood risk management.

Africa is undergoing a profound transformation, as widely reported in international media and confirmed by demographic and economic data. Rapid urbanization and the expansion of the middle classes over recent decades constitute two central dimensions of these social and economic changes. Published in 2024, The Suburban Frontier: Middle-Class Construction in Dar es Salaam offers a timely and insightful account of how these two processes are deeply intertwined. The book advances a spatial understanding of middle-class formation, arguing that investment in land, housing, and landscapes is a key driver of both class-making processes and the future trajectories of African cities. The Suburban Frontier is

Calls to rethink the foundations of anthropological fieldwork in Africa have shaped debates for decades. Scholars have challenged Eurocentric assumptions that influence research design, interpretation, and the positioning of African lifeworlds within global anthropology. This article contributes to these discussions through a methodological reflection on fieldwork in Dar es Salaam. We worked alongside people whose livelihoods depend on constant movement across the city. One of us rode with bodaboda drivers navigating traffic, risk, and infrastructural strain. The other walked with waste collectors gathering metals from discarded electronics and household appliances. Drawing on participatory and mobile ethnography, we treat movement as co-presence, where knowledge emerges through shared exposure to heat, fatigue, risk, and everyday negotiation. We do not propose a new method. Rather, we describe "moving with" as a situated practice grounded in the city's social and infrastructural realities. Waste collectors and bodaboda drivers operate within precarity, stigma, and improvisation. Their expertise is embodied and relational, produced through motion. By walking and riding with them, we learned how they manage risk, evaluate value, claim space, and sustain livelihoods, positioning them as guides in the research process and contributing to debates on decolonising ethnography in Africa.

Corridors entail and promote pervasive logics of (dis)connectivity. Over the years, corridors have become increasingly predominant across a range of spaces, places and territories. Their prevalence reflects a critical global shift in planning approaches, urban-regional governance, investment trends, circulation regimes and broader urbanisation processes. This article engages with this paradigm shift to critically interrogate the term corridor and its various usages and dynamics, considering its analytical purchase and socio-spatial dynamic for urban studies. We provide a genealogical reading of the term corridor, examining its usage and conceptualisation in different contexts, to ask what these different interpretations and analytical functions of the corridor can offer to urban studies today. Through this critical review, we assert that the meaning and usage of corridors are permeated by heterogeneity and multiplicity that define their current dynamic. This leads us to problematise their linear delineations across space (and time). Thereafter, we offer a typology of different corridors, which helps us to address its analytical valence for urban studies and social science. We conclude by setting out four research directions in scholarship that offer a platform to develop further research imperatives and debates in relation to the growing urban corridorisation and its effects on urbanities, cities and everyday life.

Poverty and insecurity remain two of the most pervasive and interconnected challenges undermining Africa's quest for sustainable development. Despite the continent's vast natural and human resources, over 490 million people still live in extreme poverty, while insecurity manifests in the form of terrorism, armed conflict, banditry, political violence, and communal clashes. This paper examines the cyclical and mutually reinforcing relationship between poverty and insecurity, analyzing how deprivation fuels instability, and how violence, in turn, deepens poverty.

Early in the year 2009, The United Nations Environmental Programme in Nairobi reported that
the rapid urbanisation of Nairobi had outstripped the city's ability to deliver adequate basic
services to its residents. Urban decay resulted, being visible in the creation and sprawl of
informal settlements in the city over the years. Residents in these informal settlements have been
exposed to poor-quality lives.
In several cases, though not documented, the Government has interposed to create plans and
programs to avert the challenges of urban decay, urban renewal being one of them. It has been
unclear whether these programs have been effective in solving the environmental challenges that
characterise urban decay. It was from this point that the research picked up, to identify urban
renewal strategies that have been implemented in Nairobi and assess their effectiveness in
addressing the degraded environment. The work anticipated evolving credible and actionable
recommendations by using Urban Renewal to enhance better management of the environment.
The Makongeni, Mbotela, Kianda and Soweto East segments of ‘The Relocation Action Plan'
project by the Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC) were selected as the sample sites. Residents
in these segments had been relocated from the railway reserves where they had built their
temporal shelters, into these KRC's newly built houses also within Kibera slums.
Housing and urban environmental characteristics formed the variables of the research. A crosssectional
survey research design that encompassed the use of both primary and secondary data
collection methods were employed. A household survey that entailed the issuing out of 384
questionnaires to sample out household heads from the four segments was conducted. The
research adopted the Value-Based Norm (VBN) Theory by Stern, which postulates that bearing
and perceiving adverse effects from a certain environmental challenge can promote mitigation
behavior.
Descriptive Statistics and inferential statistics were used to analyze whether the implementation
of Urban renewal strategies has created a significant difference between the environment in
previous and the current areas of residence. The Chi-square tests showed a significant difference
between the previous and the current state remarkably due to better housing, access to better
health services, cleaner energy sources, improved security, better market conditions, and
improved waste handling and disposal methods. Since water rationing in the informal settlements
of Nairobi is generally high, there seemed to be no significant difference between their previous
and current state in terms of access to water, and water payments.
Nevertheless, the project completely changed people's lives, from the slum setting to the current
homes, where the environment is cleaner and friendlier. The findings of the research confirmed
that urban renewal, smartly effected can be a tool for environmental management.

Background: Urban poverty and inequality have been analysed in various ways, as evidenced in the literature. Nevertheless, the interrelationships between the concepts and their ramifications for local economic development could benefit from more discourse, especially in the African context. Equally important is the need to assess the spatiality of the dynamics associated with these concepts. The study done for this chapter thus sought to address the noted gaps by analysing urban poverty and inequality using the lens of economic development. Specific objectives included the following: to unpack the empirical relationships between urban poverty and inequality; to analyse the spatial trends of poverty and inequality in Africa; to assess the causative factors responsible for urban poverty and inequality; to propose innovative local economic development strategies for addressing urban poverty and inequality.

Methods: The study used both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The quantitative methodology, based on aggregate data, was applied to assess general demographic trends in urban poverty and inequality on the continent. The qualitative approach was used to evaluate the trends or experiences in terms of poverty and inequality in selected case studies. A multi-dimensional approach was applied in assessing trends and the causes of poverty, while the Gini coefficient was used to analyse urban inequality.

Results and Conclusions: It is proposed that innovative local economic development approaches are adopted for purposes of addressing urban poverty and inequality in Africa. These comprise spatial, structural, technological, human resource-based and employment creation strategies. The chapter contributes to the body of literature by establishing dialectical relationships between urban poverty, inequality and economic development. Moreover, it proposes a spatial framework for economic progression.

Corporate Sustainability Performance (CSP) is being promoted as a way in which corporations in the extractive industry can contribute to poverty eradication in developing resource regions. As such, the international debate on CSP has moved from whether companies ought to do it or not, to the extent to which it can contribute to sustainable development. Corporations worldwide have therefore reshaped their frameworks, rules, and business models to accommodate CSP. This article evaluates whether, through the implementation of CSP, companies are able to contribute to the sustainable development of host communities in developing countries. Against this backdrop, there exists a knowledge gap in Zambia as to what the actual contributions of CSP are towards sustainable community development. Through literature review and community data analysis, the results revealed that there was a mismatch in priorities between CSP and the expectations of community members. Findings show that CSP focused ...

This paper explores how marginalized urban communities, who are excluded from formal and life-supporting infrastructures of the city, navigate challenges ensuing from their severance in contemporary city-making practices through their everyday living. Based on this objective, the paper asks, how do these communities assert and claim their belongingness to the city that often seeks to erase them and puts them at the tail-end of a transforming urban landscape? To seek answers, we unsettle 'fixities' in urban political ecology that dominate the understanding of urbanization in cities of Global South-ones that locate power exclusively to a single class (primarily the middle-class) or reduce it to a mere outcome of capital accumulation, thereby framing power solely as a tool of conflict. Instead, underpinned in a Situated Urban Political Ecology (SUPE) framework, we offer a 'negotiated urbanism' perspective that foregrounds place-based and micro-political idiosyncrasies, making visible how multiple forms of power emerge through diverse and coexisting urban identities. Drawing upon a grounded theory and ethnographic fieldwork, which includes in-depth interviews, focused group interviews, life histories, on-field conversations and observations in selected neighbourhoods of Delhi, we depict how urban marginalized groups are more than mere recipients of exclusion, exhibiting significant transformative agency. We argue to view them as active city-makers, rather than mere encroachers, who manoeuvre the uneven urban environment to claim their right to the city through diverse and mundane negotiating practices. This approach brings forth lived experiences and everyday struggles around land, electricity, and water in marginalized neighbourhoods, offering deeper insights and exposing the crooked reality of Delhi's attempt at sustainable city-making. The findings highlight transformative agencies of these communities as they adapt and survive within the exclusionary urban development practices, reshaping their experiences in the process.

This paper develops a theoretical framework for understanding how street trading is negotiated within the urban landscapes of major Nigerian cities and selected African cities. It argues that street trading should not be read solely as an economic aberration or as a planning problem to be eradicated; rather, it is a situated practice that reconfigures space, produces forms of urban livelihood, and is continuously re made through everyday negotiations among traders, citizens, state actors, and market intermediaries. Drawing on contemporary literatures on urban informality, street trade, and governance, the paper synthesizes theoretical strands political economy of space, everyday urbanism, negotiation and bargaining theories, and resilience scholarship to propose a multidimensional analytical model for research and planning practice. Key implications for policy and planning are outlined, emphasizing negotiated regularization, spatial design interventions, and participatory governance that respect livelihoods while addressing public-order and environmental concerns. Core claims are grounded in recent empirical and conceptual work on African street trade.

The purpose of this brief is to highlight the socio-economic, infrastructural and governance challenges faced by 'territorial' food marketers and smallholder farmers in public markets and along busy transit routes in Africa. Examples are mainly from Benin, Ghana, Kenya and South Africa. The aim is to pinpoint possible areas of investment that will enhance access to remunerative markets for food that is produced and processed in alignment with agroecological principles. ❙ Smallholder farmers are known to produce most of the world's food and provide most of the investments in agriculture (Kay 2016; Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) 2017), particularly in Africa. However, the markets in which they commonly operate are consciously and/or unconsciously neglected, sidelined and discriminated against in public policy-making (Civil Society Mechanism 2015). ❙ In most African countries, farmers, retailers and other marketers operate largely in 'territorial markets', with formidable socio-economic, infrastructural, governance, safety, sanitation and other challenges, even though about 70-90% of agricultural products go through these markets (FAO 2015; Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration (ETC Group) 2017, 2022).

Casablanca, Morocco's largest Atlantic port city, faces increasing exposure to floods, drought, and other risks that align with legacies of urban transformations carried out during the colonial period. This study examines how early-20th-century interventionsincluding the canalization and burial of the Oued Bouskoura, extensive coastal reclamation, and the implementation of rigid zoning-were associated with a reconfiguration of the city's hydrology and coincide with persistent socio-spatial inequalities. Using historical cartography, archival sources, and GIS-based overlays of colonial-era plans with contemporary hazard maps, the analysis reveals an indicative spatial correlation between today's high-risk zones and areas transformed under the Protectorate, with the medina emerging as one of the most vulnerable districts. While previous studies have examined either colonial planning in architectural or contemporary climate risks through technical and governance lenses, this article illuminates historically conditioned relationships and long-term associations for urban resilience. In doing so, it empirically maps spatial associations and conceptually argues for reframing heritage not only as cultural memory but as a climate resource, illustrating how suppressed vernacular systems may inform adaptation strategies. This interdisciplinary approach provides a novel contribution to postcolonial city research, climate adaptation and heritage studies by proposing a historically conscious framework for resilience planning.

Whether economic growth is good or bad for the reduction of poverty and inequality and sustainable development outcomes in general, depends on the specific economic and societal contexts within which economic growth is taking place and the nature of that economic growth. Yet, discussions about the anticipated effects of economic growth on poverty and inequality are often brought to the public sphere without sufficient context.

The stubbornly high levels of poverty and inequality in Africa, and our current lacklustre performance in achieving the goals of both the SDG’s and the AA2063 despite three decades of strong growth performance in many African countries, illustrates the urgency of moving into more comprehensive understandings of the relation between economic growth and poverty and inequality. If we aim to propose better action plans of action to achieve the goals of the SDGs and the Africa Agenda 2063, we need to make explicit the different factors that modulate the relation between economic growth, poverty and inequality on the continent.

In this document, we illustrate some of the complexities associated with the relationship between economic growth, poverty, and inequality in Africa. We show that these relations are context-specific, and we highlight some of the contextual factors that condition these impacts. There are few stylised facts, and this article makes the case for the importance of understanding these complexities in each country context in order to design more effective policies and interventions to reduce poverty and inequality in that country and then across the continent.

Street vending is a prevalent form of informal employment in South Africa, with both positive and negative impacts on workers' well-being and safety. Negative effects include psychological, respiratory, and musculoskeletal disorders. This chapter addresses health and safety concerns faced by street vendors in the informal trading sector using a systematic and scientific approach. Street vendors face unique challenges, such as navigating busy streets and dealing with extreme weather conditions. With changing climate and environmental factors, it is crucial to assess and manage these risks effectively. By conducting thorough risk assessments, potential hazards can be identified and strategies can be developed to mitigate them. Informal street trading is essential for urban economic growth and poverty alleviation. However, many businesses conducted by street vendors do not comply with workplace health and safety requirements, leading to high hazards and risks. Therefore, occupational safety and personal health risks faced by street vendors are crucial and require regulation of health and safety standards in the street trading industry.

For the past few decades, the debate surrounding the ‘third mission’ of universities in South Africa has been dominated by the notion of univer- sity-community engagement. At the same time, the notion of regional development has come under the spotlight internationally. Drawing on existing literature on the relationship between universities, knowledge, the economy and community engagement, this paper scrutinises the OECD review of university-regional engagement in the Free State province in order to identify key lessons. Our contention is that, because the notion of regional engagement has become a central part of university manage- ment, assessment and even rankings, it should be viewed as an integral part of a university’s core activities of teaching and research, rather than as a separate third mission. Furthermore, findings reveal that a university’s engagement with its region also depends on regional assets and structures to support such processes.

For the past few decades, the debate surrounding the ‘third mission’ of universities in South Africa has been dominated by the notion of university-community engagement. At the same time, the notion of regional development has come under the spotlight internationally. Drawing on existing literature on the relationship between universities, knowledge, the economy and community engagement, this paper scrutinises the OECD review of university-regional engagement in the Free State province in order to identify key lessons. Our contention is that, because the notion of regional engagement has become a central part of university management, assessment and even rankings, it should be viewed as an integral part of a university’s core activities of teaching and research, rather than as a separate third mission. Furthermore, findings reveal that a university’s engagement with its region also depends on regional assets and structures to support such processes.

This paper explores the interface between global circulations and local articulations of smart city plans and technological ideals in emerging urban contexts. Drawing illustrative cases from Nairobi's urban margins, I examine everyday regimes of labour and governance where local actors translate, recreate and transform smart city initiatives based on embedded practices, processes and institutions. I argue that while smart city plans aim to impose techno-dreams on urban contexts, informal actors, often marginal to city planning, localise and adapt these plans, sometimes in unforeseen ways. This, I contend, highlights incompleteness as a key feature of urban technological systems in the making.

This dissertation investigates the climate-responsive design strategies employed in the vernacular architecture of coastal communities, with a specific focus on Makoko, Lagos, Nigeria. The study aims to focus and explore how the design principles can be integrated into modern architectural practices to enhance sustainability and resilience in coastal settlements. Recognizing the growing threat of climate change and the vulnerability of waterfront communities, this research emphasizes the necessity of revisiting the wisdom of indigenous architectural approaches in order to design resilient built environments that are responsive to their specific surroundings.

A comprehensive literature review served as a foundation for understanding the profound connection between vernacular architecture and its socio-cultural, environmental, and technological implications. The data was primarily acquired through case study analysis of buildings located on Makoko waterfront and also buildings on land which included analysing elevations and floor layouts. Findings of this study indicate that Makoko's traditional vernacular architecture integrates multiple adaptive strategies to respond effectively to its dynamic climatic conditions. These strategies encompass passive solar design elements such as settlement pattern building form and orientation, building form, material selection focusing on local availability characterised by stilts construction including floating platforms; thermal mass; and spatial layouts that emphasize social cohesion and collective functionality. The strong reliance on local resources fosters self-sufficiency within households and mitigates environmental impacts.

The critical analysis further revealed how indigenous knowledge systems have historically contributed to creating resilient and sustainable projects designed to function in harmony with the local context. The dissertation posits that modern architects and planners can draw valuable lessons from Makoko's vernacular architecture in developing contextually sensitive artificial environments that minimize resource consumption while maximizing human comfort and well-being.
In conclusion, the study provides a new perspective on sustainable design practices that can contribute to creating inclusive, resilient, and ecologically responsible built environments for future generations.

As climate change accelerates, its impacts reverberate through the socioeconomic fabric of the Arab world, amplifying entrenched inequalities and challenging the foundations of governance. This paper explores the intersection of climate change and environmental justice in Egypt, Tunisia, and Syria, highlighting how climate change exacerbates entrenched inequalities and challenges governance. It argues that while climate change is a global issue, its effects are particularly localized, disproportionately impacting marginalized communities, such as women, refugees, and rural populations, who contribute least to the problem. Key findings indicate that climate-induced phenomena like water scarcity, extreme heat, and food insecurity worsen existing socioeconomic disparities, leaving vulnerable groups excluded from decision-making processes. They show that governmental response often prioritizes elite interests, relying on business-as-usual approaches rather than equitable solutions. In contrast, grassroots movements and environmental activism are emerging to challenge the status quo, advocating for accountability and policies that promote resilience and social equity. These movements aim to reshape climate policies to better address the needs of marginalized communities, contributing to a sustainable and equitable response to the climate crisis. The paper invites an open dialogue on the nexus of climate change and equity and promote environmental justice as a catalyst for sustainable development.

'Speculative racial capital' characterises the risks of mobilising identity-based connections in Johannesburg, one of sub-Saharan Africa's most dynamic, diverse, and contested urban spaces. This piece reads urban sociality and uncertainty through a mix of surveys, focus groups, observation, and interviews conducted in three gateway neighbourhoods: Berea, Diepsloot, and Katlehong. It reveals how the city's multilingual migrants-domestic and international-tactically employ and suppress identity-based connections amidst the legacy of Apartheid-era racial politics and emergent nationalism. Amidst spatially fragmented, fluid, and potentially hostile social environments, residents recognise that racial capital is an unpredictable resource. Potentially offering short-term economic and psychological benefits, identity-based connections also attract attention and situate people within contested or detested categories. This generates risks leading to exclusion, hostility, or violence. The outcome is contingent on often indecipherable and informal authority structures, micro-level socio-political dynamics, and individuals' characteristics and skill. Spatiality and temporality further heighten risk: what produces potential benefits at one street or time can easily become an acute liability. As one of Africa's most demographically dynamic urban centres, the paper points to emerging socialities in cognate spaces across the continent with implications for theorising inclusion and exclusion in contexts of urban precarity and flux. It's in the city of gold… And in the city of gold, wherever there is money, don't forget there is blood. And there are lies.-Nhlanhla, Domestic migrant in Berea, Johannesburg

Post-colonial period in Africa is witnessing changes to colonial era's built forms thus impacting memories and landscape identity. Need for local modernization poses a threat to associated memories and resultant urban landscape identity. Economic and functional considerations are given more attention than importance of urban memories and identity in case of renewals. Few studies are existing in Global South's African context on effects of renewal changes on memories and identity. Changes to colonial Clock Tower as one of Kisumu City's sites of interest was part of renewal projects undertaken in Kisumu City, Kenya. This article first investigates how the Clock Tower contributed to Kisumu's identity and secondly perception on satisfaction level with the changes and lastly need for its preservation or not before the renewal. Mixedmethod approach was used through survey with 293 respondents, photo elicitation interviews (PEI) with twelve purposive participants and county government officials. Field investigation through mapping and photography was carried after archival review. Results revealed that majority felt that it was a landmark feature that is symbolic, contributes to Kisumu's identity and evokes urban memories. Majority were satisfied with outcome of the changes that signaled they did not support its preservation then. Findings imply that memory and identity was affected through the changes in form, colour and materials. The study recommends by-law to protect this landmark against changes and demolition through preservation. The findings are important to local authorities and policy makers with regard to preservation of landmarks that contribute to identity.

In 2021, a survey of two sites, known as Jumba la Mtwana and Mnarani in Kenya took place, which date between the 14th and 16th centuries CE. The sites represent some of the Swahili towns on the East African coast that were in the precolonial period taking part in trade along the coastline, to inland Africa and as far as the Middle East, India, and China. Today, the sites feature standing remains of various architectural features constructed of coral rag, a local type of limestone. This paper reports on a high-definition survey, which for the first time documented the entirety of the standing remains, spatial layout, and a configuration of these predominantly Islamic towns. The survey was conducted using a combination of 3D scanning technologies and photography, aimed at achieving two goals – documenting the state of preservation of the architectural remains and, perhaps more importantly, answering research questions in Swahili archaeology pertaining to the organisation of the urban ...