"Universities have a choice: do they engage with these complexities and learn together with other urban residents – or stand back and risk defining their own irrelevance to the immediate communities around them?"
New blog post on the value of reform coalitions from our CEO Diana Mitlin 👇
💡 How are marginalised urban communities in Africa driving innovation?
In this brilliant article for @d-and-c.bsky.social, our community knowledge lead Teurai Anna Nyamangara explores how residents of Harare's informal settlements are quietly innovating everyday 👇
www.dandc.eu/en/article/w...
Discover the key findings and recommendations from the study in this summary blog post – or read the full research report linked at the end 👇
www.african-cities.org/left-in-the-...
Building on this, researchers have conducted an in-depth assessment into streetlighting in Lagos – to better understand the provision, quality and impact of streetlighting in the city and to uncover the challenges of streetlight supply in informal settlements.
NEW | Understanding the polemics around streetlighting in Lagos
Safe streets make for safe cities, but a lack of lighting can exacerbate the everyday insecurity of urban residents. ACRC’s safety and security research in Lagos found the absence of streetlighting to be a key concern among residents.
Find out more about Tom joining us in our blog post! 👇
www.african-cities.org/welcoming-pr...
As co-lead of ACRC’s land and connectivity domain, Tom has been involved in the programme since its early days and has also mentored a number of early career researchers within the consortium.
Read more about the land and connectivity research here 👇
www.african-cities.org/new-research...
🎉 We’re excited to welcome @goodfellowtom.bsky.social to @manchester.ac.uk as our incoming CEO!
Tom is also joining as Professor of Urban Development at the @globaldevinst.bsky.social and will take over ACRC’s CEO role from Diana Mitlin in August this year.
🏙️ Equity and digitisation in the property tax system in Lagos: A win-win for all?
Taxation is crucial for financing development. This new blog post explores how property tax reform in Lagos could benefit all urban residents 👇
www.african-cities.org/equity-and-d...
Discover the key findings from the action research project in this summary blog post – full research report linked at the end! 👇
www.african-cities.org/tackling-fre...
Following initial ACRC city research, the team in Freetown set out to understand how informal settlement communities are responding to the growing kush problem.
Their approach was to learn from community voices, exploring how local groups could work together to prevent and reduce drug use.
Kush is inexpensive and readily available, making it highly accessible to unemployed and marginalised youth.
Its use is associated with a range of harmful effects, including extreme sedation, organ damage and mental health complications.
NEW | Empowering youth through collaborative efforts: Addressing kush use and related challenges in Freetown
Kush is a type of synthetic drug that is widely used by young people in Sierra Leone, especially in the informal settlements of Freetown.
🎧 Listen via our website, or wherever you get your podcasts!
www.african-cities.org/podcast-unpa...
ACRC’s housing domain co-leads @alexfrediani.bsky.social and Ola Uduku join Diana Mitlin for a conversation around housing challenges, drawing on insights from the seven cities studied in their report:
Accra
Addis Ababa
Dar es Salaam
Freetown
Lagos
Lilongwe
Nairobi
Podcast | Unpacking housing challenges in African cities
The housing challenge in African cities is far from consistent. Differing historical, sociopolitical and economic contexts mean cities are seeing urbanisation play out along differing trajectories – impacting housing.
📰 Where to now for African cities?
A great feature in Nature Africa with Edgar Pieterse – and brilliant to see our work highlighted too!
@nature.com @acc-uct.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/d44...
Vous pouvez lire le rapport complet ici 👇
www.african-cities.org/publications...
Vous pouvez lire le résumé de l'article de blog ici 👇
www.african-cities.org/nouvelle-etu...
Un nouveau rapport de l’ACRC analyse la manière dont la politique et les systèmes urbains influencent les problèmes de développement urbain à Bukavu dans trois domaines principaux :
> La terre et la connectivité
> La sécurité et la sûreté
> La santé, le bien-être et la nutrition
La population de Bukavu, qui compte actuellement 1,3 million d’habitants, devrait doubler d’ici à 2030 et tripler d’ici à 2050.
Cette croissance rapide ne fait qu’exacerber les problèmes rencontrés par les habitants de la ville, en particulier ceux qui vivent dans des bidonvilles.
NOUVEAU | Bukavu : Rapport sur la ville
La ville de Bukavu en République démocratique du Congo (RDC) est confrontée à des problèmes importants et complexes en matière de développement, liés à la gouvernance, à la décentralisation, à l’urbanisation et à la gestion des ressources.
Read the summary blog post for an overview of the key findings 👇
www.african-cities.org/new-research...
A new ACRC report by @emerymudinga1.bsky.social, @nbaymar.bsky.social and Philippe Kaganda Mulumeoderhwa analyses how politics and urban systems shape urban development challenges in Bukavu, across three key domains:
📍 land and connectivity
🔒 safety and security
💚 health, wellbeing and nutrition
Currently home to around 1.3 million people, Bukavu’s population is expected to double by 2030 and triple by 2050.
This rapid growth is only set to exacerbate the issues encountered by city residents – especially those living in informal settlements.
NEW | Bukavu: City report
The city of Bukavu in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) faces significant and complex development challenges – related to governance, decentralisation, urbanisation and resource management.
Read more (full paper linked at the end of the summary blog post) 👇
www.african-cities.org/new-research...
A new ACRC working paper explores the challenges that informal settlement residents in Kampala face in accessing healthy food, the political and systemic issues underpinning these, and potential ways to improve health, wellbeing and nutrition in the city.