"Beyond patrolling, beyond the police, beyond anti-terror police activities which come from a global war on terror, what are people doing every day and what have they been doing every day to keep themselves safe?"
 
In this episode, Wangui Kimari talks to Patience Adzande about the unfolding safety and security domain research in Nairobi, how she hopes it will contribute to decolonising ideas and practices for security in the city, and the importance of cross-domain coordination for achieving urban transformation.

Wangui Kimari is a  junior research fellow at the Institute for Humanities in Africa (HUMA) at the University of Cape Town, participatory action research coordinator for the Mathare Social Justice Centre (MSJC) and co-lead for ACRC's safety and security domain research in Nairobi.

Patience Adzande is a postdoctoral research fellow at the African Cities Research Consortium, working in the safety and security domain.

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Music: Brighter Days | Broke in Summer

Sounds: Zapsplat

This podcast presents the views of the speakers featured and does not necessarily represent the views of the African Cities Research Consortium as a whole.

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"It's not our data as SDI, it's not ACRC data, it's not their data. It's the community's data. So you have to have that understanding that, at the end of the day, it has to benefit the community."

In this episode, Miriam Maina talks to Charity Mumbi and Jane Wairutu from SDI-Kenya about community-led mapping and data collection, participatory planning processes, and the role of research in inclusive urban transformation.

Charity Mumbi is an urban and regional planner and a projects officer at SDI-Kenya, supporting community-led planning, research and data management activities.

Jane Wairutu is a sociologist and programme manager at SDI-Kenya, working closely with data and project implementation teams.

Miriam Maina is from Nairobi and is a postdoctoral research fellow at the African Cities Research Consortium.

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Music: Brighter Days | Broke in Summer

Sounds: Zapsplat

This podcast presents the views of the speakers featured and does not necessarily represent the views of the African Cities Research Consortium as a whole.

Stay up to date with the latest publications, announcements and insights from the African Cities Research Consortium:

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"Lagos is a city of migrants… migrants are shaping the city in ways that are evolving per day. We are where we are now as a city through the action of migrants. And, more recently, we find that the actions of migrants are changing the spatial configurations of the city, determining some of the political narratives and political ideologies as well as political practices around the city; that the actions of migrants are also determining, to a large extent, the kinds of ways wealth is being distributed across the city."

In this episode, researchers from ACRC’s Lagos team discuss how migration into the city is shaping debates around place, identity and citizenship, how it impacts on urban governance, and how the political obstacles holding back sustainable reform can be overcome.

Ismail Ibraheem is director of International Relations, Partnership and Prospects (IRPP) at the University of Lagos and uptake lead for ACRC in Lagos.

Taibat Lawanson is professor of urban management and governance at the University of Lagos and city lead for ACRC in Lagos.

Sa'eed Husaini is a research fellow at the University of Ghana, Legon and the Centre for Democracy and Development in Abuja, Nigeria, and is the political settlements lead for ACRC in Lagos.

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Music: Brighter Days | Broke in Summer

Sounds: Zapsplat

This podcast presents the views of the speakers featured and does not necessarily represent the views of the African Cities Research Consortium as a whole.

Stay up to date with the latest publications, announcements and insights from the African Cities Research Consortium:

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What opportunities does urbanisation present for people living in African cities? How much does it really contribute to the economy? And what wider advantages can it have for rural dwellers?

In our latest podcast episode, Philipp Heinrigs – head of unit at the OECD – talks to Stephen Gelb about the recent Africa’s Urbanisation Dynamics 2022 report, delving deeper into the key findings and what the analysis reveals about socioeconomic development opportunities in Africa’s fast-growing cities.

Philipp Heinrigs is head of the OECD’s Sahel and West Africa Club secretariat at the OECD and co-author of Africa’s Urbanisation Dynamics 2022.

Stephen Gelb is a principal research fellow and team leader of the international economic development group at ODI and leads ACRC’s neighbourhood and district economic development domain research.

Africa’s Urbanisation Dynamics 2022 is available to download via the African Development Bank, UNECA and OECD.

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Music: Brighter Days | Broke in Summer

Sounds: Zapsplat

This podcast presents the views of the speakers featured and does not necessarily represent the views of the African Cities Research Consortium as a whole.

Stay up to date with the latest publications, announcements and insights from the African Cities Research Consortium:

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"A project comes, a project leaves. The community will always remain. But now, what do you leave in that community?"

In this episode, Miriam Maina talks to Eva Muchiri and Nicera Wanjiru from Muungano wa Wanavijiji – the Kenyan federation of slum dwellers – about data collection and mapping, the importance of communities in driving research agendas and outcomes, and the legacy that programmes like ACRC leave behind in communities.

Eva Muchiri is from the informal settlement of Mathare in Nairobi and is a youth federation member and woman leader.

Nicera Wanjiru is a woman leader and community data collector and mapper from Nairobi's Kibra informal settlement.

Miriam Maina is from Nairobi and is a postdoctoral research fellow at the African Cities Research Consortium.

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Music: Brighter Days | Broke in Summer

Sounds: Zapsplat

This podcast presents the views of the speakers featured and does not necessarily represent the views of the African Cities Research Consortium as a whole.

Stay up to date with the latest publications, announcements and insights from the African Cities Research Consortium:

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What is ACRC’s research in Freetown all about? How does housing connect with land, youth employment and the rising costs of imported materials? How do political systems both help and hinder meaningful change? What attention is paid to informal settlements? Does the government’s agenda intersect with residents’ needs, and where are the gaps? And how can these gaps be explored and understood, to drive forward urban reform processes?

These are some of the key questions explored as part of a recent radio segment on Radio Democracy 98.1 FM’s Freetown Urban Talk, which brought together key ACRC researchers from the housing and informal settlements domains for a conversation about ongoing work in the city.

Francis Reffell is the founder of the Centre of Dialogue on Human Settlement and Poverty Alleviation (CODOHSAPA), a non-profit organisation providing technical support to its community counterpart and SDI affiliate, the Federation of Urban and Rural Poor (FEDURP). He leads ACRC’s research on informal settlements in Freetown alongside Braima Koroma.

Joseph Macarthy is executive director of the Sierra Leone Urban Research Centre (SLURC) and leads ACRC’s work on housing in Freetown alongside Zuzana Hrdlickova.

Alexandre Apsan Frediani is a principal researcher in the human settlements group at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and leads ACRC’s housing domain alongside Ola Uduku.

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Music: Brighter Days | Broke in Summer

Sounds: Zapsplat

This podcast presents the views of the speakers featured and does not necessarily represent the views of the African Cities Research Consortium as a whole.

Stay up to date with the latest publications, announcements and insights from the African Cities Research Consortium:

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In this episode, Amani Abou-Zeid – African Union Commissioner in charge of infrastructure, energy and ICT – talks to ACRC's city of systems lead Seth Schindler about energy security and infrastructural development in Africa.

They reflect on Africa's energy "evolution" in relation to climate change, why integration is key to bridging the continent's infrastructure gap, the impact of rising interest rates on foreign and local investment, and the regional innovation and cooperation that has emerged in response to multiple crises, including Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine.

Amani Abou-Zeid is the twice-elected African Union Commissioner in charge of infrastructure, energy and ICT, and is also chair of ACRC's consortium advisory group. She holds a PhD in social and economic development from the Global Development Institute at The University of Manchester.

Seth Schindler is senior lecturer in urban development and transformation at The University of Manchester's Global Development Institute and co-research director of ACRC.

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Music: Brighter Days | Broke in Summer

Sounds: Zapsplat

This podcast presents the views of the speakers featured and does not necessarily represent the views of the African Cities Research Consortium as a whole.

Stay up to date with the latest publications, announcements and insights from the African Cities Research Consortium:

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Since the start of the African Cities Research Consortium (ACRC), we’ve been interested in trying to create more equitable partnerships and processes through the process. The rupture of the Covid-19 pandemic provided us with some opportunities, plus added impetus following reflections within the sector catalysed by the Black Lives Matter movement.

From the outset, we’ve been exploring ways in which we could decolonise the ACRC approach by helping to shift the culture and practice of knowledge creation, which is currently built upon hugely unequal power systems. Of course, we are not starting from scratch but building on traditions of knowledge co-production between diverse groups involved in urban research. As such, we’re focusing on three main areas: structural issues, communication practices and methodological practices.

To explore some of these issues, ACRC's uptake director Martin Atela and strategic alignment group member Professor Ola Uduku sat down with our communications manager Chris Jordan, to give their perspectives on decolonisation.

Ola Uduku is head of school at the Liverpool School of Architecture, a member of ACRC's strategic alignment group and co-lead of the housing domain.

Martin Atela is research and policy programme manager at the Partnership for African Social and Governance Research (PASGR) and ACRC's uptake director.

Chris Jordan is communications and impact manager for the Global Development Institute at The University of Manchester, and ACRC's communications manager.

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Music: Brighter Days | Broke in Summer

Sounds: Zapsplat

This podcast presents the views of the speakers featured and does not necessarily represent the views of the African Cities Research Consortium as a whole.

Stay up to date with the latest publications, announcements and insights from the African Cities Research Consortium:

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Despite gender equality policies at the national level in many African countries, there are persistent gender-based disparities, inequalities and exclusions faced by many women, particularly among low-income urban residents. And while urbanisation may offer greater opportunities for women – for example, in employment, access to services and changes in social and household dynamics – this is not always the case.

Along with climate change and finance, gender is one of the key crosscutting themes being explored throughout ACRC's research into the political economy of urban development in Africa.

In this episode, Rachel Tolhurst – social scientist at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and research director of the ARISE Hub – talks to Elizabeth Dessie about her background in gender, development and health, the politics of gender and equity, and why understanding how gender intersects with other key urban development domains and city systems is central to ACRC's research.

Rachel Tolhurst is co-lead for both ACRC's gender theme and health, wellbeing and nutrition domain.

Elizabeth Dessie is a postdoctoral fellow at ACRC and part of our youth and capability development domain team.

Read more about gender as a crosscutting theme on our blog.

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Music: Brighter Days | Broke in Summer

Sounds: Zapsplat

This podcast presents the views of the speakers featured and does not necessarily represent the views of the African Cities Research Consortium as a whole.

Stay up to date with the latest publications, announcements and insights from the African Cities Research Consortium:

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Collaborations between academia and grassroots organisations are not without tensions and power imbalances. For low-income urban communities, engaging with academics may mean enduring disqualification of their knowledge.

Systematic reflection and assessment are key to preventing or reverting this. ACRC’s research approach integrates these notions to build strong, horizontal collaborations with a diverse range of research partners including Slum Dwellers International (SDI).

In this episode, George Masimba and Teurai Nyamangara from Dialogue on Shelter – support NGO to the SDI-affiliated Zimbabwe Homeless People’s Federation – speak to Daniela Beltrame and Smith Ouma about their approach to working with academic institutions, knowledge generation strategies and collaboration processes within ACRC, and their ongoing work in Harare's informal settlements.

George Masimba is head of programmes at Dialogue on Shelter and is leading ACRC's city of systems, uptake and informal settlements domain work for Harare.

Teurai Nyamangara is a project officer at Dialogue on Shelter and works alongside George in coordinating informal settlements domain research in Harare.

Daniela Beltrame is a political scientist and urban planner, working on ACRC's informal settlements domain.

Smith Ouma is a postdoctoral fellow at ACRC, conducting research into informal settlements as part of our domain team.

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Music: Brighter Days | Broke in Summer

Sounds: Zapsplat

This podcast presents the views of the speakers featured and does not necessarily represent the views of the African Cities Research Consortium as a whole.

Stay up to date with the latest publications, announcements and insights from the African Cities Research Consortium:

> Website
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