News from the African Cities Research Consortium

ACRC convened two well-attended panel sessions. First, Patience Adzande, Smith Ouma and Sam Hickey hosted a fascinating panel focused on investigating the politics of social (in)justice in African Cities. Their second session, convened by Daniela Beltrame and Diana Mitlin, looked at community knowledge in academic research: in pursuit of epistemic justice. Read a full round up of their panels at DSA2024.

A new report by ICAI says that : UK aid has supported urban development around the world, but needs to do more to help cities adapt to the most pressing climate change threats. The report highlight the importance of working with local priorities and people and cited the ACRC as “a positive example” of research driven by local researchers. “It is African-led by design, where local actors, including African researchers, civil society, local and national politicians, municipal employees and other actors key to reform are centrally involved in the design of the programme.” Read the full report.

Diana Mitlin’s article ‘The contribution of reform coalitions to inclusion and equity: lessons from urban social movements’, has been awarded the best paper of 2024 by Area Development and Policy. The Open Access paper highlights how urban reform coalitions – diverse groups of stakeholders who come together to push for improvements – can contribute to inclusive and equitable urban change in the global South. While reform coalitions themselves are not “silver bullets”, the paper finds that they have the potential to catalyse important change in the face of significant oppositional forces. Read more in the ACRC blog post .

Listen to ACRC’s podcast series to explore urban reform coalitions even further, with insights from Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, Uganda and beyond.