Networks
ACC is driven by the belief that Africa’s urban challenges can only be addressed once there is sufficient endogenous intellectual capital steeped in urban research. We therefore see our success dependent on the growth of durable knowledge networks, focussed on urban issues, across the continent.
The African Food Security Network
The African Food Security Urban Network (AFSUN) was founded in 2008 to address the crisis of food insecurity in Africa’s rapidly-growing towns and cities. AFSUN aims to improve the knowledge base of the dimensions and causes of urban food insecurity in Africa and to develop and advocate for international, national and local policies to enhance food and nutrition security.
Cities, Terrorism & Urban Wars of the 21st Century
The majority of wars are fought in impoverished countries with often devastating and transformative impacts on their urban spaces. Nevertheless, the relationship between acts of terror and development is under-explored and little focus is placed on the impact on cities of the global South.
Fragile Stability: State and Society in Democratic South Africa
This article adopts a ‘state-in-society’ approach in order to take account of the impact of the transition to democracy in South Africa on social groups and their engagement with the state. The article suggests that democratic consolidation involves not only building a new state but also new interfaces between state and society.
Indigenous Institutions, Traditional Leaders, & Elite Coalitions For Development: The Case of Greater Durban South Africa
South Africa was not atypical in having to accommodate indigenous institutions in its new political order when the country made its transition from minority rule to a non-racial democracy in 1994. In many parts of the world, and especially post-colonial states, customary forms of governance remain salient, being deeply rooted in local institutions.
Decentralization, Women’s Rights and Poverty: Learning from India and South Africa
From the early 1980s decentralisation became integral to international development and by the mid-1990s 80 per cent of countries were engaged in some form of decentralisation (Crook and Manor 2000).
India’s Urban Transformation: From Challenge To Opportunity
Aromar Revi, Director of the Indian Institute for Human Settlements on Indian urbanisation and the opportunities it presents for the country.
Association of African Planning Schools (AAPS)
The Association of African Planning Schools (AAPS) is a network of over 50 urban and regional planning departments or schools in Africa. The network aims to facilitate the exchange of information between African planning schools, as well as to link African and international planning schools.
A Conversation with the World Bank Urban Unit’s Junaid Ahmad
Ntombini Marrengane, State of the Cities in Africa Project Coordinator at the ACC, talks to Junaid Ahmad during a recent meeting in Cape Town
Urban mobility: how will we move in the future city?
In this video, Susan Shaheen , Co-Director of the Institute of Transportation Studies’ Transportation Sustainability Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley talks about the future of urban mobility
African Urbanism
Africa is the fastest urbanising region in the world, and has become the focus of increasing attention from architects and planners, academics, development agencies and urban think-tanks.
Quick Guide 06 – Community Based Organizations: the poor as agents of development
The emergence of community organizations of the poor in Africa has been a very important de- velopment during the past two decades.
Violence Prevention Through Urban Upgrading
Matthew Krause of the groundbreaking Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading, a Khayelitsha based project that has been credited with contributing to crime prevention and community wellness.
Changing Climate of Risk Colloquium
Anton Cartwright, head of the Climate Change City Lab at the African Centre for Cities at UCT, speaking at the second “Melting Pot” colloquium at UCT in October 2012 titled “The Changing Climate of Risk: Four Perspectives on risk and climate change”.