It is pertinent to move away from the tropes of segregation, fragmentation and bifurcation in thinking about the African urban condition. However, it would be an error to simply trade the dominant ideas on polarisation for an account that only foregrounds interconnections and fluid intermingling.
In the wake of Mumbai terror attacks one is forced to reflect on the nature and representation of urban violence across the global South. It is clear that only certain kinds of violence and upheaval warrant attention in the public domain as reflected in the world’s globalized media.
Urbanization in Africa is real. Most political and policy leaders remain in denial about its centrality and urgency. Urbanization in Africa represents the most complex and intractable policy questions and as long as Africans do not take responsibility to shift the contemporary situation of policy failure, we are in for a crisis.
Cities generally function as sources of economic development and human progress. One of the puzzles about Africa’s urbanization is that it has not been accompanied by greater economic dynamism.
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Despite the advances in modern retailing, millions of people throughout the world still make their living partly or wholly through selling goods on the streets.
Optimism about the role of household food production (urban agriculture) in improving the food security of the urban poor has given way to pessimism and even scepticism. This paper critically examines the views of advocates of urban agriculture and suggests that it cannot be isolated from a broader consideration of the changing nature of urban food supply systems in Southern African cities.
The number of people living in urban areas is rising rapidly in Southern Africa. By mid-century, the region is expected to be 60% urban. Rapid urbanization is leading to growing food insecurity in the region’s towns and cities.
Over 1 billion people in the world are now undernourished. The current international food security agenda focuses almost exclusively on the food insecurity of rural populations and ways to increase smallholder production.
Considerable attention has been devoted to the impact of the HIV and AIDS epidemic on small farmers and the food security of the rural poor.
In my reflections on space, affect and security I seek to capture the aesthetic and affective dimensions of everyday city-making in a South African metropolis.
Kelly Gillespie briefly speaks about her current work and research interests.
