Climate change, gender and municipal finance are significant themes that cut across research at city and domain level. These themes raise key issues for ACRC research and feed into the questions asked by our research into political settlements, city systems and domains.
Drawing on domain and city synthesis research outputs, theme leads have produced synthesis reports to contribute to new knowledge on each crosscutting theme and its implications for urban reform efforts. This will inform implementation planning for relevant cities.
Climate change
Despite its negligible contribution to the problem, low levels of socioeconomic development make Africa highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. African cities are already experiencing the effects of changing climatic systems and associated impacts on various elements of urban life – spanning urban ecologies, infrastructure, households, businesses and resource flows.
This research focuses on climate-change-related findings across ACRC’s eight domains, highlighting the importance of participatory approaches and inclusive planning to address the impacts of climate change on a range of complex urban challenges.
Gender
Across African cities, young people experience specific barriers to accessing livelihoods. This not only constrains their agency and ability to fulfil their aspirations but also creates environments in which they both perpetrate and experience violence. The form this violence takes largely varies by gender, along with other aspects of identity, including class, sexuality, ethnicity and migration/citizenship status.
This research draws together existing but disparate analyses to synthesise existing knowledge on the gender, youth and (in)security nexus in African cities and to propose future directions for research. The authors argue for the need to develop deeper and more nuanced accounts of the complex, gendered processes through which (in)security is made, experienced and resisted.
Municipal finance
Infrastructure and services are key to driving productivity in African cities and making them liveable, sustainable spaces. They are also essential for attracting investment, enhancing employment opportunities and driving structural transformation. But providing urban infrastructure and services requires significant financing and funding, which are not always easy for African cities to secure.
This research synthesises the insights and learnings on municipal finance from ACRC studies across ten cities (Accra, Dar es Salaam, Freetown, Harare, Kampala, Lagos, Lilongwe, Maiduguri, Mogadishu and Nairobi) and seven domains (land and connectivity; informal settlements; youth and capability development; safety and security; housing; structural transformation; and health, wellbeing and nutrition).