Latest News + Insights
The value and worth of urban life: Reflections on liveability, normativity and exclusion
What makes urban life worth living? This blog post ponders this question in relation to the “What makes urban life worth living? (Re)evaluating the value of urban life” workshop held in Lisbon, Portugal in May 2023.
The Covid-19 pandemic through the eyes of informal settlement residents and workers in Kampala
This blog post draws on Covid Collective research conducted between 2020 and 2023 to delve into multidimensional effects and dynamics towards resilient recovery and sustainability within the informal sector in Kampala.
ACRC at the 2023 DSA Conference
Members of ACRC are convening two panels at this year’s Development Studies Association Conference, focusing on experiences of decoloniality in action and investigating the politics underpinning crises in African cities.
Urban reform coalitions in Kampala: A conversation with Shuaib Lwasa
Shuaib Lwasa, ACRC’s capacity strengthening lead and professor of urban resilience and global development at the Erasmus University Rotterdam, talks to Ezana Haddis Weldeghebrael about building and sustaining reform coalitions, drawing on his experiences as founder of the Urban Action Lab.
Reflections from Dar es Salaam: ACRC’s second annual consortium-wide workshop
As ACRC’s foundation phase nears its end, around 120 consortium members gathered in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania at the end of May 2023 for our second annual workshop.
Urban reform coalitions in Freetown: A conversation with Joseph Macarthy
Joseph Macarthy, executive director of the Sierra Leone Urban Research Centre (SLURC), joins Ezana Haddis Weldeghebrael for a conversation around coalition building for inclusive urban reform, drawing on his experiences in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
Translating research into positive urban action for Accra
Accra serves as Ghana’s capital, economic hub and critical link to the global economy. The city is estimated to host almost 5.5 million people, equating to the highest population density in Ghana.
Fostering resilient and inclusive urban development in Freetown
The Freetown uptake workshop on 23 March 2023 examined how to integrate research evidence from ACRC Freetown city studies into processes and activities to achieve congruence between policy actions and urban transformation practices and programmes in the city.
Community knowledge: Pushing the frontiers of research in Harare
Democratising research processes has long been a contested subject. While co-production of knowledge presents vast opportunities for positive development outcomes, urban research processes often continue to exclude and marginalise vulnerable groups.
Building cities for all (not the privileged few)
Economists have long claimed there is overwhelming evidence that urbanisation unlocks the potential for economic growth and, from this, development. They point to the fact that no country to date has reached middle-income status without undergoing an urban transition.
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