urbanisation - The African Mirror

Aug

2022

Constant fear of eviction: how poor people experience life in Somaliland’s growing cities

MANY cities in Somaliland are growing rapidly. Climate change-induced displacement, insecurity, and population growth accelerate urbanisation. Yet, many urban residents live in dire poverty, lack adequate shelter, and have only limited access to basic infrastructures and services. Two recent research projects focused on experiences of urbanisation from the perspective of people living at the urban margins. One explored displacement and security while the other looked at infrastructure access. We found that both security and infrastructure access are deeply entangled in property relations. Property constitutes boundaries and shapes processes of inclusion and exclusion. It also influences urban experiences and differentiates city…

Jun

2022

By The African Mirror

Africa’s smaller cities are usually overlooked: they shouldn’t be

AFRICITIES

OFTEN when one thinks or writes about urbanisation in Africa, mega-cities or primary cities like Lagos, Nairobi, Addis Ababa or Kampala, come to mind. Little, however, is written about places like Gabés in Tunisia, Touba-Mbacké in Senegal, or Ibadan in Nigeria. Yet these are just three of an estimated 885 secondary, or intermediary, cities in Africa that already account for over 40% of the continent’s urban population. Their share is very likely to grow over time. Author ASTRID R.N. HAAS, Fellow, Infrastructure Institute, School of Cities, University of Toronto These cities have a critical role to play in Africa’s overall…

Nov

2020

By The African Mirror

Climate change, migration and urbanisation: patterns in sub-Saharan Africa

ENVIRONMENT

ROMAN HOFFMAN, Postdoctoral researcher, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research THE link between climate change and migration has gained both academic and public interest in recent years. Many studies have found that environmental hazards affect migration. But the links are nuanced and depend on the economic and sociopolitical conditions in the respective regions of origin. So what causes people to move and where do they go? And what is the relationship between these decisions and changes in climatic conditions? To answer these questions we conducted a meta-analysis to systematically analyse previous findings in the literature on environmental migration. We combined…