Overview

Protracted economic crises, accelerating inequalities, and increased resource scarcity present significant challenges for the majority of Africa's urban population. Limited state capacity and widespread infrastructure deficiencies common in cities across the continent often require residents to draw on their own resources, knowledge, and expertise to resolve these life and livelihood dilemmas. DIY Urbanism in Africa investigates these practices. It develops a theoretical framework through which to analyze them, and it presents a series of case studies to demonstrate how residents invent new DIY tactics and strategies in response to security, place-making, or economic problems. This book offers a timely critical intervention into literatures on urban development and politics in Africa. It is valuable to students, policymakers, and urban practitioners keen to understand the mechanisms and political implications of widespread dynamics now shaping Africa's expanding urban environments.

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9781786999016

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This lively and important new collection pushes the study of the politics of urban development in African cities in to new terrain. A must-read for students of the African city. * Claire Mercer, London School of Economics, UK *

Author Information

Stephen Marr is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Global Political Studies at Malmö University, Sweden. Patience Mususa is Senior Researcher at the Nordic Africa Institute, Sweden. She has previously lectured at the University of Cape Town’s department of Social Anthropology (South Africa), and at the Copperbelt University’s School of Architecture (Zambia).

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