ACC Advisory Board Member
The nature and functioning of cities are at the epicentre of larger questions dominating the 21st Century about how we will fashion new economic and political systems that can effect a radically inclusive and sustainable society. Given that 95% of urban growth between now and 2050 will take place in Africa and Asia, the global South must take the lead in exploring and theorising emergent forms of urbanity. By necessity this knowledge practice must be rooted in concrete experiments to figure out how to imagine, enact and institutionalise novel forms of city-making.
The African Centre for Cities is one of the leading African knowledge centres working on this project in conjunction with critical friends across the world.
ACC is an interdisciplinary hub at the University of Cape Town with a mandate to conduct meaningful research on how to understand, recast and address pressing urban crises. Since most urban challenges—for example, food security, climate change adaptation, economic inclusion, cultural vitality and tolerance—are inherently interdisciplinary and spatially layered, ACC nurtures the co-production of knowledge between academia and other social sectors. Furthermore, research gets designed with multiple publics in mind and a concern with continuously enriching curriculum and postgraduate development.
ACC is engaged in collaborative research and developing imaginative policy discourses and practices to promote vibrant, just and sustainable cities.
This purpose has become all the more pertinent with the adoption of Agenda 2063 at a pan-African level, which chimes with the 2030 global agenda for sustainable development. Thus, a lot of the research and capacity development work seeks to foreground the urban dimensions of these new political horizons, embedded in an epistemic commitment to Southern solidarity and theory building.
The specific strategic goals of the ACC are to:
In mid 2007, UCT Signature Theme funding was awarded to the Cities in Africa Project, which was a collaborative venture between the Faculties of Engineering and the Built Environment (EBE), Science and Humanities. The initiative is located within the EBE Faculty.
The Signature Theme builds on an interdisciplinary network of academics across these three faculties, which emerged during 2005 and 2006, and which was supported in 2006 by EBE funding. This network in turn, had emerged as a result of an initiative by the Ove Arup Foundation, which had committed funds towards the establishment of an interdisciplinary masters programme in EBE (Urban Infrastructure Design and Management) in 2005, on the understanding that faculty staff would raise further funding for a related research initiative. In 2007, the proposed new director of the Theme was also granted an NRF Research Chair in Urban Policy, allowing the alignment of these two initiatives.
Professor Edgar Pieterse was appointed to lead the Theme and take up the Chair, and he took up office in August 2007. Since then, there has been a process to rename the initiative as the African Centre for Cities to denote the focus on urban research in the global South but from an African perspective.
The ACC is a response to the growing recognition world-wide of the importance of cities, and particularly cities in the developing world. In South Africa this is reflected in the increasingly urban emphasis in policy documents at both national and provincial level. The sense is one of impending crisis, with the realisation that rapid urbanisation also raises issues of adequate food supply, affordable shelter, employment opportunities, water and waste management, public transportation, crime and disease, and environmental degradation and climate change.
These challenges intertwine with critical social processes such as exclusion and conflict, which require effective socio-political management institutions and processes. Achieving well governed and sustainable cities is becoming increasingly important to the future health of the planet. And yet most policy ‘solutions’ continue to be generated by the large aid and development agencies of the global North, with a generally poor track-record of successful interventions in the very different context of Africa and the global South.
The central objective of the African Centre for Cities is to provide a base from which critique and alternatives in relation to urban issues can be launched. In Africa, South Africa and across UCT, urban-related research is highly fragmented. The aims of the Centre are therefore two-fold to partner closely with policy-making centres in the public sector in South Africa (national, provincial, local) and subsequently more widely to provide an alternative perspective on dealing with critical urban issues; secondly to provide an intellectual base and home for interdisciplinary, urban-related research at UCT, from which relations can be established with selected international funders and think-tanks.
The ACC is driven by the belief that Africa’s urban challenges can only be addressed once there is sufficient endogenous intellectual capital steeped in urban research. We therefore see our success dependent on the growth of durable knowledge networks, focussed on urban issues, across the continent.
ACC is custodians of the following two networks:
Professor Edgar Pieterse is the founding director of the African Centre for Cities (ACC) at the University of Cape Town. His research and teaching explore urban imaginaries, alternative futures, sustainable urban infrastructure, place-making, public cultures, responsive design and adaptive governance systems. He publishes different kinds of text, curates exhibitions, as well as difficult conversations about pressing urban problems. Since the founding of ACC, he has published two books, City Futures (Zed, 2008) and New Urban Worlds (Polity, 2017, with AbdouMaliq Simone), as well as nine co-edited books, dealing with a wide-ranging set of topics related to contemporary urbanism and place-making.
Being both critical and propositional is not a choice but a necessity.
Professor Pieterse’s scholarship is animated by a need to make sense of the ways in which climate change, multi-dimensional inequality, informality, governance and technology intersect in urban spaces, especially in Africa and cities of the global South. Of course, this sensemaking is somewhat futile due to the implied complexities, but also essential to figure out what a grounded, yet radical imagination of alternative urban futures might entail. More pointedly, he is curious what multiple solutions and pathways for advancing sustainable and vibrant cities might involve as acts of exploration and doing. Thus, his research is informed by emergent experiments with alternative forms of doing, organising, regulating and social narration. Conceptually, he locates his research, teaching, and curatorial work at the intersection of critical urban theory, open systems approaches, design-based methods, technological intermediation and aesthetics.
His practice is structured around three inter-dependent streams: research, teaching and curation.
Current research is focused on:
Teaching happens through:
Curatorial work is done in collaboration with Tau Tavengwa and they ply their trade through the Cityscapes platform. Their practice is finalising an exhibition on multiple pathways through urban complexity that will manifest as decentralised installations in early 2024. They are also working on the second season of the Podcast, The City Show and preparing a new body of work under the rubric: Museum for the City, to commence in 2024 as well.
Professor Pieterse’s practice is enriched through active engagement with various global think tanks and research centres that share a commitment to system transformation and fostering radical imaginations: Bauhaus der Erde (Berlin); Club of Rome; 10X100 Forum; The Science Circle of the Robert Bosch Stiftung (Stuttgart); Indian Institute for Human Settlements (Bangalore); Pathways to Sustainability – Utrecht University; United Nations Innovation Technology Accelerator for Cities (UNITAC-Hamburg); and the Ubuntu Board of United Cities and Local Government (Barcelona).
Working with the African Centre for Cities (ACC) at the University of Cape Town presents a unique and compelling opportunity to engage with some of the most pressing urban challenges of our time. The ACC is an interdisciplinary hub committed to conducting meaningful research aimed at understanding, recasting, and addressing urban crises such as food security, climate change adaptation, economic inclusion, cultural vitality, and tolerance. These challenges are inherently interdisciplinary and spatially complex, requiring innovative and collaborative approaches.
The ACC’s commitment to nurturing the co-production of knowledge between academia and other social sectors is particularly appealing. This approach ensures that research is not only academically rigorous but also practically relevant and impactful. By working with diverse stakeholders, the ACC fosters a rich exchange of ideas and perspectives, leading to more holistic and sustainable solutions to urban problems.
If you are interested in working with the African Centre for Cities there are several ways to get involved:
Any vacancies for research, professional, administrative and support staff at the African Centre for Cities will be posted on the African Centre for Cities website and on the University of Cape Town website as they become available. All appointments will adhere to the policies and procedures of the University of Cape Town.
Internships at the African Centre for Cities are opportunities for graduates who are looking to gain workplace experience and exposure to enhance their chances of future employment.
The internship opportunities are identified on an ad hoc basis depending on project needs and advertised here for application.
Internships at the African Centre for Cities are unpaid unless otherwise stated in the advertisement and are for a limited period. All expenses associated with taking up the internship position, such as transport or accommodation in Cape Town, are for the applicant’s own account.
While we consider international applications, students residing in South Africa are encouraged to apply.
The African Centre for Cities currently does not have a PhD programme (although we intend to start one in the future). Please direct requests for PhD study to a relevant academic department at the University of Cape Town, such as the School of Architecture, Planning and Geomatics, or the Department of Environmental and Geographical Science.
Research projects might also identify the need for research assistance from doctoral students on an ad hoc basis. If such opportunities become available, they will be advertised here.
Postdoctoral positions at the African Centre for Cities vary, depending on the project and funding available. All postdoctoral positions at the African Centre for Cities are advertised here.
African Centre for Cities occasionally hosts visiting academics for limited periods of time. Visiting scholars may be established academics, postdoctoral research fellows or doctoral students.
Besides gaining access to the UCT libraries, the visits provides the opportunity to connect and interact with ACC’s research staff and on-going projects.
During their stay visiting scholars are expected to contribute to the research culture by giving a public brown bag lecture or academic seminar on their work. Unfortunately, our resources are finite, so we are unable to accept all the requests we receive and can only consider people whose research interests are well matched with our own. It should be noted that we cannot guarantee access to office space.
If your research interests connect closely with those of a staff member or project and you would like to spend some time here, please complete the following form.
ACC prioritises applications from scholars based in Africa. Request are reviewed on an on-going basis and we will respond to you as soon as we can.
ACC is driven by the belief that Africa’s urban challenges can only be addressed once there is sufficient endogenous intellectual capital steeped in urban research. We therefore see our success dependent on the growth of durable knowledge networks, focussed on urban issues, across the continent.
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