BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//African Centre for Cities - ECPv6.16.3//NONSGML v1.0//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH X-WR-CALNAME:African Centre for Cities X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://www.africancentreforcities.net X-WR-CALDESC:Events for African Centre for Cities REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H X-Robots-Tag:noindex X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Africa/Johannesburg BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0200 TZOFFSETTO:+0200 TZNAME:SAST DTSTART:20150101T000000 END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20170308T180000 DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20170308T200000 DTSTAMP:20260604T094211 CREATED:20170301T123651Z LAST-MODIFIED:20170301T124208Z UID:10001920-1488996000-1489003200@www.africancentreforcities.net SUMMARY:'The Return of the Political: Insurgent Architects and The City' an ACC talk by Professor Erik Swyngedouw DESCRIPTION:Professor Erik Swyngedouw will give an ACC Special Lecture at the Cape Institute for Architecture (CIFA) on the 8 March 2017. Departing from the aftermaths of the magical year of 2011’s urban insurrections across many different cities\, he will aim to understand our present historical moment under capitalism through re-configuring how we think about urban struggles\, politics and the political. This will be followed by a discussion moderated by Dr. Henrik Ernstson centering on what it means to politicize and radically democratize the city\, making connections to ongoing urban struggles in Cape Town and South Africa.\nThe event is co-hosted by the African Centre for Cities (ACC) and the Cape Institute for Architecture (CIFA). We welcome you at 18:00 for drinks and snacks with the talk starting at 18:30 sharp\, followed by a discussion. Please join us at CIFA in Cape Town CBD\, 71 Hout Street\, 18:00-20:00. Free entry with drinks and snacks.\nRSVP by 3 March to Dr. Nate Millington at ACC (nate.millington@uct.ac.za)\nFeatured Image: Cut-out from artwork “Ayotzinapa” by Mexican artist Carlos Carmonamedina\, 2017\n\nAbstract\nThis talk aims to understand our present historical moment through re-configuring how we think about urban struggles and politics. How can we stop what we are doing\, reflect\, and maybe move towards becoming insurgent architects of a new politicized and democratized city?\nI will depart from the magical year of 2011\, from which we have seen a seemingly unending row of rebellions in European cities and beyond. These rebellions have disturbed a cozy neoliberal status quo\, and unnerved economic and political elites in cities as different as Athens\, Madrid\, Lyon\, Lisbon\, Rome\, London\, Berlin\, Thessaloniki\, Paris\, Bucharest\, and Barcelona. This ability to deeply challenge the elite’s political legitimacy within our (neo)liberal states\, was not made by professionals—but by people\, by amateurs that had had enough. Those who was not counted\, went ahead to organize and demand a new process for producing space\, producing the city\, becoming insurgent architects\, which at times also formed political movements\, most notably Syriza in Greece and PODEMOS in Spain. It is the aftermath of these urban insurrections that provides the starting point for my presentation. From a political perspective\, the central question that have opened up is: what to do and what to think next? What thought and practice is possible after the squares are cleared\, the tents broken up\, the energies dissipated\, and everyday urban life resumes its routine practices?\nThe talk will use political theory from Rancière\, Žižek\, Mouffe\, Dikeç\, Badiou and others\, to re-centre the political in contemporary debates on the urban. This means to first distinguish “politics” from “the political” in order to understand how late capitalism and its obsession with governing and management have depoliticized the city. This has replaced debate and dissensus with technologies of governing\, which also includes the enrollment of NGOs and many so called social movements. It seeks to nurture consensus and uphold a depoliticizing police order. However\, while the city as polis may be dead\, spaces of political engagement occur within the cracks\, in-between the meshes and the strange inter-locations that shape places that contest the police order. It is here that concrete political interventions germinate new and fully politicized realities and imaginaries.\nMy talk is meant to provoke us to see how we might—even if we call ourselves activists or critical intellectuals—still participate in nurturing a depoliticized police order. By recuperating the political\, I hope to open a discussion that can connect across geographical locations\, say between Europe and South Africa\, to understand our present historical moment and provoke our thinking away from what we are busy doing now (within the police order)\, toward a space of politicization and the becoming of insurgent architects.\nAbout the participants:\nProfessor Erik Swyngedouw is Professor of Geography at Manchester University and a prolific writer and speaker on political ecology\, urban governance\, political theory and radical thought. He was previously professor of geography at Oxford University and held the Vincent Wright Visiting Professorship at Science Po\, Paris\, 2014. He has recently published Liquid Power (MIT Press\, 2015) on water and social power in 20th century Spain and co-edited with Jason Wilson the book The Post-Political and its Discontents (Edinburgh University Press\, 2014). He is currently preparing a book manuscript politicization and “the political” through urban and environmental processes. With Dr. Henrik Ernstson he is preparing the edited volume Urban Political Ecology in the Anthropo-Obscene: Interruptions and Possibilities (for Routledge).\nThe Cape Institute for Architecture (CIFA) was formed in 1899\, and is the largest regional architecture body in South Africa\, with the potential to influence development in the city of Cape Town and the wider region. The Institute’s core objectives are to promote the practice of architecture\, to serve the interests of its members\, and to support the integrity of the profession.\nDr. Henrik Ernstson is an urban political ecologist that combines critical geography with postcolonial urbanism with studies in South Africa\, Uganda and Louisiana (USA). He is a Research Fellow at the African Centre for Cities at University of Cape Town and the KTH Environmental Humanities Laboratory in Stockholm\, with a Postdoc at Stanford University (2013-2015) and a PhD from Stockholm University. Apart from his writing he is currently finalizing the documentary research film One Table Two Elephants (with Jacob von Heland) that focuses on how race\, nature and history is interconnected in Cape Town\, and in 2016 he helped produce the theatre production STOMPIE in Grassy Park/Lavender Hill. He is also finalizing two edited book projects: Grounding Urban Natures: Histories and Futures of Urban Ecologies (for MIT Press\, with Prof. Sverker Sörlin) and Urban Political Ecology in the Anthropo-Obscene: Interruptions and Possibilities (for Routledge\, with Prof. Erik Swyngedouw). At UCT he gives the PhD winter school in June every year on Democratic Practices of Unequal Geographies (with Dr. Andrés Henao Castro). More information here. URL:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/event/return-political-insurgent-architects-city-acc-talk-professor-erik-swyngedouw/ LOCATION:The Cape Institute of Architecture (CIFA) building\, 71 Hout Street\, Cape Town \, South Africa ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/carlos-e1488372031201.png GEO:-33.92096;18.4192 X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=The Cape Institute of Architecture (CIFA) building 71 Hout Street Cape Town South Africa;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=71 Hout Street:geo:18.4192,-33.92096 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20170228T130000 DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20170228T140000 DTSTAMP:20260604T094211 CREATED:20170224T144554Z LAST-MODIFIED:20170224T144554Z UID:10001918-1488286800-1488290400@www.africancentreforcities.net SUMMARY:Africa's Cities: Opening Doors to the World DESCRIPTION:SPEAKER: Somik Lall\nDATE: 28 February 2017\nTIME: 13:00 – 14:00\nVENUE: Seminar Room (4th floor School of Economics)\nThe African Centre for Cities is pleased to be co-hosting this seminar with The School of Economics and the Cape Town Branch of the Economic Society of South Africa. Somik Lall\, a lead economist from the World Bank\, will be presenting on the new World Bank publication entitled\, ‘Africa’s Cities: Opening Doors to the World.\nSomik Lall is a Lead Economist for Urban Development in the World Bank’s Urban and Disaster Risk Management Department. His research and policy interests span urban and spatial economics\, infrastructure development\, and public finance\, with more than 40 publications featured in peer-reviewed journals\, edited volumes\, and working papers.\nCities in Sub-Saharan Africa are experiencing rapid population growth. Yet their economic growth has not kept pace. Why? Somik will present his thoughts on how urban policy plays a central role in making Africa’s cities economically competitive.\nLinks to the report and related materials:\n•     Report page: www.worldbank.org/africascities\n•     Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtT2RA4sDMA URL:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/event/africas-cities-opening-doors-world/ LOCATION:School of Economics Seminar Room\, 4th Floor School of Economics CATEGORIES:Lectures ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/9781464810442.pdf.jpg GEO:38.0347539;-78.5061647 X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=School of Economics Seminar Room 4th Floor School of Economics;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=4th Floor School of Economics:geo:-78.5061647,38.0347539 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20170217T140000 DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20170217T153000 DTSTAMP:20260604T094211 CREATED:20170211T123700Z LAST-MODIFIED:20170211T123755Z UID:10001916-1487340000-1487345400@www.africancentreforcities.net SUMMARY:Invitation to the 3nd Seminar in the Spatial Transformation CityLab Series DESCRIPTION:The Role of Affordable Housing in advancing Socio-spatial Transformation in Cape Town\nCape Town’s spatial organisation is characterised by fragmentation; expressed in a separation of residential and employment spaces and low density urban sprawl. This imposes a considerable cost on the State\, the environment and increases the socio-economic burden and exclusion of a great majority of the city’s residents. The provision of affordable housing in well-located areas is critical in fostering integration and improving the social and economic conditions of poor households in Cape Town.\nThe next seminar in the ACC’s Socio-Spatial Transformation Series will seek to unpack what “Affordable Housing” means in Cape Town; given the diversity of housing need in the city and will provide an overview of some of the available housing instruments. It will also consider how these speak to the imperatives of socio-spatial transformation and sustainability.\n \nSpeaker:\nMs. Kahmiela August\, Director of Affordable Housing – Western Cape Provincial Department of Human  Settlements\nMs August is responsible for the management of the Affordable Housing Directorate\, which incorporates Gap and the Rental Housing provision for persons earning between R1 500 – R3 500. The directorate is also responsible for Social Housing Programme.\nFunctions include;\n\nproject packaging\, pipelining and approval\,\nIntegrated settlement planning\, policy review and implementation.\n\n \nThe team is also overseeing the development of the departmental partnership strategy.\nPlease RSVP to Mercy Brown-Luthango on mercy.brown-luthango@uct.ac.za URL:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/event/invitation-3nd-seminar-spatial-transformation-citylab-series/ LOCATION:Studio 3\, ENGEO Building\, Upper Campus. University of Cape Town\,\, Cape Town\, Western Cape\, 8001\, South Africa ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Untitled.png GEO:-33.930062;18.4138813 X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Studio 3 ENGEO Building Upper Campus. University of Cape Town Cape Town Western Cape 8001 South Africa;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=ENGEO Building\, Upper Campus. University of Cape Town\,:geo:18.4138813,-33.930062 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20170208T150000 DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20170208T163000 DTSTAMP:20260604T094211 CREATED:20170127T122857Z LAST-MODIFIED:20170131T101906Z UID:10001915-1486566000-1486571400@www.africancentreforcities.net SUMMARY:Theorizing Urbanization: the Universal and the Particular in Question DESCRIPTION:The African Centre for Cities is pleased to announce it’s first Special Lecture for 2017. We will be hosting Prof Kevin Cox\, who will be presenting a lecture on ‘Theorizing Urbanization: The Universal and the Particular in Question’.\nAbstract\nOver the last twenty-five years or so urban studies has witnessed increasing skepticism towards universalizing claims and a greater interest in the particularizing. Recent arguments for a view from the global South exemplify this. This raises the question of what the relationship between universalizing and particularizing tendencies might be. This is explored firstly through an exploration of how the two might be reconciled. Two case studies then follow. One focuses on the ‘view from the South’ controversy; and the other on the politics of urban development in the US and in Western Europe and a subsequent trans-Atlantic divide.\nBio\nKEVIN R. COX\, is Emeritus Distinguished University Professor of Geography at the Ohio State University. His major research interests include the politics of urban and regional development\, geographic thought and South Africa. He is the author of numerous books\, the most recent of which are The Politics of Urban and Regional Development and the American Exception (2016) and Making Human Geography (2014.) He has been a Guggenheim Fellow and the recipient of two awards from the Association of American Geographers\, including one for distinguished scholarship. More information can be found on his website\, Unfashionable Geographies\, at https://kevinrcox.wordpress.com/.\n  URL:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/event/theorizing-urbanization-beyond-binaries/ LOCATION:Studio 3\, ENGEO Building\, Upper Campus. University of Cape Town\,\, Cape Town\, Western Cape\, 8001\, South Africa CATEGORIES:Lectures,Seminar Series ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/image.png GEO:-33.930062;18.4138813 X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Studio 3 ENGEO Building Upper Campus. University of Cape Town Cape Town Western Cape 8001 South Africa;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=ENGEO Building\, Upper Campus. University of Cape Town\,:geo:18.4138813,-33.930062 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20161214T173000 DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20161214T193000 DTSTAMP:20260604T094211 CREATED:20161207T080046Z LAST-MODIFIED:20161209T072844Z UID:10001914-1481736600-1481743800@www.africancentreforcities.net SUMMARY:São Paulo's Peripheries: Transformations in Modes of Collective Life DESCRIPTION:Image credit: Choque Fotos\n \nSPEAKER: Prof Teresa Caldeira\nDATE: 14 December 2016\nTIME: 17:30 – 19:30\nVENUE: Hiddingh Hall (2nd floor)\, UCT’s Hiddingh Campus\, 31-37 Orange Street\, Gardens (opposite the Labia Theatre)\, Cape Town\, South Africa\n \nACC is honoured to present a public lecture by Professor Teresa Caldeira (University of California\, Berkeley) on the transformations of modes of collective life in São Paulo\, Brazil\, over the past two decades.\nAbout the topic:\nSão Paulo’s peripheries\, once exclusively the spaces where the poor working classes inhabited their autoconstructed houses\, have changed considerably in the last two decades. They are now much more heterogeneous and their everyday dynamics are in need of new analyses. The mode of collective life based on autoconstruction\, industrialism\, migration\, the dignity of labour\, a certain hierarchy of gender roles\, and the articulation of urban social movements has undergone profound changes.  This talk explores the emerging mode of collective life that is being created in what are now much improved and diverse urban spaces.  It is based on new modes of consumption\, cultural production\, protest\, and circulation from the peripheries to the rest of the city. The transformed peripheries are fundamentally heterogeneous and new arrangements of domestic life and gender roles are at the core of their mutations. These transformations in modes of collective life happen not only in São Paulo\, but also in several other autoconstructed metropolises across the global South.\nAbout the speaker:\nProfessor Teresa Caldeira is an urban scholar from Brazil who teaches at the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of California\, Berkeley. She does research on urban violence\, spatial segregation\, and cultural production in cities of the global South\, especially São Paulo. URL:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/event/sao-paulos-peripheries-transformations-modes-collective-life/ CATEGORIES:Seminar Series ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Pixadores-15.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20161212T130000 DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20161212T140000 DTSTAMP:20260604T094211 CREATED:20161130T123806Z LAST-MODIFIED:20161130T123806Z UID:10001913-1481547600-1481551200@www.africancentreforcities.net SUMMARY:Tackling Lighting Inequalities DESCRIPTION:Tackling Lighting Inequalities: About Urban Lighting\, Design and ‘the Social’\nThe ACC is excited to introduce Mona Sloane\, a visiting scholar for the London School of Economics and Politics. Mona will be presenting her work on ‘Configuring Light/Staging the Social’\, a research programme she founded at the LSE at the final brown bag of 2016.\nAbout the topic:\nLight is central to how people experience and use city spaces\, and to how urban systems operate. Through light\, we carve out spaces for social life. Light impacts on the public space in the crucial hours after dusk\, enabling or problematizing social activity\, economic and commercial development\, security\, safety and public order\, access\, participation and identification with urban public life. Furthermore\, public lighting also has significant cost impacts on local authorities’ budgets while currently undergoing a massive technological revolution which puts it centre stage in a number of urban discussions\, ranging from big data and urban governance\, cutting down economic and environmental costs in relation to climate change and sustainable urban development\, to aesthetics and city branding.\nThis brown bag seminar discusses the of status public lighting and design in the UK and in London specifically. It outlines how public lighting is a barometer of developing socio-spatial inequalities in the urban context and allows rich insight into how urban inequalities are lived out and responded to. The speaker will suggest strategies for responding to these challenges.\nAbout the Speaker:\nMona Sloane is a visiting academic at the ACC and a final-year PhD student in the LSE Department of Sociology. She is an ethnographer and works and publishes on the sociology of design\, material culture\, aesthetics and cultural economy as well as lighting design and public space. She holds an LSE PhD scholarship\, an MSc in Sociology from the LSE and a BA in Communication and Cultural Management from Zeppelin University Friedrichshafen. She also is co-founder and former member of the LSE-based research programme Configuring Light/Staging the Social which explores the role of light and lighting in everyday life and urban design. URL:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/event/tackling-lighting-inequalities/ LOCATION:African Centre for Cities\, UCT Upper Campus\, Cape Town\, South Africa CATEGORIES:Brownbags ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/DSC01578-scaled.jpg GEO:-33.9592646;18.4607236 X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=African Centre for Cities UCT Upper Campus Cape Town South Africa;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=UCT Upper Campus:geo:18.4607236,-33.9592646 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20161128T130000 DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20161128T140000 DTSTAMP:20260604T094211 CREATED:20161121T120002Z LAST-MODIFIED:20161121T120729Z UID:10001912-1480338000-1480341600@www.africancentreforcities.net SUMMARY:Resilient Urban Development: perspective of the Massive Small Collective DESCRIPTION:In this Brown Bag\, Lauren Hermanus will introduce the work of the Massive Small Collective\, which seeks to make connections between small-scale urban sustainable development and resilience thinking.\nThe Massive Small Collective understands resilience as social\, economic and environmental sustainability under conditions of dynamic complexity. As individuals\, households\, businesses\, and governments are faced with increasing complexity\, and more frequent destructive shocks\, and new information and technologies\, the context and need for resilience planning and implementation is growing. The assertion of the Massive Small Collective\, is that top-down\, large-scale\, command and control strategies aimed to improve social well-being and manage ecological risks have not delivered the promised results. The collective believes that the ‘bigness’ of these projects is the source of their weakness. Local context and history are\, by necessity\, rendered marginal by end-state and solutions-focused wholesale reform. But we can now see that it has showed itself to be critical to long-term success. In response\, the Massive Small Collective focuses on incrementalism and redundancy\, dynamic interrelation\, local context\, learning from failure and responsive governance. \nThis Brown Bag will introduce the potential of small-scale urban sustainable development initiatives and investments to contribute to the resilience agenda in cities and towns around the world. This work is done in partnership with the Centre for Complex Systems in Transition\, African partners of the Stockholm Resilience Centre. \nAbout the Speaker:\nLauren Hermanus is has a BA in Politics\, Philosophy and Economics\, and a MA in Complexity Theory and Philosophy. She is currently enrolled in MPhil in Development Policy and Practice. She is a Sustainable Development Specialist focused on urban resilience and energy innovation. Her experience is in policy\, strategy and programme development in both the public and private sectors. She is interested in applying Complexity Thinking to development challenges.\nDate: 28th November\nTime: 1-2pm\nVenue: Davies Reading Room (library)\, EGS Building\, Upper Campus\, UCT URL:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/event/5180/ LOCATION:African Centre for Cities\, UCT Upper Campus\, Cape Town\, South Africa CATEGORIES:Brownbags,Lectures ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Slide1-1.jpg GEO:-33.9592646;18.4607236 X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=African Centre for Cities UCT Upper Campus Cape Town South Africa;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=UCT Upper Campus:geo:18.4607236,-33.9592646 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20161115T140000 DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20161115T153000 DTSTAMP:20260604T094211 CREATED:20161108T110449Z LAST-MODIFIED:20161108T110710Z UID:10001911-1479218400-1479223800@www.africancentreforcities.net SUMMARY:Invitation to the 2nd Seminar in the Spatial Transformation CityLab Series DESCRIPTION:“The Voortrekker Road Corridor and the quest for Spatial Transformation”\nOne of the key outcomes of the City of Cape Town’s Spatial Development Framework (2012) is the creation of an “inclusive\, integrated and vibrant” city. Greater synergy between urban development and mobility through densification and the provision of quality public transport is considered to be central to the spatial and social restructuring of the city. In line with national policy imperatives\, the City of Cape Town has identified two Integration Zones\, the Metro-South East Corridor Integration Zone (MSEIZ) and the Voortrekker Road Corridor Integration Zone (VRCIZ) as critical tools for the realization of a more inclusive and integrated Cape Town.\nThe primary objective of the VRCIZ\, the focus of this CityLab seminar series\, is to link the Bellville CBD with the boundary of the Metro South-East Corridor and the Cape Town CBD. The second seminar in the series will be devoted to a discussion of the City of Cape Town’s vision for the VRCIZ. Antony Marks from the City’s Spatial Planning and Urban Design department will present a detailed overview of the City’s intentions and plans; providing insight into some of the opportunities and challenges within the Corridor related to densification\, integration and transport.\nRob McGaffin\, Senior Lecturer in UCT’s Construction Economics and Management department will share some reflections on the potential and viability of corridors\, integration zones and transit-oriented development in particular\, to achieve the desired transformation of the urban form.\nPlease RSVP to Mercy Brown-Luthango on mercy.brown-luthango@uct.ac.za URL:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/event/invitation-2nd-seminar-spatial-transformation-citylab-series/ ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Untitled.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20161109T130000 DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20161109T143000 DTSTAMP:20260604T094211 CREATED:20160805T131613Z LAST-MODIFIED:20161028T082924Z UID:10001907-1478696400-1478701800@www.africancentreforcities.net SUMMARY:Finding Food in the post-2015 Development Agenda DESCRIPTION:Food is fundamental not only to well-being\, but to our social and economic lives. Despite this\, one of the biggest challenges facing many people in cities all over the world today is hunger. As cities rapidly urbanise\, different pressures are placed on the food system which has resulted in the least nutritious food being the most affordable. This seminar series will explore the informal economy\, food systems\, food security and urbanisation. This final seminar by Dr Jane Battersby explores the global implications of the post-2015 development agenda.\nAbstract\nFood has not historically been considered central to the urban agenda. However\, good nutrition is essential for equitable growth and sustainable urban food systems are key to responding to many of the challenges posed to growing cities. In the wake of Habitat III\, this seminar examines the gaps and opportunities to engage the food system as part of urban governance and planning that have emerged in the space generated by the SDGs and New Urban Agenda document. It draws on findings from AFSUN (African Food Security Urban Network) and the Consuming Urban Poverty project.\nBio\nJane Battersby is an urban geographer with an interest in all things food related. Her current areas of particular interest are urban food systems\, urban food policies and the construction of food security theory in Northern and Southern research contexts. This work has both theoretical and applied components. Underpinning her food work is an ongoing interest in the linkages between spatial transformation and identity transformation in post-apartheid urban areas – a topic she has addressed through the lenses of youth identities\, education\, music and land restitution. Jane has been the Cape Town Partner of the African Food Security Urban Network (AFSUN) since 2008\, and is currently the Research Co-ordinator of the ACC’s Consuming Urban Poverty Project\, and is associated with the Hungry Cities Programme. URL:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/event/goal-2-without-11-integrating-urban-hunger-goal-busting-silos-global-national-local-governance/ LOCATION:Studio 3\, ENGEO Building\, Upper Campus. University of Cape Town\,\, Cape Town\, Western Cape\, 8001\, South Africa CATEGORIES:Seminar Series ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/foodtext02.jpg GEO:-33.930062;18.4138813 X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Studio 3 ENGEO Building Upper Campus. University of Cape Town Cape Town Western Cape 8001 South Africa;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=ENGEO Building\, Upper Campus. University of Cape Town\,:geo:18.4138813,-33.930062 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20161103T130000 DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20161103T140000 DTSTAMP:20260604T094211 CREATED:20160919T110056Z LAST-MODIFIED:20161026T084543Z UID:10001909-1478178000-1478181600@www.africancentreforcities.net SUMMARY:Brown Bag Event: Lagos a Plotted City Revisited DESCRIPTION:ACC Brown Bag  – ‘mock PhD defence’\n \nThesis title: PLOTTING the prevalent but undertheorised residential areas of Lagos. Conceptualising a process of urbanisation through grounded theory and comparison\n \nThe ACC is pleased to welcome Lindsay Sawyer who has been hosted here as a visiting scholar for the past year in order to write up her thesis on Lagos. Now completed\, Lindsay will present her work in a short 30min presentation that mimics her upcoming thesis defence at her university ETH Zurich. Edgar Pieterse and Sue Parnell will act as the jury.\n \nThis thesis attempts to contribute to an understanding of the urbanisation of Lagos and to arrive at a more satisfying representation of its complexities and specificities through the consideration of the prevalent residential areas of Lagos as a coherent spatial configuration\, proposing Plotting as a heuristic theoretical category to account for them. Lagos still represents a significant challenge to current urban theory and methods. The gaps in knowledge about Lagos speak to the inadequate conceptual and methodological tools there have so far been to approach and analyse it as a ‘city of the global South’. This thesis forms part of the recent impetus in urban studies for new ways of producing knowledge about the urban with a revalorised focus on Southern urbanism and comparison. As such\, this thesis works to formulate Plotting as a new conceptual tool to account for the production of the extensive residential areas where the majority of people in Lagos live\, mostly in the ubiquitous form of rental housing called Face-Me-I-Face You by taking a grounded theory approach within a wider comparative framework. The prevalent spatial configuration of Lagos has not been adequately analysed and Plotting is an attempt to account for the piecemeal development and intensification of these areas through the contradictions\, contestations and multiple systems of territorial authority of the dual land regime in Lagos. As such\, Plotting is offered as a conceptual tool to account for aspects of Lagos that normative approaches have struggled to recognise and analyse such as the dual land regime\, the role of customary authorities\, moving beyond the formal-informal dichotomy\, the growth of Lagos despite sustained political\, economic and social instability\, and the apparent lack of political organisation and demands from the people in the face of deep inequalities and an elitist and incapacitated state who does little to address their needs.\n \nThis research is part of the Planetary Urbanisation in Comparative Perspective project that undertook a theoretically and methodologically rigorous comparison of eight urban regions based the grounded empirical work of eight colleagues and myself. Plotting emerged as a new theoretical category through a comparison of Lagos\, Istanbul\, Kolkata and Shenzhen. This thesis adopts a grounded theory methodology\, collecting and analysing qualitative data in order to build new theoretical categories through iterative rounds of data collection and analysis including comparative analysis. Data was primarily collected through intensive periods of fieldwork between 2012-2014. Desk-based methods were also used but there was an emphasis on fieldwork to address the lack of available data in certain areas and to allow concepts to emerge from the ground. The thesis undertakes a pattern and pathway analysis of Lagos\, constructing a visual and spatial analysis of its current processes of urbanisation and a historical analysis of how these processes emerged. The thesis identifies the significant gaps in research on Lagos\, linking to broader gaps in knowledge about informal rental housing and land delivery in unplanned areas of certain areas of urban Africa\, showing there to be a blindspot in literature and policy towards prevalent but tolerated majority conditions. The main work of the thesis is conceptualising Plotting as a process of urbanisation through its regulatory\, material and everyday dimensions with a particular focus on the dual land regime\, contestations over land\, and the emergence of the logic of ‘private/ network gain over public good’. Further\, it is shown that through the conversation between this research and the comparison\, Plotting is already proving applicable beyond the context of Lagos. Images and empirical accounts from the field and other sources are used throughout the thesis and form part of the analysis.\n \n  URL:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/event/brown-bag-event-lagos-plotted-city-revisited/ LOCATION:African Centre for Cities\, UCT Upper Campus\, Cape Town\, South Africa GEO:-33.9592646;18.4607236 X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=African Centre for Cities UCT Upper Campus Cape Town South Africa;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=UCT Upper Campus:geo:18.4607236,-33.9592646 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20161017T090000 DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20161017T160000 DTSTAMP:20260604T094212 CREATED:20160805T124716Z LAST-MODIFIED:20161012T150723Z UID:10001906-1476694800-1476720000@www.africancentreforcities.net SUMMARY:Announcement: A Special Event To Commemorate World Food Day DESCRIPTION:This event will be coordinated in partnership with the Centre of Excellence in Food Security and PLAAS.  Details to be confirmed shortly. URL:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/event/world-food-day/ CATEGORIES:Seminar Series ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Nutrition-Jonathan-Crushsmall-e1470137229293.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20161003T130000 DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20161003T140000 DTSTAMP:20260604T094212 CREATED:20160919T105221Z LAST-MODIFIED:20160919T105221Z UID:10001908-1475499600-1475503200@www.africancentreforcities.net SUMMARY:Brown Bag Event: From Naartjies to Nando’s DESCRIPTION:The ACC is excited to introduce Sarah Duff to the Brown Bag series. She will be discussing a history of Johannesburg’s foodways as they relate to migration.\nPresentation:\n‘From Naartjies to Nando’s: The Making of Johannesburg’s Foodways’\nThe history of Johannesburg’s foodways is\, as in the case of most cities\, entangled with histories of migration. As historians of both food and of migration have demonstrated\, not only does migration shape the ways in which groups of people think about their identities in relation to food (and often how nations define themselves through food)\, but immigrants are often disproportionately involved in food industries. While historians of Africa have begun to turn their attention to histories of food\, this remains a relatively new area of study for the region\, and\, more specifically\, for South Africa. This essay begins to address this lacuna by considering how migration shaped how Johannesburg’s diverse population ate\, bought\, and thought about food.\nAbout Sarah Duff:\nSarah Emily Duff is Researcher at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of the Witwatersrand. Primarily an historian of childhood and sexuality\, she is the author of Changing Childhoods in the Cape Colony: Dutch Reformed Church Evangelicalism and Colonial Childhood\, 1860-1895 (Palgrave\, 2015). She is funded by a five-year Research Career Advancement Fellowship from the National Research Foundation and is currently at work on a project which traces the history of sex education in twentieth-century South Africa.\n  URL:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/event/brown-bag-event-naartjies-nandos/ LOCATION:African Centre for Cities\, UCT Upper Campus\, Cape Town\, South Africa GEO:-33.9592646;18.4607236 X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=African Centre for Cities UCT Upper Campus Cape Town South Africa;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=UCT Upper Campus:geo:18.4607236,-33.9592646 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20160922T110000 DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20160922T123000 DTSTAMP:20260604T094212 CREATED:20160921T133802Z LAST-MODIFIED:20160921T135611Z UID:10001910-1474542000-1474547400@www.africancentreforcities.net SUMMARY:Spatial Transformation CityLab Seminar DESCRIPTION:South African cities today continue to be marked by spatial fragmentation\, low density sprawl and highly unequal land distribution patterns.  Cape Town as a city is plagued by the same inefficient\, fragmented and exclusionary spatial patterns inherited from Apartheid. In light of this\, the ACC has embarked on a new research project which focuses on the potential of the Voortrekker Road Corridor (VRC) and specifically the Western Area (including Maitland\, Kensington and Facreton) to bring about spatial transformation.  This work is supported by the French Development Agency (AFD).\nOne of the components of this research project is a bi-monthly seminar series which will draw academics\, officials and other practitioners into conversation about a number of pertinent topics. These include for example: unpacking what spatial transformation means in Cape Town\, the role of corridor projects in facilitating this transformation\, the potential and challenges of transit-oriented development and the role of government policy  instruments and programmes like the Urban Development Zone (UDZ) tax incentive to support social and spatial integration.\nTo kick off the seminar series\, Francesco Orsini\, a visiting researcher from Colombia will present a case study of Medellin’s Social Urbanism” programme. This will provide key insights and a useful basis for future deliberations about the nature and dynamics of interventions to transform Cape Town’s spatial form. URL:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/event/5051/ LOCATION:The River Club\, Cnr Liesbeck Parkway & Observatory Road\, Cape Town \, 7705\, South Africa CATEGORIES:Seminar Series ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/unnamed.png GEO:-33.9360518;18.4769711 X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=The River Club Cnr Liesbeck Parkway & Observatory Road Cape Town 7705 South Africa;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=Cnr Liesbeck Parkway & Observatory Road:geo:18.4769711,-33.9360518 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20160914T150000 DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20160914T163000 DTSTAMP:20260604T094212 CREATED:20240531T055033Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240531T064512Z UID:10001905-1473865200-1473870600@www.africancentreforcities.net SUMMARY:A systematic review of the literature that focuses on both the ‘informal economy’ and ‘food security’ in South Africa DESCRIPTION:Food is fundamental not only to well-being\, but to our social and economic lives. Despite this\, one of the biggest challenges facing many people in cities all over the world today is hunger. As cities rapidly urbanise\, different pressures are placed on the food system which has resulted in the least nutritious food being the most affordable. This seminar series will explore the informal economy\, food systems\, food security and urbanisation.\nThe second seminar is entitled ‘A systematic review of the literature that focuses on both the ‘informal economy’ and ‘food security’ in South Africa’ presented by Candice Kelly and Etai Even-Zahav (Research Fellows at the Sustainability Institute).\nAbstract\nDespite the importance of the informal food economy in fulfilling the daily and weekly food needs of a large proportion of South Africa’s low-income population\, it appears little research exists on the exact nature of the relationship between the informal food economy and food security. This paper performed the first qualitative systematic review of research from South Africa that addresses both these aspects. The methods used in the review are described in detail\, to increase the readers’ ability to assess the reliability of subsequent findings and analysis. Findings confirmed the low level of research focus on the informal food economy (and food security)\, in particular the stages of the value chain beyond the farm gate and before the consumer. Food safety research is common\, although applied narrowly and with mixed findings. The conceptualisation of nutrition research is encouragingly wide\, encompassing both over- and under-nutrition\, but does not seem to consider the broader urban informal context in which consumers are embedded. Lastly\, the research approaches used are predominately quantitative\, and the voices of those who survive within the informal food economy are largely absent.\nBios\nCandice Kelly’s doctoral research focuses on people leading food system transitions in South Africa. She teaches into the MPhil at the Sustainability Institute\, focusing on sustainable food systems.\nEtai Even-Zahav is also part of the Food Systems team at the Sustainability Institute. He is particularly interested in the informal food economy. URL:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/event/systematic-review-literature-focuses-informal-economy-food-security-south-africa/ LOCATION:Studio 3\, ENGEO Building\, Upper Campus. University of Cape Town\,\, Cape Town\, Western Cape\, 8001\, South Africa CATEGORIES:Seminar Series ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Nutrition-Jonathan-Crushsmall-e1470137229293.jpg GEO:-33.930062;18.4138813 X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Studio 3 ENGEO Building Upper Campus. University of Cape Town Cape Town Western Cape 8001 South Africa;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=ENGEO Building\, Upper Campus. University of Cape Town\,:geo:18.4138813,-33.930062 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20160824T150000 DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20160824T163000 DTSTAMP:20260604T094212 CREATED:20160802T113411Z LAST-MODIFIED:20160805T131553Z UID:10001904-1472050800-1472056200@www.africancentreforcities.net SUMMARY:The Informal Economy's Role in Feeding Cities - a Missing Link in Policy Debates? DESCRIPTION:Food is fundamental not only to well-being\, but to our social and economic lives. Despite this\, one of the biggest challenges facing many people in cities all over the world today is hunger. As cities rapidly urbanise\, different pressures are placed on the food system which has resulted in the least nutritious food being the most affordable. This seminar series will explore the informal economy\, food systems\, food security and urbanisation.\nThe first seminar is entitled ‘The Informal Economy’s Role in Feeding Cities – A Missing Link in Policy Debates?’ and will be presented by Caroline Skinner and Gareth Haysom.\nAbstract\nThe paper starts by considering the genealogy of the term ‘informal sector’ and then reviews the international context – urbanisation trends and the latest estimates on the size and contribution of the informal economy. The former confirm Crush and Frayne’s contention of the likelihood of an urban future for the majority of Africans and latter suggest that informal work is a predominant source of non-agricultural employment on the most regions of the Global South. Attention is then turned to the South African informal economy\, which although smaller than our developing country counterparts\, is still a significant source of employment. The informal economy is thus playing a key role in household income – a key aspect of accessibility\, particularly in urban areas. The paper then outlines the evidence on the informal economies role in food sourcing of poorer households. The paper critically assesses the current food security policy position in South Africa and the post-Apartheid policy response to the informal economy in general both nationally and in key urban centres. We trace a productionist and rural bias in the food security agenda and argue that the policy environment for informal operators is at best benign neglect and at worse actively destructive.\nSpeaker bios\nCaroline Skinner is a Senior Researcher at the African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape Town and Urban Policies Research Director for the global action-research-policy network Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO). For over 15 years\, Skinner’s work has interrogated the nature of the informal economy with a focus on informing advocacy processes and livelihood-centred policy and planning responses. She has published widely on the topic.\nDr Gareth Haysom holds a Ph.D in Environmental and Geographic Sciences from UCT. The focus of his Ph.D was on urban food system governance. Gareth is the southern cities project coordinator for the Hungry Cities Partnership project at the ACC. He also works on the Consuming Urban Poverty research project.\nVenue: Studio 3\, EGS Building\, Upper Campus\, UCT URL:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/event/informal-economys-role-feeding-cities-missing-link-policy-debates/ LOCATION:Studio 3\, ENGEO Building\, Upper Campus. University of Cape Town\,\, Cape Town\, Western Cape\, 8001\, South Africa CATEGORIES:Seminar Series ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/foodtest01.jpg GEO:-33.930062;18.4138813 X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Studio 3 ENGEO Building Upper Campus. University of Cape Town Cape Town Western Cape 8001 South Africa;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=ENGEO Building\, Upper Campus. University of Cape Town\,:geo:18.4138813,-33.930062 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20160818T100000 DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20160818T130000 DTSTAMP:20260604T094212 CREATED:20160728T103235Z LAST-MODIFIED:20160728T103235Z UID:10001903-1471514400-1471525200@www.africancentreforcities.net SUMMARY:CityLab Symposium DESCRIPTION:The African Centre for Cities’ CityLab programme facilitates the co-production of policy-relevant knowledge to reduce urban poverty through the engagement of researchers\, government officials and civil society. Started in 2008\, the CityLab programme created a platform for interaction between practitioners and researchers and has generated a wide range of different kinds of knowledge on Cape Town. The CityLab programme also became a core component of Mistra Urban Futures\, a network of institutions involved in the co-production of urban knowledge in five cities around the world.\nPlease join us in reflecting on the Sustainable Human Settlements CityLab\, the Urban Violence\, Safety and Inclusion CityLab\, the Healthy Cities CityLab and the Public Culture CityLab. The co-ordinators of the CityLabs\, Dr Warren Smit\, Dr Mercy Brown-Luthango\, Dr Rike Sitas and Liza Cirolia\, will present key findings from the CityLab process\, followed by a discussion and a light lunch.\nThe symposium will be hosted on 18 August in Studio 3 in the Environmental and Geographical Sciences building on Upper Campus at UCT\, from 10h00 to 13h00\, followed by lunch.\nPlease RSVP to Rike Sitas on rike.sitas@uct.ac.za by 12 August 2016\nCityLab_Symposium_Invite URL:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/event/citylab-symposium/ LOCATION:Studio 3\, ENGEO Building\, Upper Campus. University of Cape Town\,\, Cape Town\, Western Cape\, 8001\, South Africa CATEGORIES:Conversation ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/symposium.jpg GEO:-33.930062;18.4138813 X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Studio 3 ENGEO Building Upper Campus. University of Cape Town Cape Town Western Cape 8001 South Africa;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=ENGEO Building\, Upper Campus. University of Cape Town\,:geo:18.4138813,-33.930062 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20160815 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20160820 DTSTAMP:20260604T094212 CREATED:20160611T153153Z LAST-MODIFIED:20160628T035448Z UID:10001901-1471219200-1471651199@www.africancentreforcities.net SUMMARY:Workshop: Thinking infrastructure with the South DESCRIPTION:HICCUP — Heterogeneous Infrastructure Configuration of Cities in Uganda Project: Thinking Infrastructure with the South\nIntroduction\nThe scale\, magnitude and intensity of urbanisation in Africa has attracted increasing attention given the nature of environmental\, social\, economic and more importantly\, political challenges it presents. The diverse ecology of Africa’s urban landscape raises serious questions that have provoked debate not only within academia\, but among public administrators\, civil society and the private sector as well. The HICCUP research initiative was conceived to provide a platform where critical questions especially about waste resource flows and the emerging multi-actor hegemonies\, the resulting networks\, how these multi-actor interactions are mediated within formal and informal institutional structures and processes. In addition\, the initiative will also explore other equally critical questions relating to sustainability and equality. Two subprojects will be undertaken to generate the kind of information that will shape our learning about the dynamics of urbanisation in Africa. The project will work in Kampala and Mbale\, two cities in Uganda where the focus will be on waste and sanitation.\n \nResearch Team\nThe workshop will be conducted by Drs. Henrik Ernstson\, Shauib Lwasa\, and Jonathan Silver\, who are part of a highly experienced team from various international institutions involved in the initiative. The workshop is intend to engage four students (3 MSc and 1 PhD)\, who have been selected to be part of the initiative to promote critical and radical thinking about Global-South Urbanism. The event will also be attended by several civil society organisations that could potentially be partners under the HICCUP initiative.\nAims of Workshop\na.    To finalise planning on practicalities of the research program (i.e. roles/responsibilities\, research timelines\, key outputs etc.)\nb.    To undertake some teaching and shared learning with the four the students\nc.    To visit some potential fieldwork sites\nd.    To meet some potential partners (ACTogether/NSDFU\, KALOCODE\, SSA/UHSNET\, LOGEL etc…) URL:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/event/makerere-university-kampala-workshop-15th-19th-august-2016/ CATEGORIES:Workshop ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/papers_NickelCadmiumBatteriesCapeTown.jpeg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20160811T130000 DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20160811T140000 DTSTAMP:20260604T094212 CREATED:20160718T071442Z LAST-MODIFIED:20160718T082134Z UID:10001898-1470920400-1470924000@www.africancentreforcities.net SUMMARY:Kigali and Rwanda: reflections on a capital city and its territory DESCRIPTION:The ACC is honoured to welcome Professor Tomà Berlanda\, an architect with extensive international academic and professional experience\, to the Brown Bag Series.\nUnlike other African capitals\, Kigali has not been established as a city by a colonial power. Even though it was founded under German rule\, it became capital only after Rwanda’s independence from Belgium in 1962\, and until 1994 remained relatively small. The Belgian occupiers always remained hostile to the development of urban centres\, because they attributed to Rwanda the main function of providing work force\, to be employed in their other neighbouring colony to the west. During the first and second Rwandese republic\, the growing concentration of bureaucratic and administrative functions did increase the number of inhabitants\, without though giving rise to an uncontrolled expansion. During that time the government further attempted to consolidate the secondary urban centres\, and moreover maintain an economic and social structure based on agriculture.\nFrom the end of the 80’s onwards\, though\, following the introduction of the structural adjustment plans and the dismantling or privatisation of state owned industrial plants\, that approach has been left. Today\, urbanisation has become an intentional strategic goal of government policies\, and\, together with land tenure regularisation and the growth of private led industrialisation\, this has a huge impact in the re-design of the entire territory. In official documents this transformation is considered a goal to be pursued and encouraged through the reorganization of agricultural activities\, the concentration of investments in urban centres\, the adoption of measures aimed at moving and grouping population. This direction is apparent in policies and programmatic indications at national level and is further confirmed in documents at the local level\, from district plans to master plans.\nThe territorial imbalance in growth between the capital city and the rest of the country is a reason for concern\, and is at the same time the result\, and an indication\, of global phenomena and local circumstances. Furthermore\, it highlights the need to consider Kigali’s evolution in close connection to all that of the Rwandese countryside. Not only because of the migration of population\, but also because the establishment of a “competitive city in the global market” such as is conceived and pursued today requires massive investments and a gigantic drainage of resources. At the risk of resulting in a macro-cephalous capital detached from the rest of the country.\n \nAbout the speaker:\nBorn in Venice\, Tomà Berlanda is an architect with extensive international academic and professional experience. As of April 2015 he serves as Director and Professor at the School of Architecture\, Planning and Geomatics at the University of Cape Town\, where he pursues his research interests focusing on the implications that can be drawn from a non stereotypical reading of the African city and the practice of architecture in non- Western urban settings and landscapes. This follows upon his position as co-founder of asa studio in Kigali (2012-14)\, where he led an extensive design and build campaign to provide community based early childhood and health facilities across Rwanda. The award winning work has been published widely\, and included in the Afritecture: Building Social Change (2013) and the Africa: Architecture\, Culture and identity (2015) exhibitions.\nHe has held teaching positions at various institutions\, and has been Assistant Professor at Syracuse University (2009-10)\, Visiting Critic at Cornell University (2012) and Senior Lecturer at the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (2011-3). He has been member of the editorial board of rivista tecnica\, Lugano\, and a regular contributor for de Architect\, den Haag. He holds a Diploma in architecture from the Accademia di architettura in Mendrisio\, Swtizerland (2002) and a Ph.D in Architecture and Building design from the Politecnico di Torino\, Italy (2009). He is the author of "Architectural Topograhies" (Routledge\, 2014)\, as well as number of articles and chapters in international publications. URL:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/event/kigali-rwanda-reflections-capital-city-territory/ LOCATION:African Centre for Cities\, UCT Upper Campus\, Cape Town\, South Africa ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/kigali-1.jpeg GEO:-33.9592646;18.4607236 X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=African Centre for Cities UCT Upper Campus Cape Town South Africa;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=UCT Upper Campus:geo:18.4607236,-33.9592646 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20160722T130000 DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20160723T150000 DTSTAMP:20260604T094212 CREATED:20160712T130434Z LAST-MODIFIED:20160721T084158Z UID:10001902-1469192400-1469286000@www.africancentreforcities.net SUMMARY:Public Art and the Power of Place DESCRIPTION:start again the new road at dawn.\nyesterday’s road has led\nto yesterday’s destination.\ntoday is a new chaos.\na new journey. a new city.\nneeding new paths. and new standards.\nBen Okri – The Ruin and The Forest\nCape Town remains stubbornly segregated\, with a large portion of the population living in undesirable conditions. Access to resources is still skewed towards the formal art market based in the City Bowl. Despite this\, there are numerous people engaging in critical and creative ways of re-articulating the potential of the city through art. Increasingly\, public-facing art is playing a central role in imagining a free\, inspired and inclusive reality.\nPublic Art and the Power of Place\, initiated by the African Centre for Cities at UCT\, with support from the National Lotteries Commission\, emerged as an experiment in finding new ways of representing and interconnecting with socio-political urban issues in Cape Town. It involved supporting seven public art projects in Cape Town’s townships in 2015. From Khayelitsha to Bonteheuwel\, optimistic and determined individuals explored the significance and impossibilities of place outside the City Bowl.\nThe ACC is excited to invite you to the closing event of the project at the Cape Town Library (Corner Darling and Parade Streets)\, where the stories and reflections of these projects will be used to ignite an open and constructive conversation about the present and the future of public art within the context of Cape Town. Through dialogue\, workshops and an archival exhibition the two-day intervention builds a platform for a collective exploration of publicness.\nAn African Centre for Cities project with guest curators Valeria Geselev and Naz Saldulker. See the attached programme\, check out the Facebook event or contact powerofplace@uct.ac.za for more details.\nPoP_Programme_18July\n \nFUNDED BY:\n\nThe NLC relies on funds from the proceeds of the National Lottery. The Lotteries Act guides the way in which NLC funding may be allocated. The intention of NLC funding is to make a difference to the lives of all South Africans\, especially those more vulnerable and to improve the sustainability of the beneficiary organisations. Available funds are distributed to registered and qualifying non-profit organisations in the fields of charities; arts\, culture and national heritage; and sport and recreation. By placing its emphasis on areas of greatest need and potential\, the NLC contributes to South Africa’s development. URL:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/event/public-art-power-place/ LOCATION:Cape Town Library\, Cnr Parade and Darling Streets\, Cape Town CATEGORIES:Art,Conferences & Workshops,Exhibitions ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/super-power.jpg GEO:-33.9254449;18.424429 X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Cape Town Library Cnr Parade and Darling Streets Cape Town;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=Cnr Parade and Darling Streets:geo:18.424429,-33.9254449 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20160704 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20160709 DTSTAMP:20260604T094212 CREATED:20160224T120840Z LAST-MODIFIED:20160628T035115Z UID:10001822-1467590400-1468022399@www.africancentreforcities.net SUMMARY:Democratic Practices of Unequal Geographies DESCRIPTION: \nThe 2016 Annual ACC Seminar/PhD Course on Democratic Practices in Cape Town:\nThe Aesthetical and the Political of Unequal Geographies: \nReading across Political Philosophy and Global South Urbanism\nJuly 4-8\, 2016\, Seminar Room 1\, EGS Building\, Upper Campus\, University of Cape Town.\nOrganised by Henrik Ernstson and Andrés Henao Castro.\nThe seminar is given by the African Centre for Cities (ACC) at the University of Cape Town. To apply\, please send  your letter of interest no later than 6 May 2016 to Henrik Ernstson (henrikDOTernstsonATuctDOTacDOTza). We hope the seminar with its readings and discussions can contribute new angles and perspectives to your research.\nMore information on the 2016 theme\, reading and seminar methodology is given below.\nRationale for 2016: Aesthetics and politics!\nThe task is urgent and profound: How to make sense of rapid urbanization across Africa and the global South\, while (re)turning to explicitly think about emancipatory politics? What does the political mean in these contexts? What constitutes properly democratic practices of equality and freedom? What can we learn by rubbing political theory against urban studies of ‘the South’?\nThis annual seminar series emerges out of an interest to put into conversation political philosophy and global south urbanism. Importantly\, our objective is not that of supplementing a theoretical abstraction (e.g. ‘the political’) with some kind of concrete spatiality. Rather\, we are interested in the global south as an epistemological position and a field of experience that has specific contemporary sociomaterial realities that we hope can trouble and re-new both radical urban theory and political theory. Following last year’s seminar\, in which we related our readings of Plato to Rancière with critical urban studies of the South\, this year we gather a seminar that problematizes the relationship between the political and the aesthetic. This puts more focus on artists and activists that intervene materially and socially in the fabric of urban spaces\, and it brings us towards the political in a quite specific way.\nMore concretely we aim to relate questions around what Jacques Rancière calls the distribution of the sensible with interventions in urban spaces. We aim to push the seminar to think about the representation and troubling of an aesthetic regime from the perspective of how it has become embedded in urban and non-urban settings. We will exploit texts that have linked theoretically the political with aesthetic regimes and how this translates troubles and can be re-thought in the context of the global south. We want to ask\, for example:\n\nHow does the symbolic remaking of a space through an artistic intervention trouble the otherwise naturalization of that space as reducible to its presumable functions (i.e.\, market values)?\nWhat is the relationship between this interruption of the function of a space and that of politics?\nHow can artistic interventions force the community to confront that which it disavows?\nWhat kind of conflict do such forms of expressing the senses create within urban spaces?\nHow are those urban spaces transgressed\, circumvented\, rearranged\, reimagined\, etc.\, so as to trouble the very limits of what can be perceived and sensed in the city?\nHow do these spatial contestations take place today\, under what kind of aesthetic practices?\nAnd how could this possibly lead to processes of political subjectivization\, a politicization of collectivities\, bodies\, and spaces in the name of equality?\n\nIn light of 2015 and the student movement of South Africa\, questions of democracy\, decolonization and profound emancipatory change have brought these questions into even sharper focus. And this does not mean to forget other recent women\, workers and community rebellions\, nor the slow-grinding and incremental institutional changes of empowerment that is also ongoing. Indeed\, we hope this seminar/course will provide a chance for all participants to think about these recent events and processes. We hope it will contribute material and discussions through which you can re-think and sharpen your own research projects.\nSeminar Methodology\nOur seminar focuses on readings of political theory that interrogate the relationship between the aesthetical and the political\, across a variety of philosophical approaches. Yet it explores such relationship with a particular and rather unusual emphasis on urban and non-urban geographies of the global south. We want to discuss questions about representation\, intervention\, performativity\, sensuousness\, visibility\, audibility\, occupation\, inscription\, by placing these theories within uneven geographies that should trouble existing theoretical findings and help us to reformulate our research questions\, methodologies approaches and theoretical assumptions. In the readings we have chosen to place more emphasis on political philosophy as these are less known to most of us\, and since this makes best use of Dr. Andrés Heano Castro’s visit here at ACC in Cape Town. The texts on global south urbanism will bring in contextual and theoretical aspects into the seminar\, but we also rely on participants’ wider readings and their own research on urbanization\, global south and decolonization. Below you will find the current list of readings\, which will be updated.\nSchedule and Readings\nWe will meet for 3 hours every day. Andrés will talk for the first 30 minutes\, in order to provide context for the theoretical discussion: what is at stake in the texts\, where does the text stand in relation to intellectual debates\, and summarize main points\, etc. Then we open the floor for discussion in which the global south urbanism literature will enter as ways to unpack and think about the seminar questions\, how our empirical work are helped by these texts\, while challenging them and ‘speaking back’. Through this we will have a chance to re-think our own research and case studies. For each day we will provide questions to orient your reading\, and serve as starting point for our discussions. Based on this you can write down and raise your own questions to further give direction to the seminar. We will have a short 10 minute break two hours into the seminar and then we will return for another 45 minutes of discussion. Coffee and tea will be served during the seminar. (NB: Global south urbanism reading and questions will be complemented later alongside points 1-3 in the list below.)\nHow to Apply\nThe seminar/course is organized by Dr. Henrik Ernstson and Dr. Andrés Henao Castro. It forms part of the ACC’s new project NOTRUC\, Notations on Theories of Radical Urban Change\, which is lead by Dr. Henrik Ernstson and Professor Edgar Pieterse and it provides a terrain towards critical and radical (re)thinking on global south urbanism at ACC and beyond.\nApplication—Letter of interest\nThe seminar/course is open to PhD students and scholars. Please send an e-mail to Henrik Ernstson no later than 6 May 2016 including a 500 word motivation letter (why you would like to take this course) and a 2-page CV (not longer please). We will have between 12-18 seats available. You will know if you have been accepted a week after.\nNo course fee\nThere are no course fees. During the seminar there we will arrange coffee and tea every day\, and one dinner. The rest of food items and other costs will be on your own account.\nShort on the organizers\nDr. Andrés Fabián Henao Castro is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Massachusetts Boston. His research interests are the relationship between ancient and contemporary political theory\, particularly in reference to democratic and de-colonial theory and practices\, the question of political subjectivity and the distribution of political agency. Currently he is working on a book that explores the kind of subject-positions and forms of agency that are imagined and unimagined in the theoretical reception of Sophocles’ tragedy Antigone. As a member of the international research network on Performance Philosophy he is also developing a new project on radical interpretations of Plato’s allegories. He is also working on the relationship between text and textile by putting in conversation ancient and contemporary political weavers through their reception in contemporary feminist theory. Read more on his website: http://works.bepress.com/andres_fabian_henao_castro\nDr. Henrik Ernstson is a Research Fellow and Principal Investigator from the KTH Royal Institute of Technology\, Stockholm\, and an Honorary Visiting Scholar at the University of Cape Town\, where he has been since 2010. His theoretical and empirical work is focused on the politics and collective organizing around urban ecology\, from urban land and wetlands to waste and sanitation. With others\, he is developing a situated approach to urban political ecology drawing upon upon critical geography\, global South urbanism\, postcolonial theory and postfoundational political thought. For more information\, see http://www.situatedecologies.net and http://stanford.academia.edu/HenrikErnstson. URL:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/event/democratic-practices-of-unequal-geographies-annual-phd-courseseminar/ LOCATION:Seminar Room 1\, EGS Building\, Upper Campus\, University of Cape Town\, University of Cape Town\, Cape Town \, Western Cape\, South Africa CATEGORIES:Seminar Series ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Untitled-1.jpg GEO:-33.9335226;18.6279539 X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Seminar Room 1 EGS Building Upper Campus University of Cape Town University of Cape Town Cape Town Western Cape South Africa;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=University of Cape Town:geo:18.6279539,-33.9335226 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20160627 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20160702 DTSTAMP:20260604T094212 CREATED:20151029T194853Z LAST-MODIFIED:20160628T034626Z UID:10001889-1466985600-1467417599@www.africancentreforcities.net SUMMARY:Revaluing the City DESCRIPTION:Revaluing the City: Land\, Infrastructure and the Environment as a Catalyst for Change\nAfrica is experiencing an urban revolution involving the most rapid urbanization in history\, but amid severe constraints. There are calls to grow local and national economies\, enable employment\, upgrade governance\, improve global competitiveness\, and reduce inequalities and poverty. Problems of income inequality\, economic exclusion\, food insecurity\, inadequate transportation networks\, lack of urban services\, environmental degradation\, and climate change are huge challenges for cities across Africa.\nTransforming African cities on their own terms\, and making urban formations sustainable and equitable is an unprecedented challenge.\nStudy Space IX will explore these urban growth issues in South Africa’s oldest city\, Cape Town\, a profoundly unequal city from its days of slavery in the 17th century. Although labeled the continent’s least African city\, Cape Town shares the ingredient of ‘slum urbanism’ with poverty and social stress in growing\, sprawling informal settlements. There is relentless pressure to increase the density of residential land\, and to revalue the city’s recreational\, agricultural and public land\, and ecosystem services.\nDuring the course of the week\, twenty participants will develop a wider\, ‘southern’ perspective on balancing issues related to urban growth with a focus on income inequality and economic exclusion. Guest lectures will be on a variety of topics\, including:\n— Planning equitable and sustainable development\n— Property rights and land use law\n— Affordable housing and housing finance\n— Taxation and infrastructure finance\n— Cultural heritage and historic preservation\n— Environmental law\n— Climate change\n \nThe ACC is hosting Study Space IX on behalf of the Center for the Comparative Study of Metropolitan Growth in the College of Law at Georgia State University\, Atlanta\, USA. The Center’s ninth intensive study week gives professionals\, practitioners and academics an opportunity to sharpen their understanding of metropolitan affairs in conversation with local experts. Previous Study Spaces have been held in Barcelona\, Bogota\, Denver\, Rio de Janeiro\, Istanbul\, Medellin\, Panama and Warsaw. URL:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/event/revaluing-the-city-land-infrastructure-and-the-environment-as-a-catalyst-for-change/ LOCATION:UCT Graduate School of Business\,\, V&A Waterfront\, Cape Town\, Western Cape\, 8001\, South Africa CATEGORIES:Conferences & Workshops ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Screen-Shot-2015-10-29-at-9.26.48-PM.png GEO:-33.9044444;18.4202778 X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=UCT Graduate School of Business V&A Waterfront Cape Town Western Cape 8001 South Africa;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=V&A Waterfront:geo:18.4202778,-33.9044444 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20160518T150000 DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20160518T163000 DTSTAMP:20260604T094212 CREATED:20160419T132021Z LAST-MODIFIED:20160419T132021Z UID:10001899-1463583600-1463589000@www.africancentreforcities.net SUMMARY:‘A House for Dead People’: Memory and spatial transformation in Red Location\, Port Elizabeth DESCRIPTION:ACC is pleased to be hosting the 2016 Ray Pahl Fellow in Urban Studies\, Dr Naomi Roux\, who will be presenting a paper entitled\, ‘A House for Dead People: Memory and spatial transformation in Red Location\, Port Elizabeth’.\nAbstract\nFollowing the end of apartheid in 1994\, several new projects of public memory and urban development were established in many South African cities. In Port Elizabeth\, the Red Location Museum was opened in 2006\, in a century-old informal settlement with strong histories of resistance activity. The museum was intended to acknowledge the area’s contribution to the liberation struggle\, and contribute to dismantling apartheid urban geographies by producing a tourist and cultural economy. However\, the project was highly contested from its inception by residents who felt that the priority for the neighbourhood should be housing and service delivery. Major housing-related protests erupted on the museums doorstep between 2003 and 2005\, and in late 2013 the new cultural precinct was closed down indefinitely. This paper examines the politics and controversies surrounding the Red Location developments between 1997-2013\, using this case study to consider the ways in which the protests around the museum are deeply rooted in historical and political histories which are made visible through residents’ radical claiming of ownership of the museum building.\n\nBio\nNaomi Roux is an urbanist and visual historian\, with a particular interest in the relationships between collective memory\, the politics of public space and urban transformation. She holds the Ray Pahl Fellowship in Urban Studies at the University of Cape Town’s African Centre for Cities for 2016. Prior to this she was the 2014-2015 Mellon Fellow in Cities and Humanities at LSE Cities. Her recent PhD (Birkbeck\, 2015) focused on the politics of collective memory in the context of the changing post-apartheid city\, using Nelson Mandela Bay in South Africa’s Eastern Cape as a case study. Previous work includes published research and exhibition projects focusing on heritage\, memory and place-making in sites including Kliptown\, Soweto; Yeoville\, Johannesburg; and ‘Little Addis’ in central Johannesburg. URL:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/event/house-dead-people-memory-spatial-transformation-red-location-port-elizabeth/ LOCATION:Studio 3\, ENGEO Building\, Upper Campus. University of Cape Town\,\, Cape Town\, Western Cape\, 8001\, South Africa CATEGORIES:Seminar Series ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/IMG_1976-scaled.jpg GEO:-33.930062;18.4138813 X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Studio 3 ENGEO Building Upper Campus. University of Cape Town Cape Town Western Cape 8001 South Africa;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=ENGEO Building\, Upper Campus. University of Cape Town\,:geo:18.4138813,-33.930062 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20160504T090000 DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20160504T140000 DTSTAMP:20260604T094212 CREATED:20160429T121759Z LAST-MODIFIED:20160429T121759Z UID:10001896-1462352400-1462370400@www.africancentreforcities.net SUMMARY:Realising the Just City DESCRIPTION:The African Centre for Cities in collaboration with Mistra Urban Futures is hosting a workshop on Realising the Just City.\nThe signing of the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015 demonstrated that there is an increasing global pledge to foster just cities that are ‘inclusive\, safe\, resilient and sustainable’. Although there is a shared commitment to socio-spatial justice\, how this can be realised is more complicated. This workshop aims to draw representatives from academic institutions\, civil society and the public sector together to discuss how just cities are understood\, and how to achieve them.\nMistra Urban Futures is made up of five local interaction platforms in four cities around the world: Cape Town (based at ACC)\, Gothenburg\, Greater Manchester\, Kisumu and Malmö. The purpose is to develop coproduced\, collaborative and comparative research across the cities. This workshop forms part of this research process.\nFor more information\, contact Rike Sitas on rike.sitas@uct.ac.za. URL:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/event/realising-just-city/ LOCATION:Studio 1\, Environmental and Geographical Sciences Building\, Upper Campus\, UCT\, Cape Town\, South Africa CATEGORIES:Conferences & Workshops,Workshop ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/land_luzan_20140708_1172-960x640.jpg GEO:-33.9375585;18.4721169 X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Studio 1 Environmental and Geographical Sciences Building Upper Campus UCT Cape Town South Africa;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=Environmental and Geographical Sciences Building\, Upper Campus\, UCT:geo:18.4721169,-33.9375585 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20160415T140000 DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20160415T160000 DTSTAMP:20260604T094212 CREATED:20160411T095948Z LAST-MODIFIED:20160411T100017Z UID:10001897-1460728800-1460736000@www.africancentreforcities.net SUMMARY:Understanding Urban Governance: Entry Points for Climate Science DESCRIPTION:You are invited to attend an FCFA online seminar on Understanding Urban Governance:\nEntry Points for Climate Science\n Friday\, April 15\, 2016 from 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM (SAST)\nOnline live web cast and in-person at Park Inn Radison\, Newlands\, Cape Town. \nRegistration instructions\nTo attend online or in-person\, please follow this link to register.\n\nFor online attendees: A URL for the webcast will be emailed to you an hour before the event starts.\nFor in-person attendees: Online registration does not guarantee a seat. Once registered\, the FCFA team will be in touch to confirm availability of seating.\n\nDescription: \nThis seminar presents a critical discussion on approaches for understanding the governance structures that shape medium-term development decisions taken in various African contexts and at various scales (e.g. city region\, catchment\, and national). More specifically\, the session aims to stimulate engagement and debate around these approaches to understanding urban governance and decision-making pathways\, and finding entry points for climate information to inform development decisions at the city-region scale. The aim is to sharpen the theoretical underpinnings and the practical application of these approaches within the Future Climate for Africa programme.\nChair: \nStef Raubenheimer – SouthSouthNorth \nSpeakers:\nDr Hannah Baleta – Pegasys Consulting\nProf Dianne Scott – University of Cape Town\, African Centre for Cities\nDr Glibert Siame – University of Zambia\nDr Tasila Banda – Zambia EC-LEDS Programme\nDiscussant:\nProf Sue Parnell – University of Cape Town\, African Centre for Cities\nThe seminar is structured around a panel discussion that will:\n\nPresent two approaches to understanding urban governance and decision-making;\nApply these to the case study of the Lusaka city-region;\nField critical feedback from practitioners working on climate resilience in Lusaka; and\nClose with reflections from the discussant and open Q&A session with in-person and online attendees.\n\nShare this event on Facebook and Twitter.\nWe hope you can make it!\nBest wishes\nFuture Climate for Africa and FRACTAL URL:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/event/understanding-urban-governance-entry-points-climate-science/ CATEGORIES:Conferences & Workshops ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Screen-Shot-2016-04-11-at-11.59.05-AM.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20160413T150000 DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20160413T163000 DTSTAMP:20260604T094212 CREATED:20160323T101544Z LAST-MODIFIED:20160411T081448Z UID:10001894-1460559600-1460565000@www.africancentreforcities.net SUMMARY:The urban network strategy - the panacea for urban and developmental ills? DESCRIPTION:The ACC looks forward to generating a stimulating debate about the Cities Support Programme by hosting Dr Paul Hendler from iNSITE who will be presenting a paper co-authored by himself and Dr Arumugam Pillay (who will be present via Skype) entitled\, ‘The urban network strategy – the panacea for urban and developmental ills’.\nAbstract\nThe National Treasury\, through its Cities Support Programme (CSP)\, intends to get the eight metropolitan municipalities to run more efficiently\, become financially and ecologically sustainable and give the majority of their citizens access to employment and public and social amenities. The weakness of the strategy is its assumption of the inevitable upswing in the global business cycle\, the ability of cities to afford the infrastructure required for ongoing in-migration and the fact that it omits describing how broad-based\, inclusive and eco-sensitive economic development with significant employment opportunities should happen. The missing factor in the programme is state intervention aimed at economic restructuring: it simply assumes that both job creation and green manufacturing will happen without explaining how. Instead\, the paper argues that the challenge is to address the broader political economy context of sluggish growth\, low wages and high unemployment\, in order to support key CSP objectives. In this regard\, the paper identifies specifically the need for municipalities as public sector developers to directly support2 improved quality of life and work opportunities for both the urban and rural working classes\, and for the state to stem the outflow of funds from the country\, re-direct investment funds away from finance\, insurance and real estate (the jobless growth sectors) and into manufacturing and implement a coherent rural development based on technical and financial support for feasible ‘accumulation from below’ by current smallholder farmers and households in traditional areas.\nBio\nDr Paul Hendler is an extraordinary senior lecturer at the University of Stellenbosch’s School of Public Management\, and a founder of iNSITE that is working (through the Sustainability Institute\, Stellenbosch University) on the formulation of a financial mechanism for the investment of a civil society green savings fund in South Africa. Hendler has been researching the intersection of housing and the political economy for over 30 years in South Africa\, with an emphasis on critiquing neoliberal development.\nDr Arumugam (Morgan) Pillay is CEO of The Ekurhuleni Development Company. He is responsible for delivery of finance to and Social Housing. Pillay has almost 25 years of experience in Infrastructure Development and Finance within the government sector. Having worked at the National Housing Finance Corporation\, Standard Corporate and Merchant Bank\, and advising national and provincial government departments\, he is one of South Africa’s housing finance experts that has both theoretical and practical experience in the sector. URL:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/event/critique-of-the-csp/ LOCATION:Seminar Room 1\, Environmental & Geographical Sciences Building\, UCT Upper Campus CATEGORIES:Seminar Series ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/csp-coj-tod-8-oct-2013-samantha-naidu-4-638.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20160413 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20160415 DTSTAMP:20260604T094212 CREATED:20160504T100226Z LAST-MODIFIED:20160504T102327Z UID:10001900-1460505600-1460678399@www.africancentreforcities.net SUMMARY:Conference: Giving Voice to Women Traders in the Informal Economy DESCRIPTION:On 13 and 14 April 2016\, a conference exclusively for women traders – believed to be the first of its kind in Durban – was held with the support of the Foundation for Human Rights and implemented by Legal Resources Centre (LRC) and Asiye eTafuleni (AeT). The conference deliberated on the significance\, opportunities and challenges faced by women traders\, and sought to increase awareness of laws and traders’ rights under the theme: “Towards an inclusive economy: the voice of women informal traders.”\nRead more at http://aet.org.za.www12.flk1.host-h.net/conference-giving-voice-to-women-traders-in-the-informal-economy/ URL:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/event/conference-giving-voice-women-traders-informal-economy/ LOCATION:Unnamed Venue\, Durban\, South Africa CATEGORIES:Conferences & Workshops ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Screen-Shot-2016-05-04-at-11.57.19-AM.png GEO:-29.8586804;31.0218404 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20160322T130000 DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20160322T140000 DTSTAMP:20260604T094212 CREATED:20160316T055921Z LAST-MODIFIED:20160316T063439Z UID:10001823-1458651600-1458655200@www.africancentreforcities.net SUMMARY:Migration and African Cities DESCRIPTION:Oliver Bakewell\, from the International Migration Institute\, at the University of Oxford\, will be on the changing relationship between migration\, diasporas and global development in a fascinating Brown Bag titled\, Migration and African Cities.\nOverview:\nThis presentation will look at different aspects of the complex relationship migration and African cities\, highlighting points of comparison and contrast with other regions of the world. Over the last century\, rural-urban migration has played a major part in the growth of African cities\, stimulating many debates about people’s cultural values and social practices changes as they move to urban areas. More recently\, there has been much concern about the role of some African cities as a transit point prior to international migration – the city as a stepping stone. Two other aspects have been less explored. First\, there is the role of cities as gateways into global markets\, which rely on the mobility of African traders across the globe –most notably to China in recent years. Second\, there is the movement across Africa that is creating distinctive ‘foreign’ populations to be found in cities in every part of the continent. Despite (or perhaps because of) having no policy\, ‘integration’ is taking place and people are becoming part of new societies\, contributing to the diversity and dynamism of many African cities.\n \nAbout the Speaker:\nOliver Bakewell’s research is centred on a broad interest in the changing relationship between migration\, diasporas and global development. This encompasses a number of strands which he is following through various research activities: social theory and migration; examining the boundaries between ‘forced’ and ‘voluntary’ migration; mobility within sub-Saharan Africa; and African borderlands.\n\nHe is the principal investigator for the project Theorising the Evolution of European Migration Systems (THEMIS) funded by NORFACE\, which examines the conditions that encourage initial moves by pioneer migrants to become established migration system. He is also leading research into the formation of African diasporas within the African continent as part of the Oxford Diasporas Programme. In addition\, he is undertaking ongoing research into the changing patterns of cross-border movements between Angola and western Zambia from the mid 1990s to today.\n\nOliver is Co-Director and Senior Research Officer\, and an Associate Professor at the International Migration Institute\, University of Oxford holds a PhD and MSc in Development Studies from the University of Bath and a BA in Mathematics from the University of Cambridge. He has spent many years working with migrants and refugees as both a researcher and practitioner with a range of development and humanitarian NGOs. Immediately prior to joining ODID\, he was Senior Researcher at the International NGO Training and Researcher Centre (INTRAC) in Oxford. URL:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/event/migration-and-african-cities/ LOCATION:African Centre for Cities\, UCT Upper Campus\, Cape Town\, South Africa ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Migration-BB.png GEO:-33.9592646;18.4607236 X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=African Centre for Cities UCT Upper Campus Cape Town South Africa;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=UCT Upper Campus:geo:18.4607236,-33.9592646 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20160322T090000 DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20160323T170000 DTSTAMP:20260604T094212 CREATED:20160405T125453Z LAST-MODIFIED:20160405T125453Z UID:10001895-1458637200-1458752400@www.africancentreforcities.net SUMMARY:Public talk and film screening in Namibia\, and workshop on Global South Urbanism. DESCRIPTION:Our film “One Table Two Elephants” (work in progress version) will be screened and I will hold a discussion afterwards on 22 March 2016 here at NUST – Namibia University of Science and Technology. Tomorrow we are organising a workshop on Global South Urbanism and I am giving a lunch lecture. My great hosts are Guillermo Delgado and Phillip Luhl at NUST who I met at Antipode workshop in Durban some cheap back. See programme below.\nDr. Henrik Ernstson will be visiting the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) as part of the Integrated Land Management Institute (ILMI) “Land\, livelihoods and housing” programme.\nHe will be engaging with staff\, faculty and students of the university\, as well as invited guests\, on issues relating to urbanisation\, environmental humanities\, political ecology\, and global south urbanism.\n \nDRAFT PROGRAMME\nTuesday March 22\n9h00-15h00\nCITY WALK\nWith students from the Department of Architecture and Spatial Planning (DASP).\nLed by Guillermo Delgado and Phillip Lühl\, with comments from Henrik Ernstson.\nThe day will start at the foyer of the Department of Architecture and Spatial Planning with a brief introduction by Guillermo Delgado and Phillip Lühl. We will then leave with a mini-bus to different places in the city where we will walk through some of the key localities that define the socio-spatial condition of contemporary Windhoek.\n18h00\nFILM SCREENING: “One Table\, Two Elephants”\nVenue: School of Mining auditorium\, NUST\nComments by Jacques Mushaandja (JMAC) and Phillip Lühl (DASP).\nWednesday 23 March\n8h30-12h30\nWorkshop of Global South Urbanisms: PART 1\nWorkshop with students and faculty from the various courses at DASP and DLPS:\nThe workshop will be an opportunity to think together how research and teaching can be done in such a way that it “re-encounters” the African/Global South city.\n12h30\nLUNCH LECTURE: Global South Urbanisms and Situated Ecologies\nVenue: Foyer\, Department of Architecture and Spatial Planning (DASP)\nIn this talk Dr Henrik Ernstson will situate his work on urban ecology within the wider literature on Global South/postcolonial urbanism. This will include his studies in Cape Town on ways of knowing urban nature that deals with deep-seated knowledge politics that postapartheid and postcolonial cities requires us to face and which can be used as possible entry points to politicise urban environments. He will also describe a newly funded project on urban infrastructure and the politics around waste and sanitation management in Kampala\, Uganda. As a theoretical underpinning\, he will elaborate on a wider collaborative effort to build a Situated Urban Political Ecologies approach which also entails to support the building of critical urban scholarship among especially younger scholars of Africa with PhD courses and workshops.\n14h30-17h00\nWorkshop of Global South Urbanisms: PART 2\nWorkshop with students and faculty from the various courses at DASP and DLPS:\nThe workshop will be an opportunity to think together how research and teaching can be done in such a way that it “re-encounters” the African/Global South city. URL:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/event/public-talk-film-screening-namibia-workshop-global-south-urbanism-2/ LOCATION:Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST)\, Namibia ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/1T2E-Film-Essay-Heland-Ernstson.jpg GEO:-22.95764;18.49041 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20160315T130000 DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20160315T140000 DTSTAMP:20260604T094212 CREATED:20160222T081956Z LAST-MODIFIED:20160229T092542Z UID:10001820-1458046800-1458050400@www.africancentreforcities.net SUMMARY:Visualising the Smart City DESCRIPTION:The ACC is happy to announce the first brown bag event for 2016: Visualising the Smart City with Professor Gillian Rose.\nOverview:\nDigital technologies of various kinds are now the means through which many cities are made visible and their spatialities negotiated. From casual snaps shared on Instagram to elaborate photo-realistic visualisations\, digital technologies for making\, distributing and viewing cities are more and more pervasive. This talk will explore some of the implications of that digitisation for the cultural politics of representation. What and who is being made visible in these digitally mediated cities\, and how? What forms of urban materiality\, spatiality and sociality are pictured and performed? And how should that picturing be theorised? The talk will suggest that cities and their inhabitants are increasingly visualised through a mobile fluid ‘digital visuality’\, which is in fact evident across a number of visual practices. It will also propose that critical accounts of such visuality should focus less on readings of images and more on considering the (geographically-specific) flows and frictions of images.\nBio:\nGillian Rose is Professor of Cultural Geography at The Open University\, UK\, and a Fellow of the British Academy. Her current research interests focus on contemporary digital visual culture\, urban spatialities and visual research methodologies. Her most recent funded research (with Monica Degen) examined how architects work with digital visualising technologies in designing urban redevelopment projects\, and she is extending this work into the digital mediation of urban spaces more broadly\, particularly in the context of ‘smart cities’.\nAs well as a number of papers on images and ways of seeing in urban and domestic spaces\, the fourth edition of her bestselling Visual Methodologies (Sage) will be published in March 2016.\nGillian blogs at visual/method/culture and tweets @ProfGillian. URL:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/event/brown-bag-visualising-the-smart-city/ LOCATION:Seminar Room 1\, EGS Building\, Upper Campus\, University of Cape Town\, University of Cape Town\, Cape Town \, Western Cape\, South Africa ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/download.jpeg GEO:-33.9335226;18.6279539 X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Seminar Room 1 EGS Building Upper Campus University of Cape Town University of Cape Town Cape Town Western Cape South Africa;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=University of Cape Town:geo:18.6279539,-33.9335226 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20160308T150000 DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20160308T163000 DTSTAMP:20260604T094212 CREATED:20160223T080128Z LAST-MODIFIED:20160225T104621Z UID:10001821-1457449200-1457454600@www.africancentreforcities.net SUMMARY:Rethinking Sustainable Cities: from slogan to implementation DESCRIPTION:ACC is excited to host representatives from Mistra Urban Futures who will be presenting on their forthcoming book entitled ‘Rethinking Sustainable Cities: from slogan to implementation’.\nOverview\nMistra Urban Futures’ forthcoming book provides detailed intellectual and practical histories of fair\, green and accessible cities – three key urban characteristics chosen to symbolise the research centre’s approach\, which utilises transdisciplinary co-production methodologies to promote sustainable urban solutions to specific local problems in each of its research platforms. These characteristics suffuse MUF’s work and Strategic Plan for 2016-19. David Simon will explain these agendas\, focusing particularly on the origins and current nature of urban greening discourses and the challenges to implementation to ensure that they make a substantive as opposed to purely marginal or incremental difference. Sue Parnell will do likewise in relation to fair cities.\nBios\nDavid Simon joined Mistra Urban Futures in September 2014 from Royal Holloway\, University of London\, where he still holds a part-time appointment as Professor of Development Geography. He was Head of theGeography Department there from 2008-11. He has vast international experience including grant-funded research on sub-Saharan Africa (especially Namibia\, South Africa\, Kenya and Ghana)\, Asia (especially Sri Lanka\, Thailand and the Philippines)\, the UK and the USA. He has also served as specialist advisor to UN-HABITAT on cities and climate change\, was one of only two academics on the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s specialist Africa Advisory Group prior to its disbandment\, and has consulted for various NGOs and national and international development agencies. Furthermore\, he is a Fellow of the UK Academy of Social Sciences.\nSusan Parnell’s early academic research was in the area of urban historical geography and focussed on the rise of racial residential segregation and the impact of colonialism on urbanisation and town planning in Sub-Saharan Africa. Since 1994 and democracy in South Africa her work has shifted to contemporary urban policy research (local government\, poverty reduction and urban environmental justice). By its nature this research is not been purely academic\, but has involved liasing with local and national government and international donors. Sue is also on the boards of several local NGOs concerned with poverty alleviation\, sustainability and gender equity in post-apartheid South Africa. She serves on a number of national and international advisory research panels relating to urban reconstruction. URL:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/event/rethinking-sustainable-cities-from-slogan-to-implementation/ LOCATION:Studio 5\, Environmental and Geographical Sciences Building\, Upper Campus\, Cape Town\, South Africa CATEGORIES:Lectures,Seminar Series ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/DSC02868.jpeg END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR