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X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://www.africancentreforcities.net
X-WR-CALDESC:Events for African Centre for Cities
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TZID:Africa/Johannesburg
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TZOFFSETFROM:+0200
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DTSTART:20240101T000000
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20260521T130000
DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20260521T143000
DTSTAMP:20260512T063908Z
CREATED:20260512T063908Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260512T063908Z
UID:10005646-1779368400-1779373800@www.africancentreforcities.net
SUMMARY:Urban Research and Practice from the South
DESCRIPTION:This brown bag seminar presents an overview of the Institute of Urban and Territorial Studies (IEUT) at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (PUC)\, one of the leading urban studies institutions in Latin America\, focusing on its trajectory in research\, teaching\, public engagement\, and interdisciplinary urban practice. \nProfessors Macarena Ibarra\, María Luisa Méndez\, and Javier Ruiz-Tagle will briefly discuss their individual research agendas\, teaching experiences\, recent books\, and ongoing Fondecyt projects. The seminar will also introduce three newly awarded Millennium Nuclei in Social Sciences: NUPATS (heritages and social uses\, led by Dr. Ibarra)\, NUMIC (urban insecurity and social cohesion\, led by Dr. Mendez)\, and NUVIV (multidimensional housing studies\, led by Dr. Ruiz-Tagle). Across these initiatives\, the presentation explores shared concerns around inequality\, urban transformation\, housing\, heritage\, conflict\, and critical urban theory in Latin American and Global South contexts. \nMARÍA LUISA MÉNDEZ is a Professor at the Institute of Urban and Territorial Studies\, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. She is the Former Director of the Center for the Study of Conflict and Social Cohesion (COES)\, principal investigator in the Geographies of Conflict research line at the same center\, and author of the books Upper Middle Class Social Reproduction (Palgrave\, 2019)\, The Politics of the Elite (Routledge\, 2023) and The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Global Elites (Oxford University Press\, 2026)\, among others. Currently\, she is member of the National Council for Science\, Technology\, Innovation and Knowledge (CTCI). She is Director of the Nucleus Millenium Insecurity and Urban Cohesion (NUMIC)\, and the Fondecyt Project “The Changing Geographies of Privilege in Contemporary Santiago”. Her research interests include subjective aspects of mobility and class; urban belonging\, insecurities and social conflict. \nMACARENA IBARRA is a Professor at the Institute of Urban and Territorial Studies\, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. She was the principal investigator of the Fondecyt regular project (1161669) 2016–2019\, “The City That Never Was: A Critical Review of City Transformation Plans in the Emergence of Urbanism in Chile (1872–1929)”\, the Fondecyt regular project (1201861) 2020-2023\, “Housing and Urbanism. A critical review of the emergence and development of the ‘planned city’ in Chile (1936-1973)\,” and the ANID competition for research projects on Coronavirus (COVID-19) 2020-2021\, “Housing\, neighborhood and city in the control of epidemics. Social and urban considerations for the formulation of public policies of isolation and social distancing in Chile.” She is currently the principal investigator of the Fondecyt regular project (1241635) 2024-2027\, “The city under dictatorship. Institutionality\, authoritarian modernization and urban planning in Chile (1973-1990)”. She is Director of the Nucleus Millenium Heritages (NUPATS). \nJAVIER RUIZ -TAGLE is Associate Professor at the Institute of Urban and Territorial Studies\, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. He specializes in residential segregation\, housing policy\, neighborhood effects\, urban marginality\, self-managed housing\, urban sociology\, and comparative studies. He has published\, presented\, and won awards for his work in Chile\, the United States\, and Europe. He was Section Editor of the Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Studies (Wiley-Blackwell\, 2019)\, and co-editor of the books Companion to Urban and Regional Studies (Wiley-Blackwell\, 2020) and Urban Marginality and Institutional Effects (RIL\, 2020). He has taught at undergraduate level (Sociology of Large Cities; Housing and Urban Form; Advisory on Residential Self-Management)\, master’s level (Urban Political Economy; Socio-spatial Transformation of Neighborhoods; Housing and Neighborhood; Research Methods)\, and doctoral level (Current Problems in Architecture and Urban Studies). He is also the Head of the Diploma Program in Housing and Neighborhood. Currently\, he is involved in three research projects: (1) principal investigator of a Fondecyt Regular Project (2025-2028) on housing policy and social subjectivation\, (2) adjunct researcher at the Center for Sustainable Urban Development (CEDEUS\, 2025-2030)\, and (3) director of the Millenium Nucleus NUVIV on critical challenges of housing.
URL:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/tribe-events/urban-research-and-practice-from-the-south/
LOCATION:Studio 3\, Environmental & Geographical Science Building\, South Lane\, UCT Upper Campus
CATEGORIES:Brownbags
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Urban-research-and-practice-from-the-south-e1778581840693.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20251118T123000
DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20251118T133000
DTSTAMP:20251112T101855Z
CREATED:20251112T100450Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251112T101855Z
UID:10005634-1763469000-1763472600@www.africancentreforcities.net
SUMMARY:Building Walls to Tame Time: Enclaves and the Enduring Power of Failure
DESCRIPTION:Jason Sumich will present his paper exploring how the construction of enclaves became central to utopian projects of social engineering and how their legacies continue to shape contemporary society despite the failure of these initiatives. Drawing on the case of Maputo\, Mozambique\, he shows how enclaving functions both as a walled remnant of past utopian ambitions and as a proposed solution to current urban challenges\, many of which originate from earlier enclaving efforts. He argues that\, rather than solely reflecting the exclusionary tendencies of contemporary capitalism\, enclaving persists as a highly malleable strategy for exercising power\, even as its outcomes consistently fall short of their intended goals.\n\n\nDATE | Tuesday\, 18 November 2025\nTIME | 12H30 – 13H30\nVENUE | Studio 3\, Environmental and Geographical Science Building\, UCT Upper Campus\n\n\nJason Sumich is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Sociology\, University of Essex. He is a political anthropologist who works on issues of class formation\, post-socialism\, the state\, hegemony\, citizenship\, urban inequality and the politics of enclaving in southern Africa\, primarily Mozambique. His current research explores emerging forms of urban governance and control\, and he is a member of the project ‘Enclaving: Patterns of Global Futures in Three African Cities‘ funded by the Norwegian Research Council.  His monograph\, entitled The Middle Class in Mozambique: The State and the Politics of Transformation in Southern Africa\, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2018.
URL:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/tribe-events/building-walls-to-tame-time-enclaves/
LOCATION:Studio 3\, Environmental & Geographical Science Building\, South Lane\, UCT Upper Campus
CATEGORIES:Brownbags
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Building-Walls-to-Tame-Time-Enclaves-and-the-Enduring-Power-of-Failure--e1762940313621.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20251114T123000
DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20251114T133000
DTSTAMP:20251112T100502Z
CREATED:20251107T134216Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251112T100502Z
UID:10005633-1763123400-1763127000@www.africancentreforcities.net
SUMMARY:Assembling Southern Urbanism: Explorations in Informal Urban Design
DESCRIPTION:Dr Hesam Kamalipour will present his research that explores the intersections of informal urbanism\, urban design\, comparative urbanism\, urban morphology\, and public space. His focus is on addressing the enduring challenge of understanding the complex dynamics of informal urbanism in relation to urban design\, and on exploring how forms of urban informality work within a global context. The presentation also reflects on recent and forthcoming book projects in relation to these themes. \nDATE | Friday\, 14 November 2025\nTIME | 12H30 – 13H30\nVENUE | Studio 3\, Environmental and Geographical Science Building\, UCT Upper Campus\nDr Hesam Kamalipour is a Reader (Associate Professor) in Urban Design and Co-Founding Director of the Public Space Observatory Research Centre at Cardiff University\, where he served as Co-Director of the MA Urban Design programme. He is also the Founding Director of the Informal Urban Design Research Lab and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy\, Advance HE. His work lies at the intersections of urban design\, informal urbanism\, public space\, urban morphology\, and comparative urbanism.
URL:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/tribe-events/assembling-southern-urbanism/
LOCATION:Studio 3\, Environmental & Geographical Science Building\, South Lane\, UCT Upper Campus
CATEGORIES:Brownbags
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Assembling-Southern-Urbanism-Explorations-in-Informal-Urban-Design-e1762522915920.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20251023T130000
DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20251023T140000
DTSTAMP:20251107T134314Z
CREATED:20251016T090903Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251107T134314Z
UID:10005631-1761224400-1761228000@www.africancentreforcities.net
SUMMARY:Hybridisation of Urban Electrical Configurations in Dakar
DESCRIPTION:Tomy Goulding will be sharing her research on the deployment of rooftop PV solar in the Dakar region\, Senegal\, exploring how it transforms the urban utility grid\, in terms of its material\, regulatory\, political\, and social aspects. Drawing on empirical data from nine months’ fieldwork\, and policy document analyses\, this talk examines what social and sociotechnical imaginaries are driving the hybridisation of urban electrical configurations in Dakar. She is interested in how these imaginaries behind hybridisation (interwining of centralised and distributed electric systems) relate to energy and spatial justice. This research highlights that urban energy transitions are shaped not only by sociotechnical\, political\, and territorial dimensions\, but also by deeply rooted social imaginaries. \nTomy is a PhD Student at the Laboratory Techniques\, Territories\, and Societies (LATTS) at Université Gustave Eiffel\, Paris. She is an architect and urban planner. She engages with Urban Studies and Social Technical Sciences (STS) to explore justice in urban energy transitions in African cities.
URL:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/tribe-events/hybridisation-of-urban-electrical-configurations-in-dakar/
LOCATION:Studio 3\, Environmental & Geographical Science Building\, South Lane\, UCT Upper Campus
CATEGORIES:Brownbags
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/The-hybridisation-of-urban-electrical-configurations-in-Dakar-e1762522987868.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20251002T130000
DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20251002T140000
DTSTAMP:20250923T134859Z
CREATED:20250922T122740Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250923T134859Z
UID:10005630-1759410000-1759413600@www.africancentreforcities.net
SUMMARY:Afrotecha.urban brownbag
DESCRIPTION:As ‘Urban October’ kicks off\, ACC’s afrotecha.urban team invites you to a brownbag about youth\, technology and digital cultures in African cities. Drawing on two years of research\, @afrotecha.urban will share what they have learnt about the intersection of youth and technology in urban Africa\, paying particular attention to policy-implementation-scapes; socio-technical value chains from cobalt mines to street corners\, back pockets\, and dump sites; digital ghost(ings)s; and creative methods. They will also give a sneak peek into the project activities unfolding in Durban\, Nairobi\, Cairo and Cape Town.
URL:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/tribe-events/afrotecha-urban-brownbag/
LOCATION:Studio 3\, Environmental & Geographical Science Building\, South Lane\, UCT Upper Campus
CATEGORIES:Brownbags
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/afrotecha-e1758544642339.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20250923T123000
DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20250923T133000
DTSTAMP:20250916T092612Z
CREATED:20250904T062601Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250916T092612Z
UID:10005629-1758630600-1758634200@www.africancentreforcities.net
SUMMARY:Urban redevelopment in Addis Ababa since 2018
DESCRIPTION:Drawing on ongoing research on Addis Ababa’s redevelopment since 2018\, this talk examines how large-scale projects\, walkways\, parks\, museums\, squares\, and high-end real estate are framed through narratives of prosperity and productivity. Beyond material frameworks\, it highlights how moral and ideological idioms present the remaking of urban space in the name of progress and renewal as inevitable. \nBiruk Terrefe is a Lecturer in Politics & Sociology of Africa at the University of Bayreuth. His research lies at the intersection of political science\, development studies\, and geography\, and currently spans two main areas of interest. The first area investigates the relationship between infrastructure and state-building\, particularly how large energy\, transport\, and logistics systems have shaped (and are shaped by) political orders and overlapping sovereignties\, especially in the Horn of Africa. His second area of research focuses on the political and social struggles that arise in cities\, their peripheries\, and hinterlands during rapid urban redevelopment. He holds a PhD from the University of Oxford.
URL:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/tribe-events/biruk-terrefe-brownbag/
LOCATION:Studio 3\, Environmental & Geographical Science Building\, South Lane\, UCT Upper Campus
CATEGORIES:Brownbags
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Urban-Redevelopment-in-Addis-Ababa-since-2018-feat-2-e1756983617198.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20250916T123000
DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20250916T133000
DTSTAMP:20250903T145319Z
CREATED:20250903T145319Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250903T145319Z
UID:10005628-1758025800-1758029400@www.africancentreforcities.net
SUMMARY:Community-Centred Approaches to Age-Friendly and Healthy Urbanism
DESCRIPTION:Dr. Hannah Grove will be sharing her experience of conducting community-centred research in the UK and Ireland\, exploring what makes cities liveable and age-friendly. Using a combination of qualitative\, spatial\, and participatory methods\, her research highlights the importance of engaging with local communities to better understand their everyday realities and to shape age-friendly and healthy environment policy. \nDr. Hannah Grove is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Global Centre on Healthcare & Urbanisation at the University of Oxford\, UK. She is an urban health geographer and planner\, and her research explores how social and physical environments influence health and wellbeing throughout the lifecourse. With experience that bridges academia\, policy\, and practice\, she is interested in how we can co-design environments and communities that promote a good quality of life\, whilst recognising and addressing existing socio-spatial injustices and health inequities. Her work has been published in Social Science & Medicine\, Area\, and Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie.
URL:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/tribe-events/hannah-grove-brownbag/
LOCATION:Studio 3\, Environmental & Geographical Science Building\, South Lane\, UCT Upper Campus
CATEGORIES:Brownbags
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Community-Centred-Approaches-to-Age-Friendly-and-Healthy-Urbanism-e1756967278141.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20250829T123000
DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20250829T133000
DTSTAMP:20250826T123556Z
CREATED:20250826T123556Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250826T123556Z
UID:10005627-1756470600-1756474200@www.africancentreforcities.net
SUMMARY:Examining planning and construction as part of warfare: brownbag seminar by Deen Sharp
DESCRIPTION:This talk explores how urban conflict is shaped not only by destruction but also by practices of construction and planning. While scholarship in urban studies has highlighted the militarisation of cities (Graham 2010; Weizman 2011)\, most analyses continue to focus on visible damage and demolition. Drawing on my edited volumes Open Gaza and Reconstruction as Violence in Assad’s Syria\, I argue for greater attention to how warfare operates through discriminatory planning\, restrictions on materials such as concrete\, surveillance systems\, mobility controls\, and the building of infrastructure and logistical networks. \nThis is not to suggest that all planning is warfare. Distinguishing between\, for example\, mobility restrictions in the United Kingdom and those imposed in Palestine is crucial. Instead\, examining planning and construction as part of warfare allows us to identify specific mechanisms through which conflict urbanises\, recognise when similar techniques appear elsewhere\, and clarify what separates urban conflict from other forms of urban violence. \n\nWHEN: Friday\, 29 August 2025\nTIME: 12:30 – 13:30\nVENUE: Studio 3\, Environmental and Geographical Sciences Building\, Upper Campus\, University of Cape Town\nEMAIL: Tselane.moiloa@uct.ac.za for enquiries\n\nAbout the speaker: \nDeen Sharp is an LSE Visiting Fellow in Human Geography and Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science and an Urban Resilience Advisor for the United Nations Environment Program. He was previously a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the co-director of Terreform\, Center for Advanced Urban Research. Sharp is the co-editor with Claire Panetta of Beyond the Square: Urbanism and the Arab Uprisings (Urban Research\, 2016) and co-editor with Michael Sorkin Open Gaza: Architectures of Hope (Terreform and American University in Cairo Press\, 2021). He has also published in Progress in Human Geography\, Urban Studies and The Journal of Architecture.
URL:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/tribe-events/examining-planning-and-construction-as-part-of-warfare/
LOCATION:Studio 3\, Environmental & Geographical Science Building\, South Lane\, UCT Upper Campus
CATEGORIES:Brownbags
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Examining-planning-and-construction-as-part-of-warfare_ft.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20250515T130000
DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20250515T140000
DTSTAMP:20250512T102310Z
CREATED:20250512T093513Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250512T102310Z
UID:10005624-1747314000-1747317600@www.africancentreforcities.net
SUMMARY:Data to assess development impact of African cities
DESCRIPTION:Ian Palmer will present an ongoing project by Good Governance Africa (GGA)\, that profiles Sub-Saharan African cities with the two-year objective of setting up a database of 30 cities. CGA commenced the project by profiling 10 cities in the SADC region. In the next phase the data will be captured into an interactive database with data focused on multiple sectors reflecting the development status of each city. This will allow for comparisons between cities and\, ultimately\, trends over time for each city. \nThe data includes demographics\, spatial\, social\, economic\, environmental\, institutional\, services and finance. While country-level data is relatively easy to access\, the sources of data on African cities in structured databases is limited and generally oriented towards spatial\, environmental\, and socio-economic information. \nThe intention of the GGA work is to focus on the role of metropolitan government with the emphasis on urban services and local government finances\, where there is a major gap. It is also intended that the database be set up as a tool to be used by city governments\, public entities serving them\, development agencies and researchers. The database will allow for information to be uploaded and reports to be drawn by registered users. \nAbout the speaker: \nlan Palmer has 45 years’ experience in the fields of infrastructure and urban development. He founded PDG\, a leading development consultancy in South Africa\, in 1990\, remaining part of PDG over the subsequent 34 years\, 19 of which he was the managing director. He remains with PDG part-time as an associate and is an Adjunct Professor at the African Centre for Cities.
URL:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/tribe-events/data-to-assess-development-impact-of-african-cities/
LOCATION:Studio 3\, Environmental & Geographical Science Building\, South Lane\, UCT Upper Campus
CATEGORIES:Brownbags
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.africancentreforcities.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Feat_Data-to-assess-development-impact-of-African-cities.jpg
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