Publications
All working papers, studies, policy-related briefs and journal articles from the African Cities Research Consortium can be accessed here.
FEATURED | Accra: City report
Accra is Ghana’s capital and most populous swing voting city and therefore has been a key electoral battle ground for political parties during the past two decades. This report synthesises a set of studies completed by a team of researchers in Accra. These studies used the ACRC’s holistic framework to examine how national and city-level politics, urban systems, and particular configurations of actors have shaped reform processes and their outcomes in the development domains of structural transformation; neighbourhood and district economic development; land and connectivity; housing; and informal settlements.
- All Working Papers
Download peer reviewed articles on urban development challenges in Africa.
Working Paper 22 | Accra: City report
Abdul-Gafaru Abdulai | October 2024 | Working PapersAbstract | View | Download ⇩
Working Paper 21 | Urbanisation, climate change and structural transformation in Accra, Ghana
Michael Danquah, Bazoumana Ouattara, Williams Ohemeng and Alfred Barimah | September 2024 | Working PapersAbstract | View | Download ⇩
Working Paper 20 | Mogadishu: City report
Afyare A Elmi and Faisal N Ali | August 2024 | Working PapersAbstract | View | Download ⇩
Working Paper 19 | Harare: City report
George Masimba and Anna Walnycki | August 2024 | Working PapersAbstract | View | Download ⇩
Working Paper 18 | Housing: Domain report
Miriam Maina, Ezana Haddis Weldeghebrael, Alexandre Apsan Frediani and Ola Uduku | July 2024 | Working PapersAbstract | View | Download ⇩
Working Paper 17 | Youth and capability development: Domain report
Olha Homonchuk, Elizabeth Dessie, Nicola Banks, Katja Starc Card, Susan Nicolai, Nansozi K Muwanga, Imrana Buba, Zainab Hassan, Haja R Wurie and Eyob Balcha Gebremariam | July 2024 | Working PapersAbstract | View | Download ⇩
Working Paper 16 | Freetown: City report
Joseph M Macarthy, Kars de Bruijne, Felix Marco Conteh, Jamie Hitchen, Braima Koroma and Francis Reffell | June 2024 | Working PapersAbstract | View | Download ⇩
Working Paper 15 | Health, wellbeing and nutrition: Domain report
Cecilia Tacoli, Rachel Tolhurst, Paul Currie, Henry Bazira, Wiseman Chijere Chirwa, Lamech Malekano Chimphero, Ayagirwelarha Cishibanji, Katy Davis, Mary H Hodges, Muallem Kamara, Liliane Nabintu Kabagale, Regina Mamidy Yillah, Veronica Mwangi, Inviolata Njoroge, Bossisi Nkuba, Andrew Gerald Omoding, Lilian Otiso, Samuel Owuor, Nicola Rule, Gloria Seruwagi, Maria Ssematiko, Sia Tengbea and Hamid Turay | June 2024 | Working PapersAbstract | View | Download ⇩
Working Paper 14 | Maiduguri: City report
Imrana Buba, Abubakar K Monguno, Haruna Ayuba, Kingsley L Madueke and Stephen B Ajadi | May 2024 | Working PapersAbstract | View | Download ⇩
Working Paper 13 | Lilongwe: City report
Donald Brown, Mtafu Manda and Tuntu Mwalyambwile | May 2024 | Working PapersAbstract | View | Download ⇩
Working Paper 12 | Land and connectivity: Domain report
Tom Goodfellow, Abdifatah Tahir, Liza Rose Cirolia and Ransford Acheampong | May 2024 | Working PapersAbstract | View | Download ⇩
Working Paper 11 | “My business challenges are far worse right now, I will go for Covid-19 vaccine later”: Post-pandemic lessons from the Covid-19 vaccine rollout in informal settlements in Harare, Kampala, Lilongwe and Nairobi
Kate Lines, Stanley Dzimadzi, Henrik Ernstson, Joseph Kimani, Michelle Koyaro, Zilire Luka, Tarisai Manyowa, George Masimba Nyama, Patience Mudimu, Sheila Muganyi, Paul Isolo Mukwaya, Viola Nuwahereza, Teurai Nyamangara, Junior Alves Sebbanja, Elvira Songoro, Hakimu Sseviiri, Alice Sverdlik, Jane Wairutu and Happiness Zidana | April 2024 | Working PapersAbstract | View | Download ⇩
Working Paper 10 | African cities in the wake of Covid-19: Tracing multiple inequalities, official responses and grassroots strategies in Harare, Kampala, Lilongwe and Nairobi
Alice Sverdlik, Stanley Dzimadzi, Henrik Ernstson, Joseph Kimani, Michelle Koyaro, Kate Lines, Zilire Luka, Tarisai Manyowa, George Masimba Nyama, Xola Mteto, Patience Mudimu, Sheila Muganyi, Paul Isolo Mukwaya, Viola Nuwahereza, Teurai Nyamangara, Junior Alves Sebbanja, Elvira Songoro, Hakimu Sseviiri, James Tayler, Jane Wairutu and Happiness Zidana | April 2024 | Working PapersAbstract | View | Download ⇩
Working Paper 9 | Informal settlements: Domain report
Smith Ouma, Daniela Cocco Beltrame, Diana Mitlin and Beth Chitekwe-Biti | February 2024 | Working PapersAbstract | View | Download ⇩
Working Paper 8 | Improving health, wellbeing and nutrition: What limits or enables the uptake of healthy diets in Nairobi’s informal settlements?
Samuel Owuor, Lilian Otiso, Veronica Mwangi and Inviolata Njoroge | February 2024 | Working PapersAbstract | View | Download ⇩
Working Paper 7 | Safety and security: Domain report
Patience Adzande, Paula Meth and Stephen Commins | February 2024 | Working PapersAbstract | View | Download ⇩
Working Paper 6 | Data portraits: Covid-19 vaccine rollout in informal settlements in Harare, Kampala, Lilongwe and Mumbai
Kate Lines, Stanley Dzimadzi, Thomas Karakadzai, Edris Lubega, Diana Mitlin, Patience Mudimu-Matsangaise, Vinodkumar Rao, Junior Alves Sebbanja and Happiness Zidana | October 2022 | Working PapersAbstract | View | Download ⇩
Working Paper 5 | Towards a comparative understanding of community-led and collaborative responses to Covid-19 in Kampala, Mogadishu and Nairobi
Alice Sverdlik, Henrik Ernstson, Paul Mukwaya, Jane Wairutu and Jackie Waithaka | June 2022 | Working PapersAbstract | View | Download ⇩
Working Paper 4 | Understanding the politics of Covid-19 in Kampala, Nairobi and Mogadishu: A political settlements approach
Badru Bukenya, Tim Kelsall, Jacqueline Klopp, Paul Mukwaya, Tonny Oyana, Eliud Wekesa and Abdhalah Ziraba | May 2022 | Working PapersAbstract | View | Download ⇩
Working Paper 3 | Annotated bibliography on urban politics and political economy in African cities
Lewis Abedi Asante | Dec 2021 | Working PapersAbstract | View | Download ⇩
Working Paper 2 | Uneven development, politics and governance in urban Africa: An analytical literature review
Michaela Collord, Tom Goodfellow and Lewis Abedi Asante | Nov 2021 | Working PapersAbstract | View | Download ⇩
Working Paper 1 | Politics, systems and domains: A conceptual framework for the African Cities Research Consortium
Tim Kelsall, Diana Mitlin, Seth Schindler and Sam Hickey | Sep 2021 | Working PapersAbstract | View | Download ⇩
- Journal Articles + Book Chapters
Making money moves: Rural women, returnees, and renegotiations of sex work through the street in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Gender & Development | September 2024 | Elizabeth DessieView (open access)
Living through the future: rural youth, livelihoods and the production of gendered aspirations in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
International Development Planning Review | August 2024 | Elizabeth DessieRoad corridors as real estate frontiers: The new urban geographies of rentier capitalism in Africa
Antipode | July 2024 | Tom Gillespie and Baraka MwauView (open access)
Informality, gender, and alternative citizenship: The lives and livelihoods of rural migrant youth in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
In Young People in the Global South: Voice, Agency and Citizenship | 2024 | Elizabeth DessieFight against indiscipline? The governance of street trader displacements in Oshodi Market, Lagos
Geoforum | December 2023 | Ademola OmoegunRing roads, revived plans & plotted practice: The multiple makings of Nairobi’s urban periphery
Habitat International | December 2023 | Miriam Maina and Liza CiroliaView (open access)
Opportunistic obedient resistance: “Taking the state at its word” in resisting state-led inner-city redevelopment in Addis Ababa
Political Geography | November 2023 | Ezana Haddis WeldeghebraelView (open access)
Ascendant recentralisation: the politics of urban governance and institutional configurations in Nairobi
Journal of East African Studies | November 2023 | Smith OumaView (open access)
Post-conflict statecraft, land governance and exclusion in Hargeisa, Somaliland
Environment & Urbanization | October 2023 | Abdifatah Ismael TahirView (open access)
Participation as ‘city-making’: a critical assessment of participatory planning in the Mukuru Special Planning Area in Nairobi, Kenya
Environment & Urbanization | October 2023 | Smith OumaView (open access)
Covid-19 vaccine rollout: data from informal settlements in Harare, Kampala, Lilongwe and Mumbai
Environment & Urbanization | February 2023 | Kate Lines, Stanley Dzimadzi, Edris Lubega, Patience Mudimu-Matsangaise, Vinodkumar Rao, Junior Alves Sebbanja, Happiness Zidana and Diana MitlinView (open access)
Realising rights in complex informal settlements contexts: The case of Mukuru informal settlements, Nairobi
In Reimagining Urban Planning in Africa | 2023 | Smith OumaElectoral politics and violence in Somalia: Implications for livability in Mogadishu
Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies | 2022 | Abdifatah Ismael TahirView (open access)
The contribution of reform coalitions to inclusion and equity: Lessons from urban social movements
Area Development and Policy | December 2022 | Diana MitlinView (open access)
Legal pluralism, obscure reforms and adjudication of land conflicts in Hargeisa, Somaliland
Land Use Policy | September 2022 | Abdifatah Ismael Tahir - City Research
Accra: City research brief
October 2024 | Research BriefAccra: City report
Abdul-Gafaru Abdulai | October 2024 | City ReportAbstract | View | Download ⇩
Urbanisation, climate change and structural transformation in Accra, Ghana
Michael Danquah, Bazoumana Ouattara, Williams Ohemeng and Alfred Barimah | September 2024 | City Domain ReportAbstract | View | Download ⇩
Mogadishu: City research brief
August 2024 | Research BriefMogadishu: City report
Afyare A Elmi and Faisal N Ali | August 2024 | City ReportAbstract | View | Download ⇩
Harare: City research brief
August 2024 | Research BriefHarare: City report
George Masimba and Anna Walnycki | August 2024 | City ReportAbstract | View | Download ⇩
Freetown: City research brief
June 2024 | Research BriefFreetown: City report
Joseph M Macarthy, Kars de Bruijne, Felix Marco Conteh, Jamie Hitchen, Braima Koroma and Francis Reffell | June 2024 | City ReportAbstract | View | Download ⇩
Maiduguri: City research brief
May 2024 | Research BriefMaiduguri: City report
Imrana Buba, Abubakar K Monguno, Haruna Ayuba, Kingsley L Madueke and Stephen B Ajadi | May 2024 | City ReportAbstract | View | Download ⇩
Lilongwe: City research brief
May 2024 | Research BriefLilongwe: City report
Donald Brown, Mtafu Manda and Tuntu Mwalyambwile | May 2024 | City ReportAbstract | View | Download ⇩
Improving health, wellbeing and nutrition: What limits or enables the uptake of healthy diets in Nairobi’s informal settlements?
Samuel Owuor, Lilian Otiso, Veronica Mwangi and Inviolata Njoroge | February 2024 | City Domain ReportAbstract | View | Download ⇩
Accra: City Scoping Study
Ransford A. Acheampong | June 2021 | City Scoping StudiesAddis Ababa: City Scoping Study
Ezana Haddis Weldeghebrael | June 2021 | City Scoping StudiesBukavu: City Scoping Study
Aymar Nyenyezi Bisoka, Emery Mushagalusa Mudinga and Tom De Herdt | June 2021 | City Scoping StudiesDar es Salaam: City Scoping Study
Milla Nyyssölä, Tim Kelsall and Tim Ndezi | Jun 2021 | City Scoping StudiesFreetown: City Scoping Study
Alexandre Apsan Frediani | June 2021 | City Scoping StudiesHarare: City Scoping Study
George Masimba | June 2021 | City Scoping StudiesKampala: City Scoping Study
Henrik Ernstson and Paul Mukwaya | December 2021 | City Scoping StudiesKhartoum: City Scoping Study
Enrico Ille and Griet Steel | June 2021 | City Scoping StudiesLagos: City Scoping Study
Ola Uduku, Taibat Lawanson and Oghenetega Ogodo | June 2021 | City Scoping StudiesLilongwe: City Scoping Study
Kate Strachan, Jessica Kavonic, Tim Kelsall and Tom Hart | June 2021 | City Scoping StudiesMaiduguri: City Scoping Study
Marissa Bell and Katja Starc Card | June 2021 | City Scoping StudiesMogadishu: City Scoping Study
Lucy Earle | June 2021 | City Scoping StudiesNairobi: City Scoping Study
Alice Sverdlik | June 2021 | City Scoping Studies - Domain Research
Urbanisation, climate change and structural transformation in Accra, Ghana
Michael Danquah, Bazoumana Ouattara, Williams Ohemeng and Alfred Barimah | September 2024 | City Domain ReportAbstract | View | Download ⇩
Housing: Research summary
Miriam Maina, Ezana Haddis Weldeghebrael, Alexandre Apsan Frediani and Ola Uduku | July 2024 | Research SummaryHousing: Domain report
Miriam Maina, Ezana Haddis Weldeghebrael, Alexandre Apsan Frediani and Ola Uduku | July 2024 | Domain ReportAbstract | View | Download ⇩
Youth and capability development: Research summary
Olha Homonchuk, Elizabeth Dessie, Nicola Banks, Katja Starc Card, Susan Nicolai, Nansozi K Muwanga, Imrana Buba, Zainab Hassan, Haja R Wurie and Eyob Balcha Gebremariam | July 2024 | Research SummaryYouth and capability development: Domain report
Olha Homonchuk, Elizabeth Dessie, Nicola Banks, Katja Starc Card, Susan Nicolai, Nansozi K Muwanga, Imrana Buba, Zainab Hassan, Haja R Wurie and Eyob Balcha Gebremariam | July 2024 | Domain ReportAbstract | View | Download ⇩
Health, wellbeing and nutrition: Research summary
Cecilia Tacoli, Rachel Tolhurst and Paul Currie | June 2024 | Research SummaryHealth, wellbeing and nutrition: Domain report
Cecilia Tacoli, Rachel Tolhurst, Paul Currie, Henry Bazira, Wiseman Chijere Chirwa, Lamech Malekano Chimphero, Ayagirwelarha Cishibanji, Katy Davis, Mary H Hodges, Muallem Kamara, Liliane Nabintu Kabagale, Regina Mamidy Yillah, Veronica Mwangi, Inviolata Njoroge, Bossisi Nkuba, Andrew Gerald Omoding, Lilian Otiso, Samuel Owuor, Nicola Rule, Gloria Seruwagi, Maria Ssematiko, Sia Tengbea and Hamid Turay | June 2024 | Domain ReportAbstract | View | Download ⇩
Land and connectivity: Research summary
Tom Goodfellow, Abdifatah Tahir, Liza Rose Cirolia and Ransford Acheampong | May 2024 | Research SummaryLand and connectivity: Domain report
Tom Goodfellow, Abdifatah Tahir, Liza Rose Cirolia and Ransford Acheampong | May 2024 | Domain ReportAbstract | View | Download ⇩
Informal settlements: Research summary
Smith Ouma, Daniela Cocco Beltrame, Diana Mitlin and Beth Chitekwe-Biti | February 2024 | Research SummaryInformal settlements: Domain report
Smith Ouma, Daniela Cocco Beltrame, Diana Mitlin and Beth Chitekwe-Biti | February 2024 | Domain ReportAbstract | View | Download ⇩
Improving health, wellbeing and nutrition: What limits or enables the uptake of healthy diets in Nairobi’s informal settlements?
Samuel Owuor, Lilian Otiso, Veronica Mwangi and Inviolata Njoroge | February 2024 | City Domain ReportAbstract | View | Download ⇩
Safety and security: Research summary
Patience Adzande, Paula Meth and Stephen Commins | February 2024 | Research SummarySafety and security: Domain report
Patience Adzande, Paula Meth and Stephen Commins | February 2024 | Domain ReportAbstract | View | Download ⇩
- Reports + Briefings
Download key background research reports and briefing materials from the African Cities Research Consortium.
ACRC | Accra: City research brief
October 2024 | Research BriefACRC | Mogadishu: City research brief
August 2024 | Research BriefACRC | Harare: City research brief
August 2024 | Research BriefACRC | Housing: Research summary
Miriam Maina, Ezana Haddis Weldeghebrael, Alexandre Apsan Frediani and Ola Uduku | July 2024 | Research SummaryACRC | Youth and capability development: Research summary
Olha Homonchuk, Elizabeth Dessie, Nicola Banks, Katja Starc Card, Susan Nicolai, Nansozi K Muwanga, Imrana Buba, Zainab Hassan, Haja R Wurie and Eyob Balcha Gebremariam | July 2024 | Research SummaryACRC | Freetown: City research brief
June 2024 | Research BriefACRC | Health, wellbeing and nutrition: Research summary
Cecilia Tacoli, Rachel Tolhurst and Paul Currie | June 2024 | Research SummaryACRC | Maiduguri: City research brief
May 2024 | Research BriefACRC | Land and connectivity: Research summary
Tom Goodfellow, Abdifatah Tahir, Liza Rose Cirolia and Ransford Acheampong | May 2024 | Research SummaryACRC | Lilongwe: City research brief
May 2024 | Research BriefACRC | Informal settlements: Research summary
Smith Ouma, Daniela Cocco Beltrame, Diana Mitlin and Beth Chitekwe-Biti | February 2024 | Research SummaryACRC | Building a shared approach to action research
Compiled by Irene Vance | February 2024 | Briefing PaperACRC | Safety and security: Research summary
Patience Adzande, Paula Meth and Stephen Commins | February 2024 | Research SummaryACRC | Decolonising ACRC report
Edwin Kibui Rwigi | October 2023 | Internal ReportCovid Collective | Redefining urban social protection programmes in Malawi: Lessons from the Covid-19 Emergency Urban Cash Intervention (CUCI)
Happiness Zidana and Zilire Luka | September 2023 | Policy Brief
Covid Collective | Informal settlement communities as first responders to disasters: Covid-19 pandemic experiences in Harare
Tarisai Manyowa, Sheila Muganyi and Teurai Nyamangara | September 2023 | Policy BriefCovid Collective | Nairobi in the wake of Covid-19: Civil society organisations key to building resilient capacities
Michelle Koyaro, Elvira Songoro, Jane Wairutu and Joseph Kimani | August 2023 | Policy BriefCovid Collective | Covid-19 effects and responses in Kampala’s informal sector: Promises for social justice and resilient livelihoods in the face of multiple crises
Hakimu Sseviiri, Paul Isolo Mukwaya, Viola Nuwahereza and Junior Alves Sebbanja | June 2023 | Policy BriefACRC | Decolonisation temperature check survey results
May 2023 | Internal ReportACRC | Evidence-informed decisionmaking to spur action in Nairobi
Michelle Koyaro, Charity Mwangi, Joseph Kimani, Rashid Mutua and Nancy Njoki | March 2023 | Workshop ReportACRC | Nairobi research progress and collaborations workshop
Michelle Koyaro, Charity Mwangi and Joseph Kimani | November 2022 | Workshop ReportACRC | Lagos development vision leaves the citizens behind
Taibat Lawanson | November 2022 | Research BriefCovid Collective | The politics of Covid responses in African cities: Lilongwe
Tuntufye Mwalyambwire and Thoko Sambakunsi | August 2022 | Briefing PaperCovid Collective | Towards a comparative understanding of community-led and collaborative responses to Covid-19 in Mogadishu
Henrik Ernstson and Alice Sverdlik | June 2022 | Briefing PaperCovid Collective | Towards a comparative understanding of community-led and collaborative responses to Covid-19 in Kampala
Alice Sverdlik, Henrik Ernstson and Paul Mukwaya | June 2022 | Briefing PaperCovid Collective | Understanding community-led and collaborative responses to Covid-19 in Nairobi
Alice Sverdlik, Henrik Ernstson, Jane Wairutu and Jackie Waithaka | June 2022 | Briefing PaperCovid Collective | Covid-19 response in Nairobi: A political settlements approach
Jacqueline Klopp, Eliud Wekesa and Abdhalah Ziraba | June 2022 | Briefing PaperCovid Collective | Politics and Covid-19 in Kampala
Badru Bukenya, Paul Mukwaya and Tonny Oyana | May 2022 | Briefing PaperAfrican Cities Research Consortium | Explainer Leaflet
African Cities | August 2022 | GeneralAfrican Cities Research Consortium | Two-Page Summary
African Cities | April 2021 | General
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