Transport, Transgression and Politics in African Cities

Transport, Transgression and Politics in African Cities
Author: Daniel E. Agbiboa
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 311
Release: 2018-09-03
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 135123420X

This collection of field-based case-studies examines the role and contributions of Africa’s informal public transport (also referred to as paratransit) to the production of city forms and urban economies, as well as the voices, experiences, and survival tactics of its poor and stigmatised workforce. With attention to the question of what a micro-level analysis of the organisation and politics of informal public transport in urbanizing Africa might tell us about the precarious existence and agency of its informal workforce, it explores the political and socio-economic conditions of contemporary African cities, spanning from Nairobi and Dar es Salaam to Harare, Cape Town, Kinshasa and Lagos. Mapping, analysing and comparing the everyday experiences of informal transport operators across the continent, this book sheds light on the multiple challenges facing Africa’s informal transport workers today, as they negotiate the contours of city life, expand their horizons of possibility and make the most of their time. It thus offers directions for more effective policy response to urban public transport, which is changing fundamentally and rapidly in light of neoliberal urban planning strategies and ‘World Class’ city ambitions.

They Eat Our Sweat

They Eat Our Sweat
Author: Daniel E. Agbiboa
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 279
Release: 2022
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0198861540

Accounts of corruption in Africa and the Global South are generally overly simplistic and macro-oriented, and commonly disconnect everyday (petty) corruption from political (grand) corruption. In contrast to this tendency, They Eat Our Sweat offers a fresh and engaging look at the corruption complex in Africa through a micro analysis of its informal transport sector, where collusion between state and nonstate actors is most rife. Focusing on Lagos, Nigeria's commercial capital and Africa's largest city, Daniel Agbiboa investigates the workaday world of road transport operators as refracted through the extortion racket and violence of transport unions acting in complicity with the state. Steeped in an embodied knowledge of Lagos and backed by two years of thorough ethnographic fieldwork, including working as an informal bus conductor, Agbiboa provides an emic perspective on precarious labour, popular agency and the daily pursuit of survival under the shadow of the modern world system. Corruption, Agbiboa argues, is not rooted in Nigerian culture but is shaped by the struggle to get by and get ahead on the fast and slow lanes of Lagos. The pursuit of economic survival compels transport operators to participate in the reproduction of the very transgressive system they denounce. They Eat Our Sweat is not just a book about corruption but also about transportation, politics, and governance in urban Africa.

Reflections on African Cities in Transition

Reflections on African Cities in Transition
Author: Purshottama Sivanarain Reddy
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 330
Release: 2020-09-15
Genre: Law
ISBN: 3030461157

This volume describes African cities in transition, and the economic, socio-political, and environmental challenges resulting from rapid post-colonial urbanization. As the African continent continues to transition from urban configurations inherited from colonial influences and history, it faces issues such as urban slum expansion, increased demands for energy and clean water, lack of adequate public transportation, high levels of inequality among different socio-economic population strata, and inadequate urban governance, planning, and policies. African cities in transition need to reconsider current policies and developmental trajectories to facilitate and sustain economic growth and Africa’s strategic repositioning in the world. Written by an international team of scholars and practitioners, this volume uses case studies to focus on key issues and developmental challenges in selected African cities. Topics include but are not limited to, smart cities, changing notions of democracy, the city’s role in attaining the SDGs, local governance, alternative models for governance and management, corruption, urbanisation and future cities.

Transport Planning and Mobility in Urban East Africa

Transport Planning and Mobility in Urban East Africa
Author: Nadine Appelhans
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 222
Release: 2020-11-26
Genre: Transportation
ISBN: 1000288773

This book critically explores the relationship between mobility patterns, transport provision and urban development in East African cities. Bringing together contributions on the futures of mobility in urban East Africa, the chapters examine transport provision, mobility patterns, location-specific modes of transport and transformative factors for transport and mobility in the rapidly urbanising region. The book outlines different mobility needs to be addressed in transport planning to serve and shape the respective cities and examines the decision-making process in transport planning and the level of accountability to the public. The contributors show the dialectic between innovation in transport/mobility and urban development under rapid urbanisation and discusses how to practically integrate mobility and transport provision into urban development. This book will be of interest to scholars in urban planning, transport planning, transport geography, social sciences and African studies.

Every Household Its Own Government

Every Household Its Own Government
Author: Daniel Jordan Smith
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 232
Release: 2022-03-08
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0691229902

Empty pipes and H2O entrepreneurs: boreholes, cart pushers, and "pure water" -- Problem has changed name": electric power and consumer citizenship -- Okadas and danfos: "public transportation" in Nigeria -- "Be what you want to be": cell phones and social inequality -- "They don't know what i have not taught them": the privatization of public schooling -- "Sleeping with one eye open": infrastructural insecurity.

Social Issues in Transport Planning

Social Issues in Transport Planning
Author:
Publisher: Academic Press
Total Pages: 330
Release: 2021-09-11
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0128231149

Social Issues in Transport Planning, Volume 8 in the Advances in Transport Policy and Planning series, highlights new advances in the field, with this new volume presenting interesting chapters. Each chapter is written by an international board of authors. Provides the authority and expertise of leading contributors from an international board of authors Presents the latest release in the Advances in Transport Policy and Planning series

Non-Motorized Transport Integration into Urban Transport Planning in Africa

Non-Motorized Transport Integration into Urban Transport Planning in Africa
Author: Winnie V. Mitullah
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2017-07-14
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1317086988

What challenges do pedestrians and cyclists face in cities of the developing world? What opportunities do these cities have to provide for walking and cycling? Based on in-depth research conducted in Cape Town (South Africa), Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) and Nairobi (Kenya), this book explores these questions by presenting work on walking and cycling travel behaviour, the status of road safety in these cities, as well as an analysis of the infrastructure for walking and cycling, and the workings of the institutions responsible for planning for these modes. The book also presents case studies relating to particular opportunities and challenges, such as the development and evaluation of ‘walking bus’ interventions, and the opportunities micro-simulation of pedestrian interventions offers within a data-scarce environment. Non-motorized Transport Integration into Urban Transport Planning in Africa demonstrates that transport and urban planning remains situated in a logic of automobile-dependent transport planning and global city development. This logic of practice does not pay adequate attention to walking and cycling. It argues that a significant shift in both policy as well as political commitment is needed so as to prioritize walking and cycling as strategies for sustainable transport policy in urban Africa. This book will be a key text for practitioners and policy makers working in planning, transport policy and urban development in Africa, as well as students and scholars of African studies, development studies, urban geography, transport studies and sustainable development.

Paratransit in African Cities

Paratransit in African Cities
Author: Roger Behrens
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 328
Release: 2015-09-07
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 1317910109

Public transport systems in contemporary Sub-Saharan African cities are heavily reliant upon paratransit services. These services are defined as informal transportation which operates between the public and individual private spheres. In Africa paratransit is characterized by low quality of vehicles and chaotic management but it also provides cheap, accessible and flexible transport solutions for the urban poor. It is typically poorly regulated and operates as a set of informal businesses. A common result of weak public sector regulation and a fare strategy in which owners claim a fixed daily revenue target and drivers who keep the variable balance as income, is destructive competition and poor quality of service. There is an incontrovertible case for improving the quality, reliability and coverage of public transport systems, and some city governments have attempted to do so by initiating reform projects that envisage the phased replacement of paratransit operations with formalised bus rapid transit systems. In this book the authors argue that there are, however, path dependencies and constraints that limit the possible extent of public transport system reform. Paratransit operations also have some inherent advantages with respect to demand responsiveness and service innovation. Attempts to eradicate paratransit may be neither pragmatic nor strategic. Two future scenarios are likely: hybrid systems comprised of both paratransit and formally planned modes; and systems improved by upgrades and strengthened regulation of existing paratransit services. The business strategies and aspirations of incumbent paratransit operators in three case cities – Cape Town, Dar es Salaam and Nairobi – are discussed, as well as their attitudes towards emerging public transport reform projects. International experiences of hybrid system regulation and paratransit business development are reviewed in order to explore policy options. The authors contend that policies recognising paratransit operators, and seeking contextually appropriate complementarity with formalised planned services, will produce greater benefits than policies ignoring their continued existence.

Emerging Global Cities

Emerging Global Cities
Author: Alejandro Portes
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 292
Release: 2022-12-27
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 0231555873

Certain cities—most famously New York, London, and Tokyo—have been identified as “global cities,” whose function in the world economy transcends national borders. Without the same fanfare, formerly peripheral and secondary cities have been growing in importance, emerging as global cities in their own right. The striking similarity of the skylines of Dubai, Miami, and Singapore is no coincidence: despite following different historical paths, all three have achieved newfound prominence through parallel trends. In this groundbreaking book, Alejandro Portes and Ariel C. Armony demonstrate how the rapid and unexpected rise of these three cities recasts global urban studies. They identify the constellation of factors that allow certain urban places to become “emerging global cities”—centers of commerce, finance, art, and culture for entire regions. The book traces the transformations of Dubai, Miami, and Singapore, identifying key features common to these emerging global cities. It contrasts them with “global hopefuls,” cities that, at one point or another, aspired to become global, and analyzes how Hong Kong is threatened with the loss of this status. Portes and Armony highlight the importance of climate change to the prospects of emerging global cities, showing how the same economic system that propelled their rise now imperils their future. Emerging Global Cities provides a powerful new framework for understanding the role of peripheral cities in the world economy and how they compete for and sometimes achieve global standing.

Local Government and the COVID-19 Pandemic

Local Government and the COVID-19 Pandemic
Author: Carlos Nunes Silva
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 799
Release: 2022-05-03
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 3030911128

The book provides a global perspective of local government response towards the COVID-19 pandemic through the analysis of a sample of countries in all continents. It examines the responses of local government, as well as the responses local government developed in articulation with other tiers of government and with civil society organizations, and explores the social, economic and policy impacts of the pandemic. The book offers an innovative contribution on the role of local government during the pandemic and discusses lessons for the future. The COVID-19 pandemic had a global impact on public health, in the well-being of citizens, in the economy, on civic life, in the provision of public services, and in the governance of cities and other human settlements, although in an uneven form across countries, cities and local communities. Cities and local governments have been acting decisively to apply the policy measures defined at national level to the specific local conditions. COVID-19 has exposed the inadequacy of the crisis response infrastructures and policies at both national and local levels in these countries as well as in many others across the world. But it also exposed much broader and deeper weaknesses that result from how societies are organized, namely the insecure life a substantial proportion of citizens have, as a result of economic and social policies followed in previous decades, which accentuated the impacts of the lockdown measures on employment, income, housing, among a myriad of other social dimensions. Besides the analysis of how governments, and local government, responded to the public health issues raised by the spread of the virus, the book deals also with the diversity of responses local governments have adopted and implemented in the countries, regions, cities and metropolitan areas. The analysis of these policy responses indicates that previously unthinkable policies can surprisingly be implemented at both national and local levels.