In her ERC-funded Making Africa Urban (MAU) project at University College London, Jennifer Robinson compares and analyses three African cities: Accra (Ghana), Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) and Lilongwe (Malawi). Despite varying economic strengths and levels of urbanisation, these cities collectively reflect the profound influence of transnational processes on their present and future development trajectories.

National governments are collaborating with the World Bank, Chinese companies, and international development agencies, such as the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in urban development projects. These partnerships wield significant influence over the direction of urban development initiatives. 
By examining three transnational “circuits” - developmental, private, and sovereign – across the three selected cities, Robinson and the MAU research team are exploring the multifaceted dynamics shaping African urban futures. 
”These cities are interconnected, often participating in similar development processes with “the same exact circuits” with “sometimes the same people”, Robinson explains. For instance, JICA produces master plans for numerous African cities, while the World Bank spearheads analogous projects aimed at mitigating flooding and enhancing resilience in coastal cities. 
 

Distant global institutions?

Among other cases, Robinson and her team look at two World Bank investments in Accra and Dar es Salaam, aimed at addressing flooding and bolstering resilience amidst the broader climate change challenges. These projects involve varying degrees of individual resettlement and complex interactions with government agencies, particularly concerning people living in flood-prone areas.

Contrary to the perception of the World Bank as a distant global institution driven by its own policy agenda, the studies reveal a different reality, says Robinson. In each city, World Bank actors are “quite embedded in local contexts and can be motivated by a genuine desire for change.”

“In Accra, the government's hesitancy to address irregular encroachments on land allocated for flood control has significantly disrupted the project”, Robinson says. “As a result, the $200 million allocated for implementation may not be used effectively. Meanwhile, in Dar es Salaam, the complexities of relocating people from flood plains have led to the emergence of various residents’ groups expressing concerns about resettlement plans. This sheds light on the government's priorities, particularly regarding ensuring adequate compensation for those affected.”

Critique of the state

As Robinson and her team delved into these dynamics, they found themselves grappling with broader questions concerning urban development politics and the state's involvement in such projects. Contrary to the assumption that local governments primarily shape urban developments, diplomatic conventions often place central government actors at the forefront of negotiations for development loans and securing investment from sovereign entities. 
Upon closer examination of state actors, the team observed a myriad of interests at play, ranging from personal gain and electoral motivations to instances of corruption. This prompted fundamental questions about the role of the state actors within such environments, who might be pursuing all kinds of agendas in securing investment for urban development.

“One question arises specifically for international development agencies who negotiate directly with central state actors, and who continue to act as if there's a government”, says Robinson. “How do we understand the nature of the state when government choices are cut through by political networks, by individual decision making, by intense competition amongst government ministries, or by the private ability of state actors to do things in pursuit of a different interest?”.

“This underscores the need for a nuanced examination of states in understanding African urban futures”, Robinson notes. Through their detailed case studies of urban development, Robinson and her team began to question whether the conventional understanding of “the state” adequately captures the complexities at play. Initially focused on specific African contexts, their inquiry evolved into a broader theoretical critique of the state itself. “This could help urban scholars and practitioners elsewhere to look more closely at what interests state actors are pursuing in relation to urban development.”

Building collaborations in Africa

Robinson not only studies the networks shaping African cities; she created a network of African researchers for her project, hoping to contribute to building research capacity on the continent. In Robinson's words, "African cities have been underrepresented in urban studies, and African scientists face challenges in making meaningful contributions due to severe institutional barriers, so I feel very passionate about working to make a change".

She highlights the invaluable contributions of the key collaborators Philip Harrison, Evance Mwathunga, George Owusu, and Wilbard Kombe, emphasising that her project benefited from “their long-term research and wisdom”. She also mentions the four post-doctoral researchers - Rosina Essien (University of Ghana), Sabatho Nyamsenda (University of Dar es Salaam), Matthew Lane (University of Edinburgh) and Sylvia Croese (University of the Witwatersrand) who have been part of her team. “It's really very special to learn and benefit from such a wealth of knowledge,” she adds.

Robinson is trying to secure funding for an urban lab in Lilongwe. This would pave the way for longer-term research projects in Malawi to collect data, enhance knowledge, build research capacity, and empower community-based groups. “Urbanisation is a key issue for sub-Saharan Africa, which affects much more than just those who live in cities there,” says Robinson. “The urbanisation processes in Malawi, for example, have long extended beyond the core urban areas, impacting the entire country through regular movement between villages and towns, and even transcending borders within the subcontinent through international migrant labour. Urban development is key to addressing the challenges of Africa’s future.”
 

Biography

Jennifer Robinson is Professor of Human Geography at University College London. Her current research focuses on the development of comparative urbanism and specific tactics for comparative urban analysis as part of a wider postcolonial critique of urban studies. Her recent book, Comparative Urbanism: Tactics for Global Urban Studies (2022, Wiley), establishes the methodological foundations for her current project which examines transnational processes (sovereign, developmental and private) that shape large-scale developments in urban areas across Africa, with cases in Accra, Lilongwe, and Dar es Salaam. In 2018, she received an ERC Advanced Grant for the project “Making Africa Urban: The transcalar politics of large-scale urban development.”