Paul Jenkins: ‘Understanding urbanisation, urbanism and urbanity in African
cities’
H
uman settlement in cities of the
South need different approaches to
those initially developed in rapid
urbanisation in the North from the
mid 19th to mid 20th centuries,
however our concepts of the good
‘urban’ are deeply influenced by this
historically and geographically distinct
experience. In addition our professional
approaches embed these concepts
(generally with a high degree of disciplinary exclusivity in
understanding), albeit with at least half a century of more
recent ‘development discourse’ overlay and adjustment.
Whether such concepts, disciplinary approaches and/
or professional praxis are relevant would appear to be
significantly challenged by the widespread and increasing
‘non-conforming reality’ of cities of the South.
This is perhaps no more clear than in emerging urban
areas of Sub-Saharan Africa, the last global macro-region
to enter the rapid urbanisation process. In this context,
weak states and high levels of urban poverty (and
therefore limited private sector engagement) lead to the
vast majority of such fast expanding urban areas being
developed, not according to pre-defined developmentalist
approaches which are overwhelmed by the reality, but by
(mostly poor) urban residents, according to their sociocultural agency, albeit constrained by political economic
structures. This has led to a prevalent negative view of
such emerging urbanism, labelling this as ruralisation, or
defective/pathological forms of urbanity.
Going beyond these superficial understandings
arguably needs truly inter-disciplinary or transdisciplinary research to better understand the reality
of such urban areas and those who live and work
within these – rather as early urban researchers in the
North engaged in inductive approaches derived from
empirical understanding. The dominance of disciplinary
approaches, with some multi-disciplinary discussion,
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Paul Jenkins is currently Professor for
Architecture Research at the Edinburgh School
of Architecture & Landscape Architecture
(University of Edinburgh) and Professor
of Human Settlements at the School of the
Built Environment, Heriot-Watt University.
He is also a Visiting Professor at Eduardo
Mondlane University, Maputo; University
of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg; and the
University of Sao Paulo.
ABOUT PAUL JENKINS
More than half years of his career has been
based in Central and Southern Africa (Malawi,
Botswana, South Africa, Angola, and especially
Mozambique) and since 1999 he has also been
involved in research linked to Brazil. Paul
has published widely on Sub-Saharan African
urban issues, as well as a series of more
globally focused books, including Architecture,
Participation and Society (Routledge
2010); Housing and Planning in the Rapidly
Urbanising World (Routledge 2006);
“Place identity, participation and planning
(Routledge 2004); Urban development
and civil society: the role of communities
in sustainable cities (Earthscan 2001). He
is currently working on a new book for
Routledge titled Order and disorder in urban
space and form. His on-going investigations
focus on the nature of knowledge and the
role of general socio-cultural values in
urban development, challenging elitist and
normative conceptions of modernity. His
most recent research in the African region
has been the international, multi-disciplinary
programme entitled “Home space in the
African city” (2009-12 – see www.homespace.
dk). These issues are the basis for this lecture
concerning what form of knowledge is needed
to work with urban issues in the South today.
i