Understanding the context of informality: urban planning under different land tenure systems in Mzuzu city, Malawi

A key feature of urbanisation in African and many other Global South cities is the prevalence and persistence of urban informal settlements. Despite planning attempts and claims to directly address and contain informal settlements, informality nonetheless continues to be the dominant form of shelter. However, there is insufficient understanding of how and why informality persists in the African urban context and why urban planning seems unable to engage with this aspect of urban growth and change. This situation also prevails in Malawian cities. This study sought to explore and understand the role of state-society engagements in the production and proliferation of housing informality in Mzuzu City. The thesis is informed by a recognition that planning theory has predominantly relied on Global North (Western) ideologies such as Habermesian inspired collaborative and communicative planning approaches which argue that consensus can realise planning goals and visions. The appeal, and hence adoption and application of these approaches in the Global South have largely failed to deliver the kind of planning outcomes seen in the Global North for many reasons, including the different political power dynamics and colonial historical contexts within which planning operates. The state-society engagements in the Global South contexts show that the state, rather than regulating development, is implicated in the production of informality in ways similar to those of inhabitants. These contexts point to the need to develop planning concepts which have a better relevance in rapidly growing and under-resourced urban settlements in the Global South. The thesis contributes to an emerging body of knowledge that has come to be called the Global South Planning Theory Project. The scholars promoting this project argue for the importance of context in planning theory development and in this case the need to consider the contribution of the Global South to planning and understanding of the urbanisation processes. In this regard, the thesis draws on various Global South concepts such as informality as a mode of urbanisation (Roy, 2009), gray spaces (Yiftachel, 2009), conflicting rationalities (Watson 2003), quiet encroachment (Bayat, 2010), insurgency (Holston, 2008) and hidden transcripts (Scott,1990) to frame the analysis of housing informality in Mzuzu City. The case study method (Yin 2014) was used to collect and analyse data from three informal settlements of Luwinga, Salisburyline and Geisha each having developed on land of a specific tenure: customary, public and private, respectively. Interviews and discussions were held with state officials, chiefs, block leaders, clan leaders, and senior citizens as well as groups of inhabitants in form of focus group discussions. Observations, literature review and archival data supplemented the information from the interviews and discussions. The analysis of the results indicates that state-society engagement in the informal settlements is about the application of the various strategies by each side in seeking to either achieve planned orderly urban growth or the right to land and life in the city. The study also shows that these strategies manifest, from the perspective of the state, through several laws, policies, regulations, and an assortment of practices that the planning system uses as a tool of the state. Among the state strategies are threats of evictions, demolitions and organising citizens to participate in development committees. However, when the state utilises these strategies, it is not always for the achievement of planned orderly urban growth as professed, but on many occasions for revenue generation through property taxation, for land control, for vote-gaining or for personal gain. On the other hand, inhabitants use threats of court action, violence, collaboration with state actors, hidden transcripts (Scott, 1990), spatial protests ( Yakobi, 2004) and quiet encroachment (Bayat, 2010) to achieve their objectives to retain their land rights, to provide their basic need of shelter and to stay in the city. The inhabitants seeking survival strategies were also found not immune to the clientelist ambitions of local politicians. The study noted the shifting state discourses of informal settlements from a view of them as utter illegality to gradual political acceptance or regularisation of their existence. Finally, the study found many aspects of rationality conflicts, which either occurred between the state and society directly, among state actors, among citizen actors and across the two spheres. Within the state, ethical conflicts in which state officials deliberately frustrated the visioning of planned orderly urban growth were found to be rampant. State-society engagements therefore can be said to be a contributor to housing informality. In the case of Mzuzu, these engagements occur in multiple settlements regardless of land tenure situation. These engagements suggest that rationality conflicts occur within multi-layered settings, across state-society spheres as well as beyond specific project interventions implemented within single settlements

The earthquake/seismic risk, vulnerability and capacity profile for Karonga town

The study was carried out to understand the risks posed by earthquakes in Karonga based on roles and perception of stakeholders. Information was collected from several stakeholders who were found responding to earthquakes impacts in Karonga Town. The study found that several stakeholders, governmental and  non-governmental department and organisation operate in Karonga District to respond to hazards and disasters that occur in the district however most of these stakeholders concentrate their activities in rural areas than the town despite having the town experiencing greater impacts from earthquake hazards. The study also found that people of Karonga are aware of earthquakes and how they can avoid their impacts however their economic status fail them from developing infrastructure that can help them to avoid or recover quickly from the impacts of earthquake disasters. It is therefore concluded that the people of Karonga town are vulnerable to earthquake hazards due to limited capacity to develop appropriate infrastructure that can survive seismic hazards.Key words: Earthquake, seismic, risk, vulnerability, capacity

Discriminatory land use planning and flood risk management in Karonga Town, Malawi

This study examines how discriminatory land use planning predisposes the low income residents to flood disaster risks in Karonga town, Malawi. Using a qualitative research design, in-depth interviews were conducted with ten government and non government institutions engaged in land use planning and disaster risk management and traditional leaders. The study showed that theoretical aims of land use planning to improve the living environment remain partial and in certain cases exacerbate risks posed by floods because the planning tool divides the urban landscape into formal and informal spaces. Such separation which coincided with incomes levels forced the marginalised and urban poor to occupy flood-prone areas While literature on flood control promotes an integrated approach to flood risk management, land use planning practice is singled out as a regulatory measure which ironically not only fails to meet the needs, but also increases vulnerability to flood risks, of the urban poor residents. The study further revealed that land use planning has failed to reduce flood disaster risks in informal spaces because it is not compatible with the needs of the urban poor

Urban risk readdressed: Bridging resilience-seeking practices in African cities

Throughout the Global South, urbanization is increasingly coupled with the production of risk accumulation cycles or urban “risk traps”, which are not exclusively driven but exacerbated by climate change. This is the case across many cities in sub Sahara Africa, where biophysical and socio-economic risk drivers combine to produce vicious cycles of unequal risk exposure and displacement, with severe impacts on the lives, livelihoods and assets of the urban poor and the city’s ecological and socio-economic future. Focusing on two case studies characterized by different approaches to the governance of disaster risk management (DRM) – Freetown (Sierra Leone) and Karonga (Malawi) – this chapter seeks to untangle the processes that drive risk accumulation over time and to appraise the resilience-seeking practices deployed and resources mobilized to mitigate, reduce, and prevent risk. It reflects on the findings from an action-research project conducted in the aforementioned cities, as part of a wider program entitled “Urban Africa Risk Knowledge” (Urban ARK). As such, it provides fresh insights into how the governance of urban resilience currently works in both contexts and on how to enhance the capacity to act of those most vulnerable to become trapped in risk accumulation cycles to disrupt these traps strategically, inclusively, and collectively. Our central argument is that the capacity of emerging DRM governance frameworks to disrupt urban risk traps is defined by the extent to which resilience-seeking is actually practiced in a relational way – that is acknowledging the multiple practices that converge in responding to risk and their relative capacities to disrupt the risk accumulation cycles that impact the most vulnerable. We further hypothesize that the differential ability of ongoing resilient-seeking practices to disrupt risk traps is shaped by the extent to which their governance expands the political space to enable abridged collective action among the urban poor, customary authorities, local governments and external agencies

Localizing children’s play spaces through the child friendly city lens : Reframing tools for children’s inclusivity in Mzuzu City, Malawi

This paper draws on a review of childhood discourses on child focused literature and content analysis of some of Malawi’s planning instruments to argue that Mzuzu City is not a child-friendly city. Specifically, the planning instruments which include the planning law, national urban policy, planning guide book and Mzuzu city structure plan which dictate public space apportioned for various activities are noted to fulfill the needs and aspirations of adults at the expense of children’s play needs. Furthermore, despite the fact that a malleable definition of childhood is likely to accommodate the lived experiences of children living in the City, child agency is conspicuously absent. This paper suggests that there is need to reframe these planning instruments as a way of reimaging the built environment to capture the needs and aspirations of children as it does for adults. &nbsp

Power Relations between Transactional and National Actors and Their Impact on the Mining Sector in Malawi

This study analyzes the power relations existing between transactional and national actors and how these impact Malawi’s mining sector. Through a survey as well as interviews with 41 key informants, the study established that national actors have more power in the mining sector as far as policy development is concerned. We also found out that the most powerful actors in the mining sector were the International Non-Governmental Organizations and private mining companies at p=0.000 followed by the Department of Mining at (p=0.048) respectively. Transactional actors too have influence in the mining sector. The reasons for their influence included; investment of huge sums of money, control over markets of minerals and funding of policy implementations that meet their interest with at (p=0.000), (p=0.001) and (p=0.003) respectively. Transactional actors have more influence and control over pricing and market access at a score of 96.6% compared to 3.4% control by the government. The legal and policy framework in Malawi partially addresses the power imbalances in the sector with a rating of 40% while 13.3% rated same as fully addressing the power imbalances. The study concludes that the national actor’s power is only a channel to receive taxes, grants and aid to build the country’s struggling economy. The study recommends that the government must pay attention to significant power asymmetry factors to sustain or alter them to their economic, capacity and technological advantage in the mining sector

A spectrum of methods for a spectrum of risk : Generating evidence to understand and reduce urban risk in sub‐Saharan Africa

Many African towns and cities face a range of hazards, which can best be described as representing a “spectrum of risk” of events that can cause death, illness or injury, and impoverishment. Yet despite the growing numbers of people living in African urban centres, the extent and relative severity of these different risks is poorly understood. This paper provides a rationale for using a spectrum of methods to address this spectrum of risk, and demonstrates the utility of mixed‐methods approaches in planning for resilience. It describes activities undertaken in a wide‐ranging multi‐country programme of research, which use multiple approaches to gather empirical data on risk, in order to build a stronger evidence base and provide a more solid base for planning and investment. It concludes that methods need to be chosen in regard to social, political economic, biophysical and hydrogeological context, while also recognising the different levels of complexity and institutional capacity in different urban centres. The paper concludes that as well as the importance of taking individual contexts into account, there are underlying methodological principles – based on multidisciplinary expertise and multi‐faceted and collaborative research endeavours – that can inform a range of related approaches to understanding urban risk in sub‐Saharan Africa and break the cycle of risk accumulation

Towards Risk-Sensitive and Transformative Urban Development in Sub Saharan Africa

Risk-sensitive urban development is required to reduce accumulated risk and to better consider risk when planning new developments. To deliver a sustainable city for all requires a more frank and comprehensive focus on procedure: On who makes decisions, under which frameworks, based upon what kind of data or knowledge, and with what degree and direction of accountability? Acting on these procedural questions is the promise of transformative urban development. This paper explores the status of risk sensitive and transformative urban development and the scope for transition towards these components of sustainability in urban sub-Saharan Africa through the lens of diverse city cases: Karonga (Malawi), Ibadan (Nigeria), Niamey (Niger) and Nairobi (Kenya). The paper draws from a 3-year research and capacity building programme called Urban Africa: Risk Knowledge that aims to address gaps in data, understandings and capacity to break cycles of risk accumulation. A common analytical framework is presented to help identify blockages and opportunities for transition towards a risk-sensitive and transformative urban development. This framework is then illustrated through each city in turn and a concluding discussion reflects on city observations to draw out recommendations for city level and wider action and research partnerships