Government and community efforts in upgrading infrastructure in informal areas- the case of Izbit ElHaggana

Realizing the magnitude of informality as a façon-de-vie in Cairo as in other megacities, this research focuses on the urban poor in their attempts to provide a decent standard of living using their own efforts, within the context of the lack of government engagement and limited resources. The purpose was to answer the research question how community organizations and state actors interact in providing key infrastructure in informal areas, taking Izbit ElHaggana as an area of study. The objective was to determine the processes of how community self-help schemes and government efforts to install and upgrade infrastructure in informal areas operate and are maintained. This thus allowed us to recognize quality and sustainability issues, as well as potential for integrated/inclusive upgrading policies; and whether the government can afford to reject informal infrastructure. Qualitative interviews were conducted with community members, government officials and experts on informality to provide holistic perceptions on the upgrading paradigm. The study findings provided an insight to two case studies of self-help water installations in the two districts of ElHaggana, as well as an insight into electricity and sewerage connections, regarding gehood zateya processes- incremental networking, innovation strategies, communal networks and self-sufficiency, sub-optimal quality, and sustainability. The findings also shed light on the themes of informal social structures and interaction with formal systems. The research indicates that local self-help initiatives often override non-functioning formal systems, while local governments stubbornly avoid collaboration as back participation in initiatives. In addition, community interviews presented citizens caught in a trap between the need to regularize and mistrust of formalization given the unstable official recognition

Climate urbanism in the Arab world: an LSE and AUC academic collaboration

The climate emergency is an urban emergency. Cities, the processes of urbanisation, have been identified by scientists as the predominant sites of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Rapid extended urbanisation around the globe – and particularly in the global south – has accelerated increases in emissions in recent years

Radical social innovations and the spatialities of grassroots activism: navigating pathways for tackling inequality and reinventing the commons

In this article, by drawing on empirical evidence from twelve case studies from nine countries from across the Global South and North, we ask how radical grassroots social innovations that are part of social movements and struggles can offer pathways for tackling socio-spatial and socio-environmental inequality and for reinventing the commons. We define radical grassroots social innovations as a set of practices initiated by formal or informal community-led initiatives or/and social movements which aim to generate novel, democratic, socially, spatially and environmentally just solutions to address social needs that are otherwise ignored or marginalised. To address our research questions, we draw on the work of Cindi Katz to explore how grassroots innovations relate to practices of resilience, reworking and resistance. We identify possibilities and limitations as well as patterns of spatial practices and pathways of re-scaling and radical praxis, uncovering broadly-shared resemblances across different places. Through this analysis we aim to make a twofold contribution to political ecology and human geography scholarship on grassroots radical activism, social innovation and the spatialities of resistance. First, to reveal the connections between social-environmental struggles, emerging grassroots innovations and broader structural factors that cause, enable or limit them. Second, to explore how grassroots radical innovations stemming from place-based community struggles can relate to resistance practices that would not only successfully oppose inequality and the withering of the commons in the short-term, but would also open long-term pathways to alternative modes of social organization, and a new commons, based on social needs and social rights that are currently unaddressed

The local governance of digital technology – Implications for the city-scale digital twin

The project set out to examine how governance structures, processes and socio-political systems affect the adoption of new (digital) technologies – e.g. City Digital Twins – that provide evidence for policy making and implementation in urban planning and the management of urban infrastructures. Situating City Digital Twins as next-generation urban models, we analysed the existing practice of using computerised models to support decision-making in the multi-actor governance context of the Cambridge city region in the United Kingdom. The study traced modelling practices and evidence informed decision-making processes across a variety of sectors: transport, energy, land-use planning and telecommunications. Outcomes include the mapping of governance stakeholders in the wider Cambridge area, and the analysis of network relationships, to develop recommendations for the design and implementation of a Cambridge City Digital Twin. The role of citizens in the production of evidence was also examined with a participatory research approach to analysing citizen engagement initiatives and the impact of digital tools on democracy, participation and transparency in the local context. The results of the Cambridge case study are contrasted with international practice and global experiences pertinent to City Digital Twins in British, European and international cities. This comparative perspective provides initial insights to understand generalisation possibilities from the Cambridge case study

The Role of the State in Urban Development: The Case of Urban Waterscapes in Cairo, Egypt

This dissertation explores the making of infrastructure in Middle East cities in the face of rising urban inequalities and grassroots mobilisation efforts. National governments and international donors continue to provide apolitical technical explanations to infrastructural failures in Cairo, but remain silent on systemic inequalities cemented by local and transnational capital. My study examines the politics of urban water as a site of negotiation, accumulation by dispossession and of protest, in both elite and unplanned areas in Cairo’s North Eastern districts. Moments of water shortages in Cairo are used to trace processes of state-society negotiations and claim-making. Based on qualitative action research tools like community and elite interviews, narrative walks, archival research and government meetings, I contend that informal practices are used by political and economic actors to govern urban water. I argue that informality drives conditions of infrastructure access and transcends class, institutional legality, and geographical boundaries. My research contests the accepted assumption of the Egyptian state’s monopoly over its water functions. First, I address the ‘informal state’ and expose arbitrary policy-making, donor pressures and crony networks, and ‘guesstimations’ by street-level water bureaucrats. Second, I analyse informal water practices, such as community-constructed water projects in poor neighbourhoods, and privatised governance in elite settlements. In order to trace exclusive water access, I particularly examine local patronage geometries and networks of privilege of the state, real estate developers, and the military. Third, I contend that both elite and marginalised residents employ contentious and organisational tools to secure water rights; through protests, social media activism, and people as infrastructure. This study engages with urban theorisations from the Global South and contributes case studies from the Middle East on urban water, grassroots negotiations and informality. It provides an alternative to apolitical discourses on infrastructure failures, emphasising class, variegated water supplies, and state-society relations

Beyond a standardised urban lexicon: which vocabulary matters?

Urban vocabulary has been influenced by global patterns of modernity, capitalism and anglophone academia. These lexicons are increasingly standardised and shape dominant conceptual approaches in city debates. However, contemporary urban theories indicate a shift toward understanding the ‘urban’ and ‘cities’ from multiple perspectives. An emerging urban vocabulary is being built to capture the significance of place, complex power dynamics and changing geographical landscapes. This special issue presents diverse perspectives on how urban lexicons can be decentred from anglophone thought, operate as organising urban logics, serve larger political projects, and shape and are reshaped by grounded urban practice. Articles from the Middle East and South Asia discuss the margins of vocabulary and how vocabularies located in the global South enable us to think through dilemmas of knowledge production. We contribute to debates on decolonising power and authority in urban thought by expanding on how to theorise from the South.</jats:p

Radical social innovations and the spatialities of grassroots activism: navigating pathways for tackling inequality and reinventing the commons

In this article, by drawing on empirical evidence from twelve case studies from nine countries from across the Global South and North, we ask how radical grassroots social innovations that are part of social movements and struggles can offer pathways for tackling socio-spatial and socio-environmental inequality and for reinventing the commons. We define radical grassroots social innovations as a set of practices initiated by formal or informal community-led initiatives or/and social movements which aim to generate novel, democratic, socially, spatially and environmentally just solutions to address social needs that are otherwise ignored or marginalised. To address our research questions, we draw on the work of Cindi Katz to explore how grassroots innovations relate to practices of resilience, reworking and resistance. We identify possibilities and limitations as well as patterns of spatial practices and pathways of re-scaling and radical praxis, uncovering broadly-shared resemblances across different places. Through this analysis we aim to make a twofold contribution to political ecology and human geography scholarship on grassroots radical activism, social innovation and the spatialities of resistance. First, to reveal the connections between social-environmental struggles, emerging grassroots innovations and broader structural factors that cause, enable or limit them. Second, to explore how grassroots radical innovations stemming from place-based community struggles can relate to resistance practices that would not only successfully oppose inequality and the withering of the commons in the short-term, but would also open long-term pathways to alternative modes of social organization, and a new commons, based on social needs and social rights that are currently unaddressed