African Cities

Communities are experts in their own lives. They understand the challenges, opportunities and political realities they face every day in ways that outside researchers might struggle to uncover. So how can communities work with academics and harness that knowledge to drive meaningful change?
In this episode, Chris Jordan is joined by Beth Chitekwe-Biti and Diana Mitlin for a conversation about the role of community knowledge within ACRC and beyond – including what it is, how it works and how it fits into ACRC’s research processes and aims around urban reform.
Drawing on examples from Harare, Nairobi and Manchester, they talk about how community-led data collection can strengthen agency, issues of data ownership, the impact of digitalisation, and the “unlearning” often required for academics and communities to create strong knowledge partnerships.
Beth Chitekwe-Biti is community knowledge research director for the African Cities Research Consortium and executive director of Slum Dwellers International (SDI).
Diana Mitlin is former CEO of the African Cities Research Consortium.
Chris Jordan is communications and impact manager for the Global Development Institute at The University of Manchester, and ACRC's communications manager.
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Music: Brighter Days | Broke in Summer
Sounds: Zapsplat
This podcast presents the views of the speakers featured and does not necessarily represent the views of the African Cities Research Consortium as a whole.
Stay up to date with the latest publications, announcements and insights from the African Cities Research Consortium:

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“When we talk about exchanges, we are not saying one city go to another city to learn. It is one city going to another city to participate in something that is happening there. So there's no workshop style learning. It is just come and experience with us and it provides you opportunity to reflect on your own scenario, maybe adopt it or find reasons why it doesn't work for you.”
This episode is a conversation originally recorded for Urban Radar, hosted by ACRC’s incoming CEO, Tom Goodfellow, and Beth Perry, Director of the Urban Institute at the University of Sheffield.
Recorded at ACRC’s last city managers meeting in Kampala, Uganda, the main discussion is between Tom and two of ACRC’s city managers: Jack Makau, Nairobi city manager, and Temilade Sesan, Lagos city manager. They talk about the action research that’s underway in their cities as part of ACRC, along with how urban communities in informal settlements can build power through their own forms of knowledge and data collection, and how two-way exchanges between cities can strengthen this process.
> Subscribe to Urban Radar
Tom Goodfellow is ACRC’s incoming CEO and Professor of Urban Development in the Global Development Institute at The University of Manchester.
Beth Perryis Professor of Urban Epistemics and Director of the Urban Institute at the University of Sheffield.
Jack Makau is Associate Director of SDI Kenya and ACRC’s Nairobi city manager.
Temilade Sesan is a social development researcher and ACRC’s Lagos city manager.
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Music: Brighter Days | Broke in Summer
Sounds: Zapsplat
This podcast presents the views of the speakers featured and does not necessarily represent the views of the African Cities Research Consortium as a whole. 
Stay up to date with the latest publications, announcements and insights from the African Cities Research Consortium:

> Website
> E-news
> Bluesky
> LinkedIn
> YouTube
> X (Twitter)

“Sustainability for us would mean leaving behind capability and capacities, not dependency.”
In the informal settlement of Okerube in Lagos, the community faces significant challenges in accessing clean water and sanitation, which disproportionately impact women and children. An ACRC action research project is aiming to address these issues through establishing a sustainable, community-driven social enterprise model.
In this podcast episode, Deji Akinpelu is joined by guests Temilade Sesan, ACRC Lagos city manager, Funmilayo Daniel, a woman leader from Okerube community, and project co-leads Oluwaseun Muraina and Rasheed Shittu. They discuss the importance of building trust with the community, harnessing existing women-led structures to advance water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) solutions, and supporting residents to advocate for their rights, so they can actively shape their community’s future.
Highlighting how community-driven initiatives like these can challenge urban inequality – by strengthening the capacities and capabilities of residents, and advocating for greater representation of informal settlements in urban planning – they also talk about the need for collaborative planning and community ownership, to ensure sustainability over the long term. Looking beyond Okerube to other informal settlements in Lagos, they conclude by talking about what a just and sustainable future would look like for these underserved areas.
> Read more about ACRC’s work in Lagos
Deji Akinpelu is co-founder of Rethinking Cities, an advocacy group working on urban development issues in Lagos, and part of the ACRC Lagos uptake team.
Temilade Sesan is a social development researcher and ACRC’s city manager for Lagos.
Funmilayo Daniel is a woman leader from the Okerube Water Committee in Lagos.
Oluwaseun Muraina is a doctoral candidate at the Centre for Housing and Sustainable Development, University of Lagos, and co-lead of the ACRC WASH action research project in Lagos.
Rasheed Shittu is the founder and executive director of the Shantytown Empowerment Foundation (SHEF) and co-lead of the ACRC WASH action research project in Lagos.
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Music: Brighter Days | Broke in Summer

Sounds: Zapsplat

This podcast presents the views of the speakers featured and does not necessarily represent the views of the African Cities Research Consortium as a whole.
Stay up to date with the latest publications, announcements and insights from the African Cities Research Consortium:

> Website
> E-news
> Bluesky
> LinkedIn
> YouTube
> X (Twitter)

“I think one of the most important aspects that has come out of this space is creating that enabling environment where communities can interact with the state without necessarily throwing accusations at each other.”
In this episode, Chris Jordan and co-host Rosebella Apollo are joined by Harare-based practitioners George Masimba and Shiela Muganyi, from Dialogue on Shelter and Zimbabwe Homeless People’s Federation respectively, to explore what inclusive urban reform looks like in practice. They explore two ACRC action research projects that are currently underway in Harare – the first focused on upgrading urban markets, and the second on building climate change resilience among informal settlement communities.
Reflecting on the urban markets project, George talks about working with market associations across 13 sites in Harare, on elements including data collection, policy engagement, capacity strengthening and infrastructure upgrades. Building on an earlier project based in the Glen View 8 Furniture Complex, he explains how the action research is supporting traders to improve their livelihoods and build resilience in the face of repeated market fires. Shiela then discusses the Informal Settlements Climate Change Action (ISCCA) project, exploring how climate change has become a catalyst for informal settlement upgrading, improving tenure security and driving community-led action in low-income areas. They unpack the role of the Urban Informality Forum as a collaborative platform that brings together communities, city authorities and researchers, and talk about how it could be replicated in other African cities to drive inclusive reform.
> Read more about ACRC’s work in Harare
Chris Jordan is communications and impact manager for the Global Development Institute at The University of Manchester, and ACRC's communications manager.
Rosebella Apollo is ACRC’s research uptake officer, based at the Partnership for African Social and Governance Research (PASGR) in Nairobi.
George Masimba is head of programmes at Dialogue on Shelter and ACRC’s city manager for Harare.
Shiela Muganyi is a community research leader from the Zimbabwe Homeless People’s Federation and part of the ACRC Harare action research project on climate resilience.
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Music: Brighter Days | Broke in Summer

Sounds: Zapsplat

This podcast presents the views of the speakers featured and does not necessarily represent the views of the African Cities Research Consortium as a whole.
Stay up to date with the latest publications, announcements and insights from the African Cities Research Consortium:

> Website
> E-news
> Bluesky
> LinkedIn
> YouTube
> X (Twitter)

The housing challenge in African cities is far from consistent. With differing historical, sociopolitical and economic contexts, cities are seeing urbanisation play out along differing trajectories – impacting issues around housing demand, supply and justice.
ACRC’s housing domain co-leads Alexandre Apsan Frediani and Ola Uduku join Diana Mitlin for a conversation around housing in African cities, drawing on insights from the seven cities studied in their report: Accra, Addis Ababa, Dar es Salaam, Freetown, Lagos, Lilongwe and Nairobi.
Highlighting key issues and observations from the city research, they discuss the importance of local government engagement, the significant challenges facing low-income residents around navigating rental markets and accessing housing finance, and the need for more sustainable construction approaches and building materials.
They emphasise the value of building reform coalitions and developing collaborative research approaches in order to influence housing policy and programming at the city level, also noting the potential that leveraging global issues such as climate change could have to drive sectoral reform.
> Read more in ACRC’s housing domain report
Alexandre Apsan Frediani is a principal researcher in the human settlements group at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and co-lead of the ACRC housing domain.
Ola Uduku is head of school at the Liverpool School of Architecture and co-lead of the ACRC housing domain.
Diana Mitlin is professor of global urbanism at The University of Manchester’s Global Development Institute and CEO of ACRC.
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Music: Brighter Days | Broke in Summer

Sounds: Zapsplat

This podcast presents the views of the speakers featured and does not necessarily represent the views of the African Cities Research Consortium as a whole.
Stay up to date with the latest publications, announcements and insights from the African Cities Research Consortium:

> Website
> E-news
> Bluesky
> LinkedIn
> YouTube
> X (Twitter)