GY470 Half Unit
Urban Africa
This information is for the 2025/26 session.
Course Convenor
Prof Claire Mercer
Availability
This course is available on the MSc in Environment and Development, MSc in Environmental Policy, Technology and Health (Environment and Development) (LSE and Peking University), MSc in Human Geography and Urban Studies (Research), MSc in Local Economic Development, MSc in Regional And Urban Planning Studies, MSc in Urban Policy (LSE and Sciences Po) and MSc in Urbanisation and Development. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit. This course uses controlled access as part of the course selection process.
Students from the Department of Geography and Environment are prioritised. Students on other programmes are welcome to apply: please provide a brief rationale for your interest in the course when applying.
This course is available to students in other departments and on other programmes where their regulations allow, and if there is space on the course.
Course content
The course begins with an overview of the ideas and debates shaping current thinking on African cities in theory and policy. We then examine key issues currently facing African cities drawing on contemporary research in human geography, African studies, development studies, urban studies, anthropology, sociology and planning studies. These include: histories, economies, livelihoods, mobilities, planning, land, housing, infrastructures and environments.
Teaching
30 hours of seminars in the Autumn Term.
This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Autumn Term.
In the Department of Geography and Environment, teaching will be delivered through a combination of classes/seminars, pre-recorded lectures, live online lectures and other supplementary interactive live activities.
Formative assessment
Students will write one formative essay examining an issue from the course in one African city of their choice.
Indicative reading
de Boeck F and S Baloji (2016) Suturing the city: living together in Congo’s urban worlds, Autograph ABP, London
Diouf M and R Fredericks (eds) (2014) The arts of citizenship in African cities: infrastructures and spaces of belonging, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke
Goodfellow, T (2022) Politics and the urban frontier: transformation and divergence in late urbanizing East Africa, OUP, Oxford
Keith, Michael and Andreza Aruska de Souza Santos (eds) (2021) African cities and collaborative futures: urban platforms and metropolitan logistics, Manchester University Press, Manchester
Obeng-Odoom F (2016) Reconstructing urban economies: towards a political economy of the built environment, Zed, London
Myers, Garth A (2016) Urban environments in Africa: a critical analysis of environmental politics, Policy Press, Bristol
Myers G (2011) African cities: alternative visions of urban theory and practice, Zed, London
Parnell S and E Pieterse (eds) (2014) Africa’s urban revolution, Zed, London
Pieterse E and AM Simone (eds) (2013) Rogue urbanism: emergent African cities, Jacana Media with African Centre for Cities, University of Cape Town
Quayson A (2014) Oxford Street, Accra: city life and the itineraries of transnationalism, Duke University Press, Durham and London
Robinson J (2006) Ordinary cities: between modernity and development, Routledge, Abingdon
Simone AM (2004) For the city yet to come: changing African life in four cities, Duke University Press, Durham and London
Assessment
Exam (100%), duration: 120 Minutes in the Spring exam period
Students will sit an exam paper (answering 2 questions from 5).
Key facts
Department: Geography and Environment
Course Study Period: Autumn Term
Unit value: Half unit
FHEQ Level: Level 7
CEFR Level: Null
Keywords: Africa, Urban, Cities, Development
Total students 2024/25: Unavailable
Average class size 2024/25: Unavailable
Controlled access 2024/25: NoCourse selection videos
Some departments have produced short videos to introduce their courses. Please refer to the course selection videos index page for further information.
Personal development skills
- Self-management
- Problem solving
- Application of information skills
- Communication
- Specialist skills