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: No
Guidelines for interpreting course guide information

Course 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