Loading...
Please wait, while we are loading the content...
Similar Documents
Plug-in urbanism: City building and the parodic guise of new infrastructure in Africa
| Content Provider | SAGE Publishing |
|---|---|
| Author | Guma, Prince K. Akallah, Jethron Ayumbah Odeo, Jack Ong’iro |
| Copyright Year | 2023 |
| Abstract | Across Africa, cities have become fodder for grand-scale foreign investments and redevelopment projects signifying a distinct phenomenon synonymous with a new kind of urbanism. This paper offers a critical commentary on the proliferation of new infrastructure plans tailored as policy, technological fixes and solutions to urbanisation challenges, both real and perceived. We stir a conversation around the notion of ‘plug-in urbanism’: first, as an entry point for the study of a model of city building that is exceedingly determined by reflex prioritisation of assumedly universal and transferable corporate-driven policy agendas; secondly, as a critique of unidirectional, homogenising and determinist technological ideas and infrastructures; and thirdly, as a recourse to inclusive and holistic planning. We present the case of the Nairobi Expressway, a recently launched two- to four-lane 27 km viaduct, and the largest in Africa, as an example of a ‘plug-in’ infrastructure project: i.e. pre-packaged state-of-the-art development installation that comes complete and tailored as a magic bullet and obvious solution to identified mobility and transport challenges in Nairobi city. We demonstrate how in its parodic guise, the expressway highlights a project that is designed and financed by foreign authorities and sustained in line with foreign standard ideologies of what a world-class city should look like, yet in reality only leads to piecemeal and incomplete growth and development. Drawing from a standpoint of multiple urbanisms, we argue for more inclusive urban futures and visions that are responsive to diverse, popular and heterogeneous articulations of cities. |
| Related Links | https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/00420980231158013?download=true |
| ISSN | 00420980 |
| Journal | Urban Studies (USJ) |
| e-ISSN | 1360063X |
| DOI | 10.1177/00420980231158013 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Sage Publications UK |
| Publisher Date | 2023-03-18 |
| Publisher Place | London |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Rights Holder | © Urban Studies Journal Limited 2023 |
| Subject Keyword | 基础设施发展 plug-in urbanism 插入式城市化 政策流动性 city planning 内罗毕高速公路 Nairobi Expressway 城市规划 infrastructure development policy mobilities |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
| Subject | Urban Studies Environmental Science |
