Exploring urban justice in contemporary African Cities

Questions of injustice, and lack of equity have dominated much of the thinking and scholarly imaginary in Urban Studies, with researchers and academics finding many empirical cases to demonstrate moments of injustice and unfairness in different ways, from procedural issues to challenges of distribution and allocation. However, questions of what constitutes urban justice and how it is made manifest in contemporary African cities has received less attention. This panel is looking for papers that are concerned with empirical cases of urban justice, that trace projects, programmes, or plans from the moment of inception through to delivery and implementation.

It is hoped that these papers would grapple with theoretical questions such as what perspective informs the notion of urban or spatial justice in a particular empirical study, what is driving, motivating or mobilizing such practices and how this can be explained; whether  there some form of urban imaginary informing actions; what is contested and at stake, and perhaps most fundamentally, how we might understand the concept of urban justice and equity within contemporary urbanism in the Global South.

The papers will form part of a panel(s) at the Southern Africa City Studies Conference (SACSC) in Johannesburg at Wits University, 30 August - 2 September 2020.

Abstracts should be 250 words and include 5 key words.

The deadline for abstracts is Friday 20 March 2020.

Please send abstracts to Margot Rubin or Sarah Charlton.