Localizing SDGs within the formal and informal urban interface: Cases of Cairo and Dar es Salaam (2019-2020) CODESRIA Meaning-making Research Initiatives (MRI) 2018

This research seeks to re-frame the global discussion on informality by investigating the formal and informal interface in North and East Africa. The aim is to challenge universal understandings of informal areas by scaling down the analysis of interactions and flows that connect ‘informal’ areas to ‘formal’. Based on the assumption that informality holds the ability to transcend its margin condition and seek out inaccessible resources, we argue that a single global normative guideline for all cities may disregard the unique features and particularities of different African cities. One of the goals addressed by the SDGs is the need to reduce the number of people living in poverty, and particularly those living in unplanned settlements. However to effectively achieve poverty reduction in parts of the world where informal economies dominate the urban landscape, we need to have a more nuanced understanding of the processes at the interface of formal-Informal that shape African cities.

Linking SDG discourses into our analysis is important in order to situate African cities in a larger context and move beyond a perception of urban Africa as being essentially different from the rest of the world.

With this view, we will conduct a comparative analysis in Cairo, Egypt and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Both cities, Cairo – an African and Middle Eastern megacity –  and Dar es Salaam, – a major East African port city on the Indian Ocean – provide a unique perspective with their varying histories, sizes, regional contexts and modes of development.

Analyzing and comparing Cairo and Dar es Salaam within the larger framework of African cities, serves the dual purpose of avoiding their construction as exceptional while situating them within their actual transformation.

Lead Researcher:

Dr. Nathalie Jean-Baptiste, Ardhi University / Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Co-Research Fellows:

Dr. Elinorata Mbuya, Ardhi University

Mr. Emanuel Njavike, Ardhi University

Partners:

Cairo Lab for Urban Studies, Training and Environmental Research – CLUSTER (Research Management)

Funded by:

CODESRIA