Living the Urban Periphery: Infrastructure, Everyday Life and Economic Change in African City-Regions

The edges of cities are becoming more dynamic and changing, but there is little research on African urban peripheries. This co-authored monograph examines African urban peripheries through a dual focus on the experiences of living in these changing contexts and the logics driving their transformation. It offers unique, contextually-informed insights into the generic processes shaping urban peripheries and the variable ways in which these are playing out in contemporary Africa.

Format: Hardback
Length: 360 pages
Publication date: 30 July 2024
Publisher: Manchester University Press

Cities' edges are increasingly recognized as dynamic and evolving spaces, but there is limited research on African urban peripheries, including the nature of building, growth, investment, and decline that shape them and how they are experienced. This co-authored monograph, based on extensive comparative studies in Ethiopia and South Africa, engages with a related study on Ghana, to explore African urban peripheries through a dual lens: the lived experiences of individuals in these changing contexts and the underlying logics driving their transformation. By conceptualizing and applying five 'logics of periphery,' the monograph provides unique, contextually informed insights into the generic processes shaping urban peripheries and the diverse ways in which they manifest in contemporary Africa for those living on the periphery. This electronic version is freely available under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND) licence, thanks to the support of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

Dimension: 216 x 138 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781526171214