Another shack fire broke out in Cape Town's townships last month, killing one woman and affecting 1,500 residents. Andrew Fleming reports on the City's response and the attitude of residents, and reviews some recent initiatives that may alleviate the problem of shack fires in the short and long terms.
Slum neighbourhoods are teeming with industry and commerce, yet the policy sphere still tends to treat them as residential spaces alone. What are the consequences of this misconception, and is it time to invoke a right to space, not just of housing?
How badly designed land regulations have backfired time and again, ballooning the price of land and forcing millions into the informal sector.
Marcus Tudehope recounts his first-hand impressions of the San Roque community in Quezon City, where 25,000 residents have been battling to remain in the city.
An experiment to use GIS systems to capture real occupancy and ownership patterns in Uganda's cities, a major step towards formalising the interests of up to 200,000 households.
Andrew Fleming (Twitter: @AndrewSFleming) works as the Senior Researcher at the Cape Town Partnership, a non-profit company dedicated to the…
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The Global Urbanist is an online magazine reviewing urban affairs and urban development issues in cities throughout the developed and developing world.
Its readers are drawn from the urban policy and international development sectors, and include urban planners, officers in local, national or international government agencies, civil society leaders, and researchers.
