Money in a slum: the logic of small gains
Dagna Rams is a doctoral candidate at the Department of Social and Political Science at the University of Lausanne, researching urban management and the politics and economies at the heart of the...
Accra: Sensing the City Through Sound
In May, African Urbanism contributed to MIT's Community Innovation Lab (CoLab Radio) "Listening to the City" series. The series includes sounds from cities such as a market in Mexico City, a...
Re-imagining Accra’s “public spaces”
What if we let go of the limiting idea of our public spaces as “city parks” and began exploring the entire range of social spaces that already exist in the...
After the Kantamanto Market fire, an opportunity for participatory planning emerges
[caption id="attachment_763" align="aligncenter" width="610"] Kantamanto Market, Accra, Ghana. (Photo Credit: Victoria Okoye/africanurbanism.net)[/caption] Two weeks ago, fire destroyed the immense Kantamanto Market, the huge open-air market linked to Makola in Old Accra,...
A World Bank chief economist’s take on informality and employment in Africa
"Most Africans, the ones in rural areas as well as people in the urban areas, are in the informal sector. And there is a reason for that: they cannot afford...
Traders and mayor differ on approach to build a modern Kantamanto after fire
"...the overall good that should come out of this is the need for us to take advantage of an unfortunate situation to bring about modernization," said Accra City Mayor Alfred...
Kantamanto Market: In Accra, a premier destination for secondhand trade
For more than 30 years now, the trading in Accra’s Kantamanto Market has contributed and linked in to the urban center’s economic productivity and vibrancy. Located near the Makola Market...