IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v8y2019i2p37-d208119.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Who Controls the City in the Global Urban Era? Mapping the Dimensions of Urban Geopolitics in Beira City, Mozambique

Author

Listed:
  • Murtah Shannon

    (Department of Human Geography & Planning, Utrecht University, 3584 CB Utrecht, The Netherlands)

Abstract

In recent years, a new era of interventionism has emerged targeting the development of African cities, manifested in ‘fantasy’ urban plans, surging infrastructure investments and global policy agendas. What the implications of this new era will be for specific urban contexts is still poorly understood however. Taking this research agenda as a starting point, this article presents findings of in-depth empirical research on urban development in Beira city, Mozambique, which has recently become the recipient of massive donor investments targeting the built environment. Informed by current debates on urban geopolitics, the article unpacks these mounting global flows while locating them alongside pre-existing struggles over urban space. By doing so three distinct yet inter-related dimensions of urban geopolitics are identified, relating to the workings of the state, so-called ‘informality’ and international donors. Far from representing homogeneous categories, these dimensions each represent contradictory practices and interests which are shaping Beira’s urban trajectory. The article concludes by arguing that the inflow of donor resources has exacerbated pre-existing struggles over urban space while contributing to new contentions in ways which have undermined social equity targets of contemporary global development agendas. In doing so it provides important contributions to current debates on urban development in Africa

Suggested Citation

  • Murtah Shannon, 2019. "Who Controls the City in the Global Urban Era? Mapping the Dimensions of Urban Geopolitics in Beira City, Mozambique," Land, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-19, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:8:y:2019:i:2:p:37-:d:208119
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/8/2/37/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/8/2/37/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Joseph Hanlon, 2010. "Frelimo landslide in tainted election in Mozambique," Review of African Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(123), pages 92-95, March.
    2. Pieterse, Edgar, 2010. "Cityness and African Urban Development," WIDER Working Paper Series 042, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    3. Lucy Earle, 2014. "Stepping out of the Twilight? Assessing the Governance Implications of Land Titling and Regularization Programmes," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(2), pages 628-645, March.
    4. Eric Sheppard & Vinay Gidwani & Michael Goldman & Helga Leitner & Ananya Roy & Anant Maringanti, 2015. "Introduction: Urban revolutions in the age of global urbanism," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 52(11), pages 1947-1961, August.
    5. Liza Griffin, 2012. "Where is Power in Governance? Why Geography Matters in the Theory of Governance," Political Studies Review, Political Studies Association, vol. 10(2), pages 208-220, May.
    6. Siti Nuryanah & Sardar M. N. Islam, 2015. "The Context of the Case Study," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Corporate Governance and Financial Management, chapter 5, pages 145-156, Palgrave Macmillan.
    7. Alex Shankland & Raul Chambote, 2011. "Prioritising PPCR Investments in Mozambique: The Politics of ‘Country Ownership’ and ‘Stakeholder Participation’," IDS Bulletin, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 42(3), pages 62-69, May.
    8. Alex Schafran, 2014. "Debating urban studies in 23 steps," City, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(3), pages 321-330, June.
    9. Michael Goldman, 2011. "Speculative Urbanism and the Making of the Next World City," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(3), pages 555-581, May.
    10. Murtah Shannon & Kei Otsuki & Annelies Zoomers & Mayke Kaag, 2018. "Sustainable Urbanization on Occupied Land? The Politics of Infrastructure Development and Resettlement in Beira City, Mozambique," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-18, September.
    11. Hanlon, Joseph & Mosse,, Marcelo, 2010. "Mozambique’s Elite – Finding its Way in a Globalized World and Returning to Old Development Models," WIDER Working Paper Series 105, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    12. Nilima Gulrajani, 2014. "Organising for Donor Effectiveness: An Analytical Framework for Improving Aid Effectiveness," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 32(1), pages 89-112, January.
    13. Edgar Pieterse, 2010. "Cityness and African Urban Development," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2010-042, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Almeida, Bernardo & Jacobs, Carolien, 2022. "Land expropriation – The hidden danger of climate change response in Mozambique," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    2. Christine Richter & Marthe Derkzen & Annelies Zoomers, 2020. "Land Governance from a Mobilities Perspective," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-9, January.
    3. Murtah Shannon & Kei Otsuki & Annelies Zoomers & Mayke Kaag, 2021. "On whose land is the city to be built? Farmers, donors and the urban land question in Beira city, Mozambique," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(4), pages 733-749, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Murtah Shannon & Kei Otsuki & Annelies Zoomers & Mayke Kaag, 2018. "Sustainable Urbanization on Occupied Land? The Politics of Infrastructure Development and Resettlement in Beira City, Mozambique," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-18, September.
    2. Margo Huxley, 2013. "Historicizing Planning, Problematizing Participation," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(5), pages 1527-1541, September.
    3. Aidan Mosselson, 2017. "‘Joburg has its own momentum’: Towards a vernacular theorisation of urban change," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 54(5), pages 1280-1296, April.
    4. Tom Goodfellow, 2017. "Urban Fortunes and Skeleton Cityscapes: Real Estate and Late Urbanization in Kigali and Addis Ababa," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(5), pages 786-803, September.
    5. Jonathan Silver & Simon Marvin, 2017. "Powering sub-Saharan Africa’s urban revolution: An energy transitions approach," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 54(4), pages 847-861, March.
    6. Michael Goldman, 2023. "Speculative urbanism and the urban-financial conjuncture: Interrogating the afterlives of the financial crisis," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 55(2), pages 367-387, March.
    7. Bjorn Sletto & Joshua Palmer, 2017. "The liminality of open space and rhythms of the everyday in Jallah Town, Monrovia, Liberia," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 54(10), pages 2360-2375, August.
    8. Femke van Noorloos & Marjan Kloosterboer, 2018. "Africa’s new cities: The contested future of urbanisation," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 55(6), pages 1223-1241, May.
    9. Liza Rose Cirolia & Rike Sitas & Andrea Pollio & Alexis Gatoni Sebarenzi & Prince K Guma, 2023. "Silicon Savannahs and motorcycle taxis: A Southern perspective on the frontiers of platform urbanism," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 55(8), pages 1989-2008, November.
    10. Jonathan Silver, 2015. "Disrupted Infrastructures: An Urban Political Ecology of Interrupted Electricity in Accra," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(5), pages 984-1003, September.
    11. Sara F. Brouwer, 2023. "Kumusha and masalads: (inter)generational foodways and urban food security in Zimbabwe," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 40(2), pages 761-775, June.
    12. Sawssen Khlifi & Ghazi Zouari, 2021. "The Impact of CEO Overconfidence on Real Earnings Management: Evidence from M&A Transactions," Journal of Accounting and Management Information Systems, Faculty of Accounting and Management Information Systems, The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, vol. 20(3), pages 402-424, September.
    13. Federica Leone & Corrado Zoppi, 2016. "Conservation Measures and Loss of Ecosystem Services: A Study Concerning the Sardinian Natura 2000 Network," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(10), pages 1-15, October.
    14. Mouhamadou Sow & Christina Gehrke, 2019. "Evaluating Information Security System Effectiveness for Risk Management, Control, and Corporate Governance," Business and Economic Research, Macrothink Institute, vol. 9(1), pages 164-172, March.
    15. Anjum Tasnuva & Md. Riad Hossain & Roquia Salam & Abu Reza Md. Towfiqul Islam & Muhammad Mainuddin Patwary & Sobhy M. Ibrahim, 2021. "Employing social vulnerability index to assess household social vulnerability of natural hazards: an evidence from southwest coastal Bangladesh," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(7), pages 10223-10245, July.
    16. Jonathan PW Bell & Aileen Stockdale, 2016. "Examining participatory governance in a devolving UK: Insights from national parks policy development in Northern Ireland," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 34(8), pages 1516-1539, December.
    17. Apantri Peungnumsai & Apichon Witayangkurn & Masahiko Nagai & Hiroyuki Miyazaki, 2018. "A Taxi Zoning Analysis Using Large-Scale Probe Data: A Case Study for Metropolitan Bangkok," The Review of Socionetwork Strategies, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 21-45, June.
    18. Guigui Xu & Xiaosi Su & Yiwu Zhang & Bing You, 2021. "Identifying Potential Sites for Artificial Recharge in the Plain Area of the Daqing River Catchment Using GIS-Based Multi-Criteria Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-15, April.
    19. Yang Yu & Yijin Wu & Xin Xu & Yun Chen & Xiaobo Tian & Li Wang & Siyun Chen, 2021. "Spatial Disparities and Correlated Variables of Community Care Facility Accessibility in Rural Areas of China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-14, December.
    20. Claire Mercer, 2020. "Boundary Work: Becoming Middle Class in Suburban Dar es Salaam," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(3), pages 521-536, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:8:y:2019:i:2:p:37-:d:208119. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.