Urban development amid the 'new scramble' for Africa
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Sheffield
Department Name: Urban Studies and Planning
Abstract
Much of the African continent is currently undergoing an 'urban revolution': societies that until recently have been overwhelmingly rural and agriculture-based are inexorably, and often rapidly, urbanising. This has profound implications for African states and societies, especially given the limited economic base of many cities on the continent. It is also throwing up new challenges for traditional aid donors such as the World Bank, Britain and the US, who have long been inclined to focus much of their effort on rural poverty. Meanwhile, the increased engagement between emerging global powers and countries on the African continent has attracted widespread attention in recent years, particularly with respect to the role of China as an aid donor, investor and source of migrants. Some have talked of a 'new scramble for Africa' akin to that of the arrival of the European powers in the late nineteenth century, and debates about whether this is ultimately good or bad for Africans are ongoing. While there is a large and growing body of research on Chinese engagement in Africa, and considerable scholarship focusing on African urban growth patterns and urban development prospects, there is very little research exploring the interrelationship between these two trends. The urban dimension of Chinese engagement is a key issue, however, particularly as (unlike many Western donors) China has no objection to funding major urban infrastructure and construction projects and has developed a number of Special Economic Zones on the fringes of African cities.
This project therefore aims to address critical gaps in existing research. It will do so by researching direct and indirect impacts of Chinese engagement in the two strategically-selected African states of Ethiopia and Uganda, with particular attention to the 'core' cities of Addis Ababa and Kampala respectively. It will also explore how interactions between Chinese agencies, other emerging powers investing in Africa, 'traditional' donors and African governments are shaping the way urban development challenges and opportunities are understood and acted upon. The research will be pursued through exploring three critical issues: the governance of urban land, particularly with respect to Chinese approaches to leasing land to finance urban development; major urban infrastructure projects and their impacts on low-income groups; and efforts to create mass industrial and service sector employment.
A range of methods will be employed to build a rich picture of the impacts of Chinese urban engagement in each case, including interviews with African municipal and national governments, international donors, investors, and Chinese migrant business people; small-scale surveys and focus groups with urban communities; gathering background quantitative data; analysing policy documents and tracing ideas and discourses across international documentary material and policy fora; and undertaking co-productive urban site analysis with a range of international actors. I will undertake an institutional visit to the Lincoln Institute Centre for Urban Development and Land Policy at Peking University (PKU) as part of the research programme, liaise with institutional partners in the two research countries, and convene three workshops in strategic locations across the two-year project. As well as the academic community, the research will be of interest to local and national governments in African states, international policy makers (including a range of UN organisations), multilateral and bilateral aid donors, and development NGOs. The strategies for achieving impact are detailed in the Impact Summary and Pathways to Impact.
This project therefore aims to address critical gaps in existing research. It will do so by researching direct and indirect impacts of Chinese engagement in the two strategically-selected African states of Ethiopia and Uganda, with particular attention to the 'core' cities of Addis Ababa and Kampala respectively. It will also explore how interactions between Chinese agencies, other emerging powers investing in Africa, 'traditional' donors and African governments are shaping the way urban development challenges and opportunities are understood and acted upon. The research will be pursued through exploring three critical issues: the governance of urban land, particularly with respect to Chinese approaches to leasing land to finance urban development; major urban infrastructure projects and their impacts on low-income groups; and efforts to create mass industrial and service sector employment.
A range of methods will be employed to build a rich picture of the impacts of Chinese urban engagement in each case, including interviews with African municipal and national governments, international donors, investors, and Chinese migrant business people; small-scale surveys and focus groups with urban communities; gathering background quantitative data; analysing policy documents and tracing ideas and discourses across international documentary material and policy fora; and undertaking co-productive urban site analysis with a range of international actors. I will undertake an institutional visit to the Lincoln Institute Centre for Urban Development and Land Policy at Peking University (PKU) as part of the research programme, liaise with institutional partners in the two research countries, and convene three workshops in strategic locations across the two-year project. As well as the academic community, the research will be of interest to local and national governments in African states, international policy makers (including a range of UN organisations), multilateral and bilateral aid donors, and development NGOs. The strategies for achieving impact are detailed in the Impact Summary and Pathways to Impact.
Planned Impact
The impact strategy is guided by 3 central objectives:
1. To improve communication and coordination between international agencies with regard to policies on urbanisation in Africa, facilitating productive exchange of ideas about urban challenges.
2. To address speculation surrounding China's engagement in urban Africa by providing a robust evidence base to inform policy.
3. To facilitate cross-country learning by African governments and other agencies about how multi-agency engagement is affecting urban development policies and outcomes.
These objectives are intended to serve the overarching long-term aim of improving the livelihoods and security of the urban poor in Africa. Lower income city-dwellers are therefore the ultimate proposed beneficiaries, though the direct beneficiaries who will be targeted to achieve these impact aims are African local and national governments, international donors and policymakers, and development practitioners. The three impact objectives build on evidence that impact can be achieved not only through the instrumental use of research to inform specific policies, but through conceptual change regarding how particular issues are understood, and through enhancement of organisational capacity achieved through co-productive research.
To facilitate this impact, a programme of activities will be undertaken across the two years, with the intention of firmly establishing impact activities from the start. The non-academic adviser Duncan Green, Senior Strategic Adviser at Oxfam GB, will play a central role in mentoring and helping to develop my skills in impact and engagement throughout. I will also be supported in impact maximisation by the International Advisory Group (IAG), comprising academic and non-academic advisors whose commitment has already been confirmed (see Pathways to Impact for details).
Central to achieving impact with policymakers and development practitioners will be the engagement of UN-HABITAT and Cities Alliance, who are already affiliated to the project (the latter through the role of Clare Short on the IAG). Discussion with UN-HABITAT about impact activities has been ongoing for some time, including regarding the Nairobi-based workshop (see below). An institutional visit will be undertaken to the Peking University- Lincoln Institute Centre for Urban Development and Land Policy in Year 1. This visit will be central to establishing contacts and undertaking dissemination activities to achieve impact in Chinese academic and policy circles, while my academic contacts in the research countries will play similar roles there.
A workshop series consisting of three workshops at strategic times and locations, detailed in the Pathways to Impact, will be a vital impact tool. The workshops will facilitate engagement between international and local policymakers, co-production of research with African government organisations, network-building and dissemination. For donor agencies, national policymakers and local governments alike, the research will provide much-needed insights into the effects of changing patterns of development assistance on African urban development, and the workshops will provide them with valuable opportunities to engage across organisational and national divides.
In addition to the academic publication plan, I will realise the impact objectives by publicising the project from an early stage among key networks at HABITAT III in 2016 (a landmark international event that only takes place once every two decades), as well as at selected academic conferences and by issuing strategic invitations to the workshops built into the project. I will also publish several briefing papers and regular blog posts on public-facing platforms, the reach of which will be advanced through social media and the engagement of SPERI, SIID, Duncan Green's 'From Poverty to Power' platform and the Africa Research Institute, which combined have over 50,000 followers on Twitter.
1. To improve communication and coordination between international agencies with regard to policies on urbanisation in Africa, facilitating productive exchange of ideas about urban challenges.
2. To address speculation surrounding China's engagement in urban Africa by providing a robust evidence base to inform policy.
3. To facilitate cross-country learning by African governments and other agencies about how multi-agency engagement is affecting urban development policies and outcomes.
These objectives are intended to serve the overarching long-term aim of improving the livelihoods and security of the urban poor in Africa. Lower income city-dwellers are therefore the ultimate proposed beneficiaries, though the direct beneficiaries who will be targeted to achieve these impact aims are African local and national governments, international donors and policymakers, and development practitioners. The three impact objectives build on evidence that impact can be achieved not only through the instrumental use of research to inform specific policies, but through conceptual change regarding how particular issues are understood, and through enhancement of organisational capacity achieved through co-productive research.
To facilitate this impact, a programme of activities will be undertaken across the two years, with the intention of firmly establishing impact activities from the start. The non-academic adviser Duncan Green, Senior Strategic Adviser at Oxfam GB, will play a central role in mentoring and helping to develop my skills in impact and engagement throughout. I will also be supported in impact maximisation by the International Advisory Group (IAG), comprising academic and non-academic advisors whose commitment has already been confirmed (see Pathways to Impact for details).
Central to achieving impact with policymakers and development practitioners will be the engagement of UN-HABITAT and Cities Alliance, who are already affiliated to the project (the latter through the role of Clare Short on the IAG). Discussion with UN-HABITAT about impact activities has been ongoing for some time, including regarding the Nairobi-based workshop (see below). An institutional visit will be undertaken to the Peking University- Lincoln Institute Centre for Urban Development and Land Policy in Year 1. This visit will be central to establishing contacts and undertaking dissemination activities to achieve impact in Chinese academic and policy circles, while my academic contacts in the research countries will play similar roles there.
A workshop series consisting of three workshops at strategic times and locations, detailed in the Pathways to Impact, will be a vital impact tool. The workshops will facilitate engagement between international and local policymakers, co-production of research with African government organisations, network-building and dissemination. For donor agencies, national policymakers and local governments alike, the research will provide much-needed insights into the effects of changing patterns of development assistance on African urban development, and the workshops will provide them with valuable opportunities to engage across organisational and national divides.
In addition to the academic publication plan, I will realise the impact objectives by publicising the project from an early stage among key networks at HABITAT III in 2016 (a landmark international event that only takes place once every two decades), as well as at selected academic conferences and by issuing strategic invitations to the workshops built into the project. I will also publish several briefing papers and regular blog posts on public-facing platforms, the reach of which will be advanced through social media and the engagement of SPERI, SIID, Duncan Green's 'From Poverty to Power' platform and the Africa Research Institute, which combined have over 50,000 followers on Twitter.
People |
ORCID iD |
Thomas Goodfellow (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Goodfellow T
(2020)
Contingent infrastructure and the dilution of 'Chineseness': Reframing roads and rail in Kampala and Addis Ababa
in Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space
Goodfellow T
(2020)
Finance, infrastructure and urban capital: the political economy of African 'gap-filling'
in Review of African Political Economy
Goodfellow T
(2021)
Manufacturing urbanism: Improvising the urban-industrial nexus through Chinese economic zones in Africa
in Urban Studies
Description | The research has yielded a number of important key findings and collaborations, outlined below. 1) The particular modalities of financing and planning that characterise Chinese-financed infrastructure in and around African cities generate unique opportunities and challenges. Chinese financial channels offer the opportunity to build particular kinds of transport infrastructure that might not otherwise be possible in Africa, at new scales and through new design modalities. However, the tendency for contractors to lead the process of initiating these projects and work exclusively with national government agencies can lead to serious problems of disconnection from urban planning and city governance. This has important consequences for access to the infrastructure, population mobility, land values, property speculation and financial, social and environmental sustainability of the projects. 2) The lived experience of users of this infrastructure is also often very different from what is planned, partly in consequence of this lack of local and city-level engagement. Changing political imperatives have often meant that the planned modalities for cost recovery (and hence loan repayment) of urban transport infrastructure funded through Chinese loans are not implemented, with the consequences that loan repayment is a remote prospect. 3) Chinese built and financed industrial parks in and around African cities offer the potential to promote some degree of structural economic transformation in Africa. However, the viability of these parks is seriously compromised by weak connecting infrastructure, which combined with the pressure to keep wages low results in very high worker turnover, which makes it difficult to raise productivity. In cases where Chinese firms have tried to set up their own industrial parks and bring in more international firms, this has sometimes failed. These problems are often exacerbated by exchange rate pressures. The ways in which such industrial parks have been incorporated into broader development planning and urban planning is also very different from China's own experiences, with significant implications for labour retention and workers' wellbeing. 4) Having said this, we also find that Chinese private investors (who are much more significant when it comes to industrial park development than state-owned enterprises) are sometimes developing gradual forms of integration with the surrounding urban fabric, and the activities of these private investors are probably more significant than official 'policy transfer' schemes. Moreover, because of their knowledge of the Chinese experience and their need to survive economically, private industrial park owners are sometimes more attuned to the need to integrate with surrounding urban areas than national programmes of industrial park development, which often remain highly disconnected from urban planning. 5) The increased tendency to work with Chinese investors and contractors for large-scale urban infrastructure and industrial projects in Africa has very different implications depending on land tenure regimes and any land reform processes under way. There are risks in adopting a 'China model' or basing projects on Chinese planning and design expertise if there is not adequate understanding of the complex politics and governance of urban land in specific urban settings. 6) The international donor landscape is becoming increasingly complex with the arrival of a range of 'new' donors (including but not limited to China), and this has generated a number of new fora for attempting to co-ordinate donor support for urban governance and administration as well as infrastructure planning. However, given China's unusual status and its non-identification as a 'donor', for the most part Chinese agencies do not participate in these fora. This can generate problems in terms of integrated urban infrastructure planning. Meanwhile, OECD donors are directly and indirectly influenced by China in a number of ways when it comes to prioritising projects and thinking about the relationship between infrastructure, land value capture and housing. There is extensive interest in these issues both within African countries/governments and among OECD donors, including the UK. The engagement activities conducted through the project thus far have opened up a number of new research agendas, including how better to foster collaboration between OECD donors and Chinese agencies, and opportunities for deeper collaboration with a number of institutions including UN-HABITAT, the World Bank, UK DFID and the UK cross-government Prosperity Fund. |
Exploitation Route | As well as academic researchers, the project findings will be of significant interest to a number of government departments in the UK and other OECD donors, Chinese agencies, African governments at national and city level, and intergovernmental agencies including UN-HABITAT, UNDP, the UN Economic Commission for Africa and the World Bank. OECD donor agencies might take the research forward by using it to develop new channels of inter-donor engagement and communication with Chinese agencies, as well as learning from Chinese approaches to infrastructure and industrial park development. Chinese firms and development agencies (such as the new China International Development Cooperation Agency) might use the research findings to better understand the impacts of some Chinese-financed projects on the ground as well as to understand the challenges faced by other donors. African governments might use the findings to think about how to integrate city and local-level planning and participation more closely into Chinese-led urban development projects. Academic researchers could also build on the research in a number of ways, e.g. by exploring changing donor support to urban infrastructure in response to Chinese engagement; how to ensure better local engagement and control of urban projects; and how to improve land value capture mechanisms. |
Sectors | Construction Environment Financial Services and Management Consultancy Government Democracy and Justice Manufacturing including Industrial Biotechology Security and Diplomacy Transport |
Description | The findings of this project have been used in policy discussions and documents concerning the value of large-scale, externally financed transport infrastructure projects in African cities. This is evident in discussions with FCDO/World Bank staff, and in third sector policy reports, as well as in email exchanges with infrastructure investment companies. |
First Year Of Impact | 2021 |
Sector | Government, Democracy and Justice,Transport |
Impact Types | Policy & public services |
Description | Expert panel on urban public transport reform in Uganda |
Geographic Reach | Africa |
Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
Impact | There was significant media coverage of the report, leading to debate and heightened awareness of political economy challenges to public transport reform, as well as wide public participation in the event. Any more concrete impacts on actual transport policy are not yet possible to identify. |
Description | Extensive citation in not-for-profit report |
Geographic Reach | Africa |
Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
URL | https://peopleoriented.org/china-overseas-lending |
Description | Influence on DFID Uganda urban infrastructure programming |
Geographic Reach | Africa |
Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
Description | Zhengli Huang participation in an evaluation of Belt and Road investments in Ethiopia, commissioned by UNDP and led by the Overseas Development Institute. |
Geographic Reach | Africa |
Policy Influence Type | Membership of a guideline committee |
Description | Addressing the housing challenge in Ethiopia's 'industrial revolution' |
Amount | £22,978 (GBP) |
Funding ID | X/159922 (HEFCE GCRF Funds) |
Organisation | University of Sheffield |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2019 |
End | 07/2019 |
Description | African Cities Research Consortium |
Amount | £30,000,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | 60000 |
Organisation | Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 08/2021 |
End | 06/2023 |
Description | Migration, Urbanisation and Conflict in Africa (MUCA) |
Amount | £1,929,232 (GBP) |
Funding ID | ES/T01542X/1 |
Organisation | Economic and Social Research Council |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2020 |
End | 12/2023 |
Title | Four new research questionnaires |
Description | In the course of the field research in the two primary research cities (Addis Ababa and Kampala), four new questionnaires were developed by myself (in consultation with the research team) for the purposes of conducting four small-scale exploratory surveys on Chinese-financed transport infrastructure and industrial park development in Ethiopia and Uganda. |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Year Produced | 2018 |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | No discernible impacts at this stage, though they were an important aspect of the research process and also helped to involve project partners in Ethiopia and Uganda much more closely in the research and stimulate new research ideas among these partners. |
Title | Small-scale datasets based on exploratory survey work |
Description | Through conducting the four exploratory questionnaire surveys (n=50 per survey), some small new datasets have been created. These are not yet published or available, but could be made so. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2018 |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | These datasets are very small in scale and were a supplementary/exploratory aspect of the research to supplement the main data which is qualitative and interview-based. They might potentially influence further research on these issues by members of the project team, though it is too early to tell. |
Description | Collaboration with Makerere University Department of Geography and Informatics |
Organisation | Makerere University |
Department | Department of Geography, Geoinformatics & Climatic Sciences |
Country | Uganda |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | I had established the basis for collaboration with Dr. Shuaib Lwasa who heads the Urban Action Lab at the time of proposal writing, and he provided a letter of support. While doing field research in Kampala, myself and Dr. Zhengli Huang (the postdoctoral Research Associated) met on a number of occasions with Dr. Lwasa to discuss the progress of the research and the ways in which we might involve Urban Action Lab staff and students. We subsequently invited Dr. Lwasa to present and participate in our workshop with UN-HABITAT in Nairobi. |
Collaborator Contribution | Dr. Lwasa advised on a number of aspects of the project, including recommending a number of postgraduate students who might be able to provide research assistance. He also recommended interviewees and advised on logistics of conducting research in the town of Hoima that we visited as part of the research. He joined our workshop in June 2018 in Nairobi, presented and participated extensively in discussions. Other staff from within his team also engaged with our research, and one of them was an important source of information for the project. |
Impact | This partnership has continued to flourish through the inter-disciplinary (Geography, Planning, Political Science, Conflict Studies) GCRF-ARUA project 'Migration, Urbanisation and Conflict in Africa' on which I am a Co-I, and on which the Urban Action Lab is a major partner. Dr (now Professor) Lwasa has since moved on to the Global Center on Adaptation, but is still a partner on the GCRF-ARUA project, though the partnership with the UAL continues through Dr. Paul Mukwaya, also a close partner. |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | Collaboration with PKU-Lincoln Institute Center for Urban Development and Land Policy in Beijing |
Organisation | Peking University |
Department | PKU-Lincoln Institute Center for Urban Development and Land Policy |
Country | China |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | I spent a week in Beijing in October 2017, hosed by the Lincoln Institute Center. I engaged with and learned from a number of staff at the Institute as well as conducting other interviews and engagement activities in Beijing (and later in Guangzhou). |
Collaborator Contribution | The institute hosted me, provided me with working space and introduced me to a range of key relevant stakeholders in the university, including Professor Justin Yifu Lin, former World Bank Chief Economist. |
Impact | So far, the main outcome from the collaboration was my institutional visit, but there was clear interest in continued dialogue, especially since the Lincoln Institute is planning to extend its work in Africa. |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | Collaboration with staff from the Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction and City Development at Addis Ababa University |
Organisation | Addis Ababa University |
Department | Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction and City Development |
Country | Ethiopia |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Through this project and another ESRC project on which I am a co-investigator ('Living the Urban Periphery: Investment, Infrastructure and Economic Change in African City-Regions'), I have been working increasingly closely with staff from EiABC at Addis Ababa University in relation to the Addis Ababa case study on my project. We are employing a member of EiABC staff to undertake some research assistance on the project, including the implementation of questionnaire surveys (yet to be implemented). I have also been involved in organising a workshop in Addis Ababa in late March 2018, which is primarily related to the 'Living the Urban Periphery' project and in which several members of staff from this organisation will participate, and this will also provide further opportunities to engage with them in relation to the 'Urban Development Amid the New Scramble for Africa' project. |
Collaborator Contribution | As noted above, a member of EiABC staff will be working on my project for a number of days (as planned in the original research proposal, where funds were budgeted for local research assistance in each of the case study countries). Staff from EiABC have also been very helpful in terms of providing assistance for visa applications for myself and my Postdoctoral Research Associate, Dr. Zhengli Huang, to facilitate our work in Ethiopia. |
Impact | The collaboration is still at an early stage, but does have concrete outcomes in terms of the employment of a member of staff from EiABC to work on my project, and the invaluable support they are providing to facilitate business visas to the country. |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | Blog post for Africa Research Institute |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | I wrote a blog for the Africa Research Institute, which has wide global reach (e.g. 73,000 Twitter followers) about my research project, which focused particularly on the workshop I ran in summer 2017. This was widely circulated by the Institute and generated some interesting online discussion, as well as being re-posted by other sites (including African news websites). |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Invited lecture on 'Between Chinese Infrastructure and African Urban Development' at Glasgow University |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Zhengli Huang gave a guest lecture based primarily on research from this project, followed by a workshop on 'development corridors'. The lecture was followed by a 40-minute Q&A session in which there was clear and extensive interest in the project findings. Following the lecture there was a small workshop with members for the Development Corridor Partnership including representatives from the World Conservation Monitoring Centre, in which Dr. Huang and the other participants discussed how to enhance information channels between Chinese contractors, researchers and the civil society (especially those in the environmental fields) in relation to Chinese infrastructure projects in Africa. She connected them to relevant environmental researchers and institutions in China that have an impact on policymakers in China, leading to people from the latter institutions being invited to further event. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Invited speaker and workshop participant for a session on 'Chinese infrastructure in Africa; |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Zhengli Huang gave a talk on "Chinese Infrastructure in Africa" in Southeastern University, Nanjing, on 28 Feb 2019, as part of a workshop organized by Prof. Xingping Wang, Department of Urban Planning, Southeastern University |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Invited speaker at Workshop on "Chinese overseas studies" in Shanghai |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Zhengli Huang presented our work on "Chinese roads and railways in Africa" at a workshop on "Chinese overseas studies" in Department of International Relations, Shanghai Foreign Language University, on 9 Mar 2019. Organized by Duanyong Wang and Prof. Shuyong Guo. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Keynote lecture at 'China in Africa and Africa in China - Impact on local societies, economies and cultures' conference at Ghent University, Belgium |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Dr. Zhengli Huang presented our work at this conference, organized by the China Platform of Ghent University. Though quite a small conference, the content and discussions were very rich, and there were interesting discussions about the project finance aspect of the infrastructures we study in our project, including with representatives of the banking sector. The organizing committee decided that a special issue of the journal Afrika Focus will be dedicated to the presentations from the conference. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://www.africaplatform.ugent.be/event/conference-china-africa-and-africa-china-impact-local-soci... |
Description | Policy dialogue with UN-HABITAT |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | On 20 December 2018 Zhengli Huang met with a number of UN-HABITAT staff to further disseminate our research findings. Attendees at this meeting included Rong Yang (Inter-Regional Advisor, UN-Habitat), Claude Albert Meutchehe Ngomsi (Regional Advisor, UN-Habitat) and Njeri Cerere (Urban Planner, World Bank Consultant). A number of possible future collaborations were discussed. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Policy workshop with UN-HABITAT in Nairobi |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | 30 participants attended a 1.5 day workshop to discuss emerging project findings at the UN-HABITAT headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. The purpose of the workshop was to share emerging findings with policy and practitioner audiences from key international organisations as well as from the two main research countries (Uganda and Ethiopia). Attendees included members of various UN-HABITAT departments as well as other UN agencies, representatives of donor agencies including the World Bank and China-Africa Development Fund, civil servants, members of policy think tanks, representatives of industry including banks and chambers of commerce, and researchers. We presented various aspects of the research, invited short presentations from key participants and facilitated in-depth discussions. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Presentation and discussion at the UK Department for International Development (DFID) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | I gave a presentation about this work at the Department for International Developments headquarters in Whitehall, with remote participants also joining from their Scotland office and internationally (including a DFID governance adviser based in Zimbabwe). There was considerable interest in the research and questions/discussion, including from people who had been working in Uganda at the time the infrastructure projects in question were commissioned, leading to a lively discussion. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Presentation at China-Africa conference, Brussels |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Myself and Dr. Huang presented our emerging findings at a specialist China-Africa research conference in Brussels in June 2018. While primarily an academic audiences, a number of international figures from industry and the policy work were also in attendance. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | http://africachinareporting.co.za/2018/09/report-the-project-at-the-china-africa-in-global-comparati... |
Description | Presentation at International Conference on Development Zone Transformation and City Innovation in Nanjing, China |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | Zhengli Huang gave a presentation of our research and also chaired a panel on Special Economic Zones at this event. This was an international conference bringing together people including the following: professors and PhD students from Southeastern University, Addis Ababa University and other Universities from China; representatives from international organizations including the UN Economic Commission for Africa, OECD Asia office, UN-Habitat (Beijing), and representatives from government authorities in charge of SEZ development in Korea, Iran and other countries. Representatives from China State Development and Reform Office and Nanjing city administration also attended. Urban planners from Jiangsu Province and Chinese investors in overseas (Thailand) industrial parks also attended. During the event, people from different fields and disciplines exchanged ideas on industrial park development and planning. In the context of international comparison, there was significant interest in our case studies of Chinese industrial parks in Ethiopia and Uganda. The international delegate (about 40 people) within this event also visited a new town and an SEZ in Nanjing after the conference, sparking further comparative discussion including relating to our research. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Presentation at University of Nairobi's first conference on China-Africa relations |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Dr. Zhengli Huang gave a presentation at this conference, entitled 'From Sino-Africa to Afro-China Engagements in the 21st Century: Emerging Interdisciplinary Issues and Research Gaps'. She presented a paper from our project entitled "Infrastructure on Autopilot: Chinese Roads and Rail in Kampala and Addis Ababa", to the audience at this inaugural China-Africa conference in Nairobi on 18 October 2019. This sparked significant discussions and questions. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://uonresearch.org/current-events/rw-ccar2019/ |
Description | Presentation to UK Foreign Office Prosperity Fund |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | I presented work from this project and led a discussion with Policymakers at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, hosted by the UK Prosperity Fund. As well as people from the Prosperity Fund (including its Deputy Director and various members of the China team) and the cross-departmental Africa office, other FCO staff were present and also consultants from KPMG who work with the Prosperity Fund. A number of people participated over Skype, including from China. The session proceeded with the following format: Talk by me (30 mins) Response from KPMG (10 mins) Response from Beijing office (10 mins) Questions & discussion (30 mins) Closing words (10 mins) The discussion was very involved and I received very positive feedback. Shortly after the event one of the organisers wrote that 'I suspect there could have been a full day's conversation given the amount of common interest and cross-over with the Prosperity Fund', and 'we're keen to make your findings and insights available to other teams across the Prosperity Fund', while another said that 'It was a rare opportunity to get KPMG & the China Infrastructure Programme team in the same room, and to take the conversation in some really interesting directions inspired by your research.' |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Presentation to academic and policy audience at York Interdisciplinary Global Development Centre |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | I gave a talk showcasing some of the research findings at the Interdisciplinary Global Development Research Centre. The audience was primarily an academic one (academics and postgraduate students, including visiting PhD scholars from China) but there were also some policymakers there, including from the cross-departmental UK Prosperity Fund. I spoke quite extensively with a number of people after the seminar, leading to a possibly presentation to DFID and FCO audiences in London later this year. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://www.york.ac.uk/igdc/events/igdc-research-seminar-march-2019/ |
Description | Seminar at Tsinghua University |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | I gave a seminar at Tsinghua University, Department of Political Science, on my previous research linked to the this project, and outlined the project itself. It was well-attended by around 20 very engaged graduate students who posed lots of important and pertinent questions. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Workshop on 'African cities in a changing development context' |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Thirty people attended this event, from across academia, policy, media and professional practice. The research was hosted at the Africa Research Institute in London. The purpose of the event was fourfold: a) to increase awareness about my ESRC project among relevant academic and policy audience, in order to maximise interest and potential impact as project research findings are published in due course b) to find out more about research projects in progress on similar and related issues, including PhD projects, and to meet and engage with people researching relevant issues c) to explore what kinds of outputs and future research engagement would of interest to the policy community d) to contribute towards the creation of a community of research and practice, with a focus on new forms of development cooperation in African cities. The workshop was successful, and the last session was an interactive discussion using online forms of engagement, alongside discussion, to prioritise research themes and possible future activities. Many participants expressed an interest in a follow-up workshop when this research (and other related research being carried out by participants) was near completion, as well as presenting lots of other ideas about future events and engagement. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | http://siid.group.shef.ac.uk/events/african-citiestransformation/ |
Description | Workshop with China-Africa Development Fund, Beijing |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Zhengli Huang attended a small workshop with representatives of the China-Africa Development in Beijing on 18 February 2019, partly to discuss emerging findings from this research project as well as future collaboration possibilities. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Young Scholars Forum on International Development, in Yunnan province, China |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | Zhengli Huang gave a talk at this forum for young scholars on "China in African infrastructure: roads and railways", on 31 July 2019. The forum was organized by China Agriculture University and Yunnan University. This event brought together young scholars and top experts from international relations/development studies disciplines from some of the best Chinese universities, including China Academy of Social Sciences, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences and Tsinghua University. The talk stimulated widespread interest among scholars and other participants in questions of China's financial support to infrastructure and how it could be improved. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |