African cities and violent conflict: the urban dimension of conflict and post conflict dynamics in Central and Eastern Africa

Abstract

This article forms the introduction of a special issue on the relation between dynamics of violent conflict and urbanisation in Central and Eastern Africa. The aim of this collection of articles is to contribute to a profound understanding of the role of 'the urban' in African conflict dynamics in order to seize their future potential as centres of stability, development, peace-building or postconflict reconstruction. This introduction argues for the need to bridge both the 'urban gap' in African conflict studies as well as the 'political' gap in African urban studies. Building on empirical and analytical insights from multi-disciplinary research in different African conflict settings, the author presents urban centres in Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, DR Congo, South Sudan and Kenya as crucial sites of socio-spatial and political transformations and productions. The main argument running through its analysis is that emerging urbanism in the larger Great-Lakes region and its Eastern neighbours present fascinating lenses to better understand the transformative power of protracted violent conflict. This will be demonstrated by elaborating on the conflictinduced production of urban landscapes, urban governance, and urban identities. Finally, this will lead us to crucial insights on how protracted regional dynamics of political violence, forced displacement, militarised governance and ethnic struggles strongly reinforce the conflictual nature of emerging urbanisation and urbanism.

Explaining the Constitutional Integration and Resurgence of Traditional Political Institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa

“…The emergence of new urban centres was triggered by critical junctures in the trajectory of each state: In Uganda, displacement of populations because of repeated episodes of violence within and in bordering countries has deconcentrated local settlement patterns and led to further urban agglomerations emerging. Moreover, towns such as Gulu in Uganda have been growing as 'humanitarian hotspots' given interventions of external actors (Büscher, 2018). For Mozambique, which ended its civil war in 1992, Kirshner and Power (2015) describe in detail how the resource boom and related investment has led to further sub-boom towns emerging.…”

Intraurban development in a city under protracted armed conflict: Patterns and actors in Goma, DR Congo

“…Urban centers in conflict areas can serve as safe havens for the population seeking protection, concentration points of public administration and the military apparatus, symbols of state sovereignty and public authority, or are where the strings for rebellions are pulled (Büscher, 2018a). However, despite the growing set of research on (secondary) cities in conflict areas, the causes and repercussions of armed conflict and urban development are mostly addressed separately, and urban studies in protracted conflict scenarios often have limitations in measurability and the spatially explicit analysis of urban development (Büscher, 2016, Beall and Goodfellow, 2014, Beall et al, 2013.…”

“…Despite the increased urbanization of Congo's eastern provinces since the onset of violence, research on cities in the country's eastern periphery is rare, and research on adjacent cities in neighboring Rwanda is even scarcer. Only within the last decade has scholarly interest been paid to the significant socio-economic development of some of these cities (Büscher, 2016, Büscher, 2018a, Lamarque, 2014, Soi and Nugent, 2017, Peyton, 2018a, Doevenspeck, 2011. During Belgian colonization and the subsequent Mobutu era, Goma was a tourist magnet, located on the shore of Lake Kivu and famous due to its vicinity to Virunga National Park, with its active volcanoes and mountain gorillas.…”

Between modern urbanism and ‘rurban’ realities

“…To govern these emerging and growing towns, the urbanisation agenda is underpinned by spatial mechanisms to control land allocation, such as zoning and land use regulations, policies on the aesthetic appearance of towns, settlement upgrading through housing standards, and services and infrastructural development. Land is a central issue when analysing the process of urbanisation in a post-conflict setting, certainly when it has historically been a vital aspect of identity and livelihoods (Büscher 2018).…”

“…Because urban areas are strategic political locations in post-conflict societies, gaining and retaining control over them is a critical concern of post-conflict states, which in turn draws attention to the role of urban governance in the process of post-conflict transition. Here, urban governance refers to both the legal and the administrative framework for 'managing' the policies related to urbanisation as well as the organisation of urban public service provision beyond the framework of the state (Büscher 2018). In essence, it deals with the power relationships among different actors and stakeholders in cities (Devas 2004;Lindell 2008).…”