E Bandauko
Biographic Data
| ID | 69344 |
|---|---|
| NAME | E Bandauko |
| GIVEN NAMES | E |
| FAMILY NAME | Bandauko |
| SIGNATURE | BANDAUKO E |
| AFFILIATIONS | Western University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1917-9640 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 50 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 135 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 50 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2015 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
‘Building dignity’: Women’s emancipation and the realities of participatory slum upgrading in Dzivarasekwa Extension, Harare, Zimbabwe
Nocturnal Informality: Rethinking the Temporal Politics of Urban Informality
Urban informality has long been theorized as a spatial condition of urban life—an expression of negotiation, improvisation, and survival within the uneven terrains of legality and governance. Yet this emphasis on space has obscured the temporalities through which informality is lived, governed, and contested. This essay develops the concept of ‘nocturnal informality’, drawing on experiences of street trading in Harare to foreground the night as a…
A Systematic Review of the Global Literature on Gated Communities: A Temporal Perspective
This study systematically reviews 336 peer-reviewed articles on gated communities (1997–2023) to examine thematic evolution and geographic diversification. Guided by a unified conceptual framework, it identifies six meta-themes and traces a transition from early defensive architecture to contemporary sustainable assemblages. The findings also reveal a significant “Southern turn” dominated by China and a conceptual shift where the gate has evolved…
Towards a collective urban vision? An analysis of ‘rethink London’ official plan review using a collaborative planning framework
The City of London, Ontario (Canada) launched Rethink London (2012–2014) as a community-focused initiative to engage diverse stakeholders in shaping the city’s long-term urban vision during its Official Plan review process. While Rethink London resulted in the adoption of The London Plan in 2016, there has been no systematic evaluation of the process through the lens of a collaborative planning framework. This paper evaluates how far Rethink Lond…
Coloniality–urban informality–climate justice nexus in Sub-Saharan African cities: A critical review
This paper examines the complex and often overlooked intersections of coloniality, urban informality, and climate justice in Sub-Saharan African cities. Using a critical literature review, we argue that many Sub-Saharan African cities experience a colonial hangover through historically entrenched systems of governance that continue to shape the present-day urban policy and management landscape, often marginalising informal settlements. The perpet…
Informal infrastructuring: The defining feature of 21st century urbanization
Urbanization drives global socio-spatial transformation. Informality is central to this transformation, but is treated as a peripheral process on the margins of cities and economies. Informality is often associated with specific locations, overlooking the fact that it constitutes a dynamic, global process operating across spatial and temporal scales. We develop the concept of informal infrastructuring to interrogate how, through informality, peop…
From markets to ‘mal-kets’: Infrastructure modernisation or cultural erosion
Urban markets in African cities exhibit a complex interplay of six characteristics, namely physical form, social interactions, economic activities, governance structures, cultural values and spatial contestations. These unique characteristics are being disrupted due to the growing penetration of neoliberal urbanism coupled with the desire of municipal authorities to redevelop markets to resemble western-style shopping malls. Drawing on notions of…
Displace, Dump and Cage?’: Contested logics of formalization of street trading in Harare and Kumasi
This paper examines the contested logics of spatial formalization of street trading in Harare (Zimbabwe) and Kumasi (Ghana), two cities shaped by the complex interplay of rising urban informality, colonial legacies, and modernist urban aspirations. Both cities have witnessed increasing tensions between state-driven urban planning initiatives and the everyday spatial practices of informal street traders, who rely on public spaces for their livelih…
Necrospatial containment and slow violence in Harare’s informal settlements
Develops the framework of necrospatial containment to examine how the urban poor experience and negotiate constricted, toxic and precarious spatialities. • Contributes to critical urban studies by demonstrating how the governance of informality amplifies urban marginality in cities. • Advocates for policy interventions that recognizes informal settlements as legitimate urban spaces requiring investment, rights, and infrastructural justice. This p…
“They ignored our ideas on the sea defence project”: The socio-politics of coastal flood management and climate maladaptation in Keta and Glefe, Ghana
Socio-politics shape coastal flood management in Ghana • Reveals marginalization of local knowledge in adaptation planning • Finds that hard-engineered flood measures disrupt livelihoods in coastal areas. • Propose institutional reforms to transform coastal adaptation planning
Shadowing the state’: Subaltern surveillance and the rhythms of everyday resistance
This paper challenges and unsettles dominant discourses on spatial control by conceptualizing subaltern surveillance as an everyday counter-practice through which street traders negotiate access to contested spaces. While literature is loaded with state-centric perspectives on surveillance – less attention has been paid to how street traders flip the surveillance gaze. How do street traders engage in subaltern surveillance to negotiate access to …
Toward supported self-provisioning: Assessing the constraints and generative possibilities of informal modes of urban life
This Space Is Ours”: Street Trading and Contestation over the Right to the City in Harare’s Central Business District
Navigating political opportunity structures: Street traders’ associations and collective action in politically volatile urban environments
This is my home, and I am not ashamed to live here: A comparative study of sense of belonging in Harare and Accra’s informal settlements
Community perceptions on institutional gaps in flood disaster preparedness and management in Mepe community, Ghana
They want to get rid of us by all means: A critical analysis of policy and governance responses and their implications for street traders’ access to urban space in Harare, Zimbabwe
This paper examines how urban authorities in Harare respond to street trading and the implications of these interventions on street traders’ access to urban space. Drawing from focus groups, in-depth interviews with street traders and urban governance actors, we argue that as urban authorities in Harare become obsessed with defending modernity, they implement aggressive urban policies aimed at eradicating street traders’ livelihoods. These violen…
A tale of two Harare(s): Contested narratives of world class city ideals and everyday urbanism in an informalizing city
On Their Own Terms: How Informal Settlement Residents Interpret Urban Inclusion and Exclusion Within the Context of Participatory Mechanisms
This paper examines how residents of Nima and Old Fadama—Accra's largest informal settlements—perceive and interpret urban inclusion and exclusion within the framework of existing participatory mechanisms designed to enhance their voice in urban governance. Our findings reveal that participants largely equate urban inclusion with having a voice in community-level decision-making processes. However, this voice does not often translate into substan…
No one can just occupy the space without our permission: Informal governance mechanisms and the politics of street traders' access to space in Harare's contested Central Business District (CBD)
Negotiating access to contested urban spaces: Street traders' resistance against exclusionary practices in Harare, Zimbabwe
In Global South cities, urban space is highly contested between street traders and city authorities. In Harare, urban authorities respond to traders appropriating public spaces with penalties, harassment, and displacement, aiming to eliminate perceived nuisances and uphold a modern city ideal. However, these repressive practices are constantly negotiated, challenged, and resisted by street traders through 'infiltrating and corrupting' the system,…
Implications of peri-urban land reform programs on urban land markets: A case study of Harare, Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe implemented the Fast-Track Land Reform Program (FTLRP) in the year 2000. This program has had far-reaching implications on urban development, especially on urban land markets in cities and towns. This paper highlights the implications of the land reform program on urban land markets, using Harare as a case study. The paper is based on document review (policy, academic and development literature) and interviews with key informants with ex…
Prefigurative urbanization: Housing cooperatives, social movements, and the urban transformation question in Harare (Zimbabwe)
Housing cooperatives and social movements have become significant actors in the housing delivery in Harare, Zimbabwe. This paper examines how these social movements contribute to the transformation of urban territories. We argue that through strategies, such as collective defiance and demonstration of alternative; housing cooperatives and social movements have challenged urban authorities to concede to new forms of urban development. These urban …
Extra-Regional Return Migration to Africa: A Systematic Literature Review
As global economies become increasingly interconnected, the movement of people across borders has intensified, generating significant debate on the implications for both sending and receiving countries. Amid this debate, studies continue to report the return of some migrants to out-sourcing countries. While extra-regional return migration (henceforth, return migration) to Africa has received scholarly attention, there is no periodic systematic li…
Peri-urbanisation and land conflicts in Domboshava, Zimbabwe
The Power of a Camera: Fieldwork Experiences From Using Participatory Photovoice
Conducting primary data collection can be a fulfilling and interesting adventure producing significant learning experiences particularly for early career researchers. However, fieldwork can be marred with complex challenges and frustrations, especially if conducted in dynamic and politically sensitive environments and with highly vulnerable urban populations. This paper contributes to and advances academic scholarship on fieldwork experiences in …
Negotiating access to contested urban spaces: Street traders' resistance against exclusionary practices in Harare, Zimbabwe
In Global South cities, urban space is highly contested between street traders and city authorities. In Harare, urban authorities respond to traders appropriating public spaces with penalties, harassment, and displacement, aiming to eliminate perceived nuisances and uphold a modern city ideal. However, these repressive practices are constantly negotiated, challenged, and resisted by street traders through 'infiltrating and corrupting' the system,…
They say these are places for criminals, but this is our home’: Internalising and countering discourses of territorial stigmatisation in Harare’s informal settlements
In developing countries, people living in informal settlements are subjected to different forms of coercive control such as threats of evictions, exclusion, blocked access to urban services and other types of structural violence. These coercive measures are legitimised through the discursive branding of informal settlements as ‘unplanned’, ‘disorderly’ and ‘dangerous’ neighbourhoods. This paper examines how people living in these denigrated neigh…
It is no longer the sunshine city, it is now a dump site city”: Discursive construction of urban space and street trading in Harare, Zimbabwe
Gender and appropriation of public space in Harare’s contested central city area
Street trading is a highly gendered form of economic activity practiced by the urban poor in most global south cities. Drawing from focus group discussions and in-depth interviews, this paper examines the everyday struggles facing female street traders with children as they negotiate access to contested urban spaces to make a living in Harare’s Central Business District (CBD). The paper argues that public spaces in Harare’s CBD act as both ‘livel…
A tale of two Harare(s): Contested narratives of world class city ideals and everyday urbanism in an informalizing city
Poverty porn or poverty planning? Slum photography and the politics of spatial representation
This forum article critically examines the politics of visual representation in urban informality, interrogating the genealogies and contemporary manifestations of what we term the “slum gaze.” Drawing on postcolonial theory, feminist visual studies, and critical urban geography, we trace how colonial visualities continue to shape aesthetic constructions of urban marginality through “poverty porn” and spectacles of abjection. We argue that domina…
No one can just occupy the space without our permission: Informal governance mechanisms and the politics of street traders' access to space in Harare's contested Central Business District (CBD)
Instead of ‘writing against’ and discarding ‘immigrants’ integration, why not reconceptualize integration as a wicked concept
Over the years, some scholars have not only written against the concept of immigrant integration but have called for its rejection and abandonment. Critics argue that the concept is normative, objectifies others, mirrors outmoded imaginary of society, orients towards methodological nationalism, and a narrow emphasis on immigrants in the forces defining integration progression. Nonetheless, the concept continues to receive academic and policy atte…
Exploring place attachment dynamics in deprived urban neighborhoods: An empirical study of Nima and Old Fadama slums in Accra, Ghana
Despite the growing body of literature on place attachment, research on this topic in the Global South remains limited. This is especially concerning given the significant impact of residential environments, such as slums, on the lived experiences of their inhabitants. This paper addresses this gap by examining the dynamics of place attachment in Nima and Old Fadama, the two largest slums in Accra. Specifically, the study investigates how residen…
Residential satisfaction in deprived urban neighbourhoods: A case study of Harare’s selected informal settlements
Navigating political opportunity structures: Street traders’ associations and collective action in politically volatile urban environments
On Their Own Terms: How Informal Settlement Residents Interpret Urban Inclusion and Exclusion Within the Context of Participatory Mechanisms
This paper examines how residents of Nima and Old Fadama—Accra's largest informal settlements—perceive and interpret urban inclusion and exclusion within the framework of existing participatory mechanisms designed to enhance their voice in urban governance. Our findings reveal that participants largely equate urban inclusion with having a voice in community-level decision-making processes. However, this voice does not often translate into substan…
The unwavering bond: Examining the sense of place in Harare's informal urban neighbourhoods
This paper investigates the sense of place in Hopley and Hatcliffe Extension, the largest informal neighbourhoods in Harare, Zimbabwe. The study draws from insights gained through focus group discussions with selected participants from these two communities. Contrary to conventional beliefs, we contend that residents of these neighbourhoods, despite enduring significant deprivation, exhibit a profound emotional connection to their neighbourhoods.…
Displace, Dump and Cage?’: Contested logics of formalization of street trading in Harare and Kumasi
This paper examines the contested logics of spatial formalization of street trading in Harare (Zimbabwe) and Kumasi (Ghana), two cities shaped by the complex interplay of rising urban informality, colonial legacies, and modernist urban aspirations. Both cities have witnessed increasing tensions between state-driven urban planning initiatives and the everyday spatial practices of informal street traders, who rely on public spaces for their livelih…
Toward supported self-provisioning: Assessing the constraints and generative possibilities of informal modes of urban life
They want to get rid of us by all means: A critical analysis of policy and governance responses and their implications for street traders’ access to urban space in Harare, Zimbabwe
This paper examines how urban authorities in Harare respond to street trading and the implications of these interventions on street traders’ access to urban space. Drawing from focus groups, in-depth interviews with street traders and urban governance actors, we argue that as urban authorities in Harare become obsessed with defending modernity, they implement aggressive urban policies aimed at eradicating street traders’ livelihoods. These violen…
Dwindling funds and increased responsibilities: Decentralization, unfunded mandates, and Harare's infrastructure crisis
Precarious power’: Implicit infrastructures and electricity access in Witsand, Cape Town (South Africa)
For the poor residents in Witsand, an informal settlement on the periphery of Cape Town, electricity access is an everyday struggle, where households circumvent Eskom's vouchers and prepaid meters to adapt electricity to their lived realities. In this paper, we argue that in a context where Eskom electricity provision is often exclusionary, residents deploy diverse strategies to challenge this form of infrastructure violence. Drawing on over twen…
Exploring the rationalization, functional integration and socio-spatial implications of Zimbabwe’s New Capital City (NCC)
The development of new master-planned cities is a popular approach to decongest major metropolitan areas in different African countries, including Zimbabwe. This paper is an exploratory analysis of Zimbabwe’s New Capital City (NCC), being created roughly 20 kilometers outside Harare. Specifically, the paper analyzes the design of the NCC, the principles underpinning its production, the different rationalities used by policymakers for its legitima…
Examining the conformance of development to local spatial plans amid rapid urbanisation in Harare, Zimbabwe
Highlighting smart city mirages in public perceptions: A Twitter sentiment analysis of four African smart city projects
To leave or not to leave? An analysis of individual and neighbourhood characteristics shaping place attachment in Harare's selected informal settlements
Place attachment is one of the important characteristics of sustainable neighbourhoods. The dynamics of place attachment in deprived neighbourhoods remain under‐researched, especially in Global South contexts. This paper examines how individual socio‐demographic and neighbourhood characteristics influence place attachment in Harare's selected informal settlements, namely Hopley, Hatcliffe Extension, and Epworth Ward 7. These neighbourhoods were p…
Necrospatial containment and slow violence in Harare’s informal settlements
Develops the framework of necrospatial containment to examine how the urban poor experience and negotiate constricted, toxic and precarious spatialities. • Contributes to critical urban studies by demonstrating how the governance of informality amplifies urban marginality in cities. • Advocates for policy interventions that recognizes informal settlements as legitimate urban spaces requiring investment, rights, and infrastructural justice. This p…
Shadowing the state’: Subaltern surveillance and the rhythms of everyday resistance
This paper challenges and unsettles dominant discourses on spatial control by conceptualizing subaltern surveillance as an everyday counter-practice through which street traders negotiate access to contested spaces. While literature is loaded with state-centric perspectives on surveillance – less attention has been paid to how street traders flip the surveillance gaze. How do street traders engage in subaltern surveillance to negotiate access to …
African Cities and the Water-Food-Climate-Energy Nexus: An Agenda for Sustainability and Resilience at a Local Level
Transport and the environment: A critical review for Africa
Peri-Urban Developments and Processes in Africa with Special Reference to Zimbabwe
Planning and managing urbanization in the twenty-first century: Content analysis of selected African countries’ national urban policies
In recent times, African governments have been adopting explicit National Urban Policies (NUPs). The adoption of NUPs is a sharp contrast to the past when some governments were ambivalent to it.Focusing on eight (8) African countries-South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Malawi and Uganda, we undertook systematic content analysis of the written policy documents for each country. African governments recognise the need for coordina…
They say these are places for criminals, but this is our home’: Internalising and countering discourses of territorial stigmatisation in Harare’s informal settlements
In developing countries, people living in informal settlements are subjected to different forms of coercive control such as threats of evictions, exclusion, blocked access to urban services and other types of structural violence. These coercive measures are legitimised through the discursive branding of informal settlements as ‘unplanned’, ‘disorderly’ and ‘dangerous’ neighbourhoods. This paper examines how people living in these denigrated neigh…
Residential satisfaction in deprived urban neighbourhoods: A case study of Harare’s selected informal settlements
Highlighting smart city mirages in public perceptions: A Twitter sentiment analysis of four African smart city projects
To leave or not to leave? An analysis of individual and neighbourhood characteristics shaping place attachment in Harare's selected informal settlements
Place attachment is one of the important characteristics of sustainable neighbourhoods. The dynamics of place attachment in deprived neighbourhoods remain under‐researched, especially in Global South contexts. This paper examines how individual socio‐demographic and neighbourhood characteristics influence place attachment in Harare's selected informal settlements, namely Hopley, Hatcliffe Extension, and Epworth Ward 7. These neighbourhoods were p…
Trapped or not trapped? An empirical investigation into the lived experiences of the urban poor in Harare’s selected informal settlements
The role of informal settlements in human development remains contested in urban studies literature. For instance, some existing studies view urban informal settlements as hotspots of social unrest, squalor and precarious residential environments (poverty traps); while others perceive them as places where the poor become resourceful, ingenious, and develop necessary skills to navigate urban life (pathways out of poverty). The absence of systemati…
A critical analysis of ‘smart cities’ as an urban development strategy in Africa
Smart cities are becoming a popular urban development strategy to address complex and multiple challenges confronting cities globally, including in Africa. Using the 3RC framework, this paper critically analyses smart cities using experiences from Nairobi (Kenya), Johannesburg (South Africa), Lagos (Nigeria), Kigali (Rwanda) and Casablanca (Morocco). Are smart cities a panacea to Africa's quest for sustainable urbanization? Our analyses demonstra…
Instead of ‘writing against’ and discarding ‘immigrants’ integration, why not reconceptualize integration as a wicked concept
Over the years, some scholars have not only written against the concept of immigrant integration but have called for its rejection and abandonment. Critics argue that the concept is normative, objectifies others, mirrors outmoded imaginary of society, orients towards methodological nationalism, and a narrow emphasis on immigrants in the forces defining integration progression. Nonetheless, the concept continues to receive academic and policy atte…
Exploring unchartered territories”: Fieldwork experiences from researching street traders
Purpose Doing qualitative research with vulnerable urban populations such as street traders present significant methodological challenges, which many researchers may not be prepared to handle. This paper aims to provide a reflective account of the authors' fieldwork experiences while conducting a study with street traders in Harare, Zimbabwe. Design/methodology/approach This paper draws data from a qualitative case study conducted with street tra…
Gender and appropriation of public space in Harare’s contested central city area
Street trading is a highly gendered form of economic activity practiced by the urban poor in most global south cities. Drawing from focus group discussions and in-depth interviews, this paper examines the everyday struggles facing female street traders with children as they negotiate access to contested urban spaces to make a living in Harare’s Central Business District (CBD). The paper argues that public spaces in Harare’s CBD act as both ‘livel…
Exploring the rationalization, functional integration and socio-spatial implications of Zimbabwe’s New Capital City (NCC)
The development of new master-planned cities is a popular approach to decongest major metropolitan areas in different African countries, including Zimbabwe. This paper is an exploratory analysis of Zimbabwe’s New Capital City (NCC), being created roughly 20 kilometers outside Harare. Specifically, the paper analyzes the design of the NCC, the principles underpinning its production, the different rationalities used by policymakers for its legitima…
Influence of socio-demographic factors and housing characteristics on satisfaction with privacy in gated communities in Accra (Ghana)
Gated Communities (GCs) are rapidly popularizing and becoming a dominant form of housing in Global South Cities. Using binary logistic regression analysis, this article examines how socio-demographic and housing characteristics predict residents’ satisfaction with privacy in Devtraco and Manet (GCs) in Accra, Ghana. Ceteris paribus, residents of Devtraco had lower odds of being satisfied with privacy compared to those in Manet (OR = 0.23; p
Examining the conformance of development to local spatial plans amid rapid urbanisation in Harare, Zimbabwe
Exploring place attachment dynamics in deprived urban neighborhoods: An empirical study of Nima and Old Fadama slums in Accra, Ghana
Despite the growing body of literature on place attachment, research on this topic in the Global South remains limited. This is especially concerning given the significant impact of residential environments, such as slums, on the lived experiences of their inhabitants. This paper addresses this gap by examining the dynamics of place attachment in Nima and Old Fadama, the two largest slums in Accra. Specifically, the study investigates how residen…
The Power of a Camera: Fieldwork Experiences From Using Participatory Photovoice
Conducting primary data collection can be a fulfilling and interesting adventure producing significant learning experiences particularly for early career researchers. However, fieldwork can be marred with complex challenges and frustrations, especially if conducted in dynamic and politically sensitive environments and with highly vulnerable urban populations. This paper contributes to and advances academic scholarship on fieldwork experiences in …
Implications of peri-urban land reform programs on urban land markets: A case study of Harare, Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe implemented the Fast-Track Land Reform Program (FTLRP) in the year 2000. This program has had far-reaching implications on urban development, especially on urban land markets in cities and towns. This paper highlights the implications of the land reform program on urban land markets, using Harare as a case study. The paper is based on document review (policy, academic and development literature) and interviews with key informants with ex…
Prefigurative urbanization: Housing cooperatives, social movements, and the urban transformation question in Harare (Zimbabwe)
Housing cooperatives and social movements have become significant actors in the housing delivery in Harare, Zimbabwe. This paper examines how these social movements contribute to the transformation of urban territories. We argue that through strategies, such as collective defiance and demonstration of alternative; housing cooperatives and social movements have challenged urban authorities to concede to new forms of urban development. These urban …
Extra-Regional Return Migration to Africa: A Systematic Literature Review
As global economies become increasingly interconnected, the movement of people across borders has intensified, generating significant debate on the implications for both sending and receiving countries. Amid this debate, studies continue to report the return of some migrants to out-sourcing countries. While extra-regional return migration (henceforth, return migration) to Africa has received scholarly attention, there is no periodic systematic li…
Peri-urbanisation and land conflicts in Domboshava, Zimbabwe
It is no longer the sunshine city, it is now a dump site city”: Discursive construction of urban space and street trading in Harare, Zimbabwe
Dwindling funds and increased responsibilities: Decentralization, unfunded mandates, and Harare's infrastructure crisis
Precarious power’: Implicit infrastructures and electricity access in Witsand, Cape Town (South Africa)
For the poor residents in Witsand, an informal settlement on the periphery of Cape Town, electricity access is an everyday struggle, where households circumvent Eskom's vouchers and prepaid meters to adapt electricity to their lived realities. In this paper, we argue that in a context where Eskom electricity provision is often exclusionary, residents deploy diverse strategies to challenge this form of infrastructure violence. Drawing on over twen…
Urban and Rural Development Challenges (32 works) · Geography (29 works) · Political science (24 works) · Sociology (24 works) · Economic growth (20 works) · Economics (18 works) · Business (15 works) · Urban Planning and Governance (15 works) · African studies and sociopolitical issues (11 works) · Corporate governance (10 works)