Mineralized Urbanization in Africa in the Twenty-First Century

Becoming Urban through Mining Extraction

Bibliographic Data

ID4383034
AuthorsD F Bryceson (0000-0002-2136-0078, Loughborough University, corresponding author), Katherine V Gough (0000-0002-9638-9879, University of Edinburgh), Jesper Bosse Jønsson (0000-0002-3894-5427, University of Dar es Salaam), Crispin Kinabo (University of Glasgow), Michael Clarke Shand (0000-0002-0085-4896, Nordic Africa Institute), Cristina Udelsmann Rodrigues (0000-0003-1997-4190, University of Edinburgh), Paul W K Yankson (University of Ghana)
Year2022
Volume46
Issue3
Pages342-369
Publication date2022-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Urban and Regional Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0309-1317 • E-ISSN: 1468-2427
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/1468-2427.13086
OpenAlexW4283394659
LanguageEN
Citations received10
References cited41

This article focuses on the urbanizing impact of the post-millennial mineral boom at artisanal and small-scale (ASM) or large-scale (LSM) mining sites in three mineral-rich countries, involving gold in Ghana, diamonds in Angola, and both minerals in Tanzania. The focus is on comparing the agency of miners and other residents migrating to, settling in, and making the mining site habitable. Their mobility and settlement patterns reveal an urbanization trend marked by population agglomeration and expanding labour complexity, taking distinct forms at the rush and mature stages of gold and diamond ASM and LSM sites. Citing data from household surveys conducted at 12 mining sites, we trace how 'mineralized urbanization' propels in-migration, rising localized purchasing power, and proliferating service sector and trade activities, fuelling both urban demographic and economic change along the mining extraction trajectory. LSM and ASM generate synergies as well as detractive forces, depending on the size, age and history of the mining settlement development. What emerges is the differential development of households and settlements through strategic economic manoeuvring and the rough and tumble of happenstance, underlined by a compelling, albeit fluctuating, trajectory of non-renewable mineralized urbanization

Archaeology · Boom · Business · Economic geography · Economic growth · Economics · Economy · Environmental planning · Geography · Gold mining · Human settlement · Population · Tanzania · Urbanization · Engineering · Mining and Resource Management · Urban and Rural Development Challenges · Water Governance and Infrastructure

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Open DOIOpen Access