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Future cities of the Global South : an exploration of urban imaginaries emerging from Africanfuturism/African science fiction
Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2025.
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Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
2025
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| _version_ | 1867613809194041344 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Jacob, Merin Raju |
| author2 | Hamann, Maike |
| author_browse | Hamann, Maike Jacob, Merin Raju |
| author_facet | Hamann, Maike Jacob, Merin Raju |
| author_sort | Jacob, Merin Raju |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | Stellenbosch University |
| description |
Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2025. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/132486 |
| institution | Stellenbosch University (South Africa) |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:42:01.161Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| publisherStr | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| spelling | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/132486 Future cities of the Global South : an exploration of urban imaginaries emerging from Africanfuturism/African science fiction Jacob, Merin Raju Hamann, Maike Swilling, Mark Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Centre for Sustainability Transition. Africanfuturism -- History and criticism Arts, African -- History and criticism Afrofuturism -- History and criticism Science fiction -- Minority authors -- History and criticism Speculative fiction -- History and criticism UCTD Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2025. Jacob, M. R. 2025. Future cities of the Global South: An exploration of urban imaginaries emerging from Africanfuturism/African science fiction. Unpublished masters thesis. Stellenbosch: Stellenbosch University [online]. Available: https://scholar.sun.ac.za/items/328a56cf-6be3-4bdb-850e-236f61554cc2 ENGLISH SUMMARY: Africa is urbanizing and how this happens has implications for the crises of our times. If emerging African cities are to avoid the pitfalls of globally established cities – such as increasing sprawl, ecosystem loss, and rising inequality – new developmental pathways that leapfrog high carbon technologies and reconceptualise city life are crucial (Nagendra, Bai, Brondizio & Lwasa, 2018). Drawing together literature on Southern urbanisms, urban imaginaries, and Africanfuturism storytelling, this research proposes that imagination and imagining are an essential skill required in the pursuit of just and sustainable futures for urban Africa (Moore & Milkoreit, 2020) and that who imagines and where they imagine from are equally important. This thesis investigates what alternative urban imaginaries are explored in Africanfuturism literature and then analyses these imaginaries for insights into more just and sustainable urban transitions. A scoping review in Chapter 2 investigates the dominant urban imaginaries for Africa as discussed in academic literature. Chapter 2 assesses urban imaginaries through new city developments across the continent through the lenses of Scenario Archetypes (Biggs et al., 2018) and Scenarios of Infrastructure Investment (Simone & Pieterse, 2017). While dominant urban imaginaries on the African continent have been criticised for being unjust and unsustainable, there are some examples of urban development that are radically alternative. However, these Adaptive City imaginaries, as coined by Simone and Pieterse (2017), speak more to processes of negotiation and are less about physical outcomes, making them harder to articulate and communicate in comparison to dominant imaginaries that render the future simple. Chapter 3 then aims to understand how to address this challenge of articulating desirable African urban futures by identifying Africanfuturism short stories that situate the future in urban African. A thematic analysis is used to interpret the urban imaginaries explored within the sampled stories. A key insight is the theme of relational complexity in African cities and this research proposes that the term as used in urban studies be broadened to include more dimensions of agency within the African urban experience through actors like the natural and spiritual worlds, residents outside of policymakers and politicians, and networks of agency such as informal and hybrid networks. Individuals in the sampled stories are entangled within social and relational webs and these complex interactions and emergent properties influence how urban infrastructures work and who they work for. Chapter 4 synthesises this research with cross-cutting insights from Africanfuturism short stories to diversify and broaden the range of possible urban futures, enable more just and sustainable futures, and develop infrastructure for participatory and collective imagining. This research then concludes with practical applications of 1) co-creating, reinterpreting, and expanding a vocabulary for Adaptive Cities as a container for alternative African futures, and 2) moving beyond words to enact these new ways of conceptualising Africa’s urban future. AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Geen opsomming beskikbaar. Masters 2025-06-09T13:55:30Z 2025-06-09T13:55:30Z 2025-03 Thesis https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/132486 Stellenbosch University xiii, 133 pages : illustrations, maps, includes annexures application/pdf Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| spellingShingle | Africanfuturism -- History and criticism Arts, African -- History and criticism Afrofuturism -- History and criticism Science fiction -- Minority authors -- History and criticism Speculative fiction -- History and criticism UCTD Jacob, Merin Raju Future cities of the Global South : an exploration of urban imaginaries emerging from Africanfuturism/African science fiction |
| title | Future cities of the Global South : an exploration of urban imaginaries emerging from Africanfuturism/African science fiction |
| title_full | Future cities of the Global South : an exploration of urban imaginaries emerging from Africanfuturism/African science fiction |
| title_fullStr | Future cities of the Global South : an exploration of urban imaginaries emerging from Africanfuturism/African science fiction |
| title_full_unstemmed | Future cities of the Global South : an exploration of urban imaginaries emerging from Africanfuturism/African science fiction |
| title_short | Future cities of the Global South : an exploration of urban imaginaries emerging from Africanfuturism/African science fiction |
| title_sort | future cities of the global south an exploration of urban imaginaries emerging from africanfuturism african science fiction |
| topic | Africanfuturism -- History and criticism Arts, African -- History and criticism Afrofuturism -- History and criticism Science fiction -- Minority authors -- History and criticism Speculative fiction -- History and criticism UCTD |
| url | https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/132486 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT jacobmerinraju futurecitiesoftheglobalsouthanexplorationofurbanimaginariesemergingfromafricanfuturismafricansciencefiction |