Power Talks Public Discussion
Join ACC and the Goethe Institut for a reflection session on Power Talks, a programme which explored the nuanced forms, dynamics and functions of power in creative and cultural sectors in South Africa.
Join ACC and the Goethe Institut for a reflection session on Power Talks, a programme which explored the nuanced forms, dynamics and functions of power in creative and cultural sectors in South Africa.
Join this info session to find out more about the MPhil Southern Urbanism programme.
In 2021 the African Centre for Cities (ACC), an action-oriented research hub based at the University of Cape Town and UNITAC, the result of a partnership between the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), the United Nations Office for Information and Communication Technology (UN OICT), and the City Science Lab @HafenCity University in Hamburg (CSL), initiated a collaborative platform for shared research interests under the banner of the Urban Academy. The collaboration is based on a shared interest in unpacking the intersection of technology, society, and cities to examine democratic decision-making, new models of service delivery, and the future of work. Supported by the BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt, we are delighted to invite you to the official launch of the Urban Academy on the 6 December 2022 that will be facilitated by Nokukhanya Mncwabe, a human rights consultant who enjoys forming, implementing and pulling apart policies and projects, forging friendships across geographies and disciplines, and being a tourist at home (Africa). WHEN | Tuesday, 6 December 2022 TIME | 15:00-18:00 SAST WHERE | Workshop 17, 32 Kloof Street, Gardens, Cape Town RSVP | Please send an email to africancentreforcities@gmail.com Panel one: Introducing the Urban Academy: Smart Cities, Clever Urbanism In the first panel, partnering directors Edgar Pieterse (ACC) and Gesa Ziemer (UNITAC and City Science Lab) will introduce why thinking about people-centred smartness is important for urban sustainability and justice from their different perspectives. Panel two: RISE Cities: Different approaches to make our cities more resilient, intelligent, sustainable, and equitable This interactive panel hosted by RISE Cities explores innovative urban practices in achieving resilient, intelligent, sustainable and equitable solutions and the role of responsible leadership. We are happy to invite the following to share their perspectives and facilitate their reflections: Resilience – Dr Rudi Kimmie, TSIBA Intelligence – Saidah Nash Carter, Bright Insights Global Sustainability – Murendi Mafumo, Kusini Water Equity – Brian Green, Group 44 Panel three: Young and Online in African Cities: people-centred smartness and urban wellbeing In the third panel we explore tech-enabled ways of making lives in African cities. The following panellists will bring brief reflections into a wider conversation about what it takes to shape research agendas about the role of technology in urban justice. It is also an opportunity to introduce a new collaboration under the Urban Academy, supported by the Robert Bosch Stiftung entitled Young and Online in African Cities. Rike Sitas - Introduction: Youth in digital city-making Daanyaal Loofer - From undersea cables to street corners: smart African cities Alicia Fortuin - Platformization and the future of work Neil Hassan - Safe queer digital spaces Liza Cirolia - Techno-ambivalence and socio-technical infrastructure Hilke Berger - A research agenda for the Urban Academy? Space is limited so please RSVP to africancentreforcities@gmail.com with the subject line: Urban Academy RSVP. If you require any further information, please contact rike.sitas@uct.ac.za.
From siloed practitioner to systems integrator for sustainable African city futures – the new Masters programme, convened by the African Centre for Cities, at the University of Cape Town cultivates a new generation of urban practitioner. The complex, multi-dimensional demands of our rapidly urbanising world require holistic, inter-disciplinary thinking and practice. However traditional professional paradigms and often-siloed institutions seem doomed to replicate the entrenched patterns and practices of path-dependent urban infrastructure provision and management. To overcome the often-fragmented ways in which urban questions are framed, institutionalised, and engaged by varied levels of government, citizens, civil society organisations, and private sector actors, we need a new kind of urban practitioner, who can work across practices, professional norms, hierarchies, sectors and urban problems. To meet this need, the African Centre for Cities (ACC), UCT, launched a Masters in Sustainable Urban Practice, which seeks to cultivates urban integrators who are able to discern opportunities for integration, and can build the necessary coalitions for change; who are confident in varied cultures of communication and can build bridges between sectors, fields, and scales of urban practice. Join this information session with programme convenor Dr Mercy Brown-Luthango. WHEN | Friday, 25 August 2023 TIME | 12:30-13:30 SAST REGISTER HERE MORE ABOUT THE PROGRAMME
The MPhil Southern Urbanism is designed to cultivate the next generation of urban thinkers from the South, who are rooted in the realities, theories and practise of cities of the Global South. Drawing together a diverse cohort of scholar and practitioners, the programme uses a combination of guided learning in small-group seminars, experimentation in various spaces of urban practice and independent thesis research to ground students in Urban Studies theory, and new research methodologies. If you are interested in applying for the MPhil Southern Urbanism programme but still have some questions? This info session, hosted by programme convenor, Dr Anna Selmeczi will provide a brief overview of the pedagogical approach, programme structure and entry requirements, as well as discussion time to answer all your questions. APPLICATIONS DEADLINE FOR SOUTH AFRICAN AND INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS: 31 October 2024 REGISTER HERE
The African Centre for Cities (ACC), in collaboration with the University of Copenhagen invite you to the public launch of the CLAIMS to Energy Citizenship project. The launch will take place under the theme “Infrastructure’s Transitions”, where the project team will share the project overview, structure and direction. CLAIMS to Energy Citizenship is a four-year research project funded by the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA). In the context of a contested energy transition, the project explores claim-making, citizenship, and statecraft in Cape Town, South Africa. The project aims to advance creative and interdisciplinary methods for contributing to thinking related to the politics of infrastructure transitions. Thirty years after the formation of the post-apartheid state, a series of global and national transitions are reconfiguring the energy landscape. We present these transitions not as contextual inevitabilities but as social facts that require critical observation and new modes of sense-making. The event is titled Infrastructure's Transitions as a tribute to Antina von Schnitzler’s influential work, Democracy's Infrastructure: Techno-Politics and Protest after Apartheid. This seminal book has inspired scholars across various disciplines to see infrastructure as a site where state-society relations and urban futures are substantiated, contested, and performed. WHEN | Thursday, 31 October 2024 TIME | 3PM - 5PM VENUE | Studio 5, Environmental & Geographical Science Bld. UCT Upper Campus Please RSVP here
