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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 mo
Extreme weather events disproportionately affect residents of low-income urban settlements in the global South. This paper explores the impacts of extreme heat and flooding on water and electricity services in Accra and Tamale, Ghana. Interviews with water/electricity providers and water quality analysis are combined with household interviews, focus group discussions and observations conducted in
This paper extends research on geographies of ageing in relation to urban academic and policy debates. We illustrate how older people in urban African contexts deploy their agency through social and spatial (im)mobilities, intergenerational relations and (inter)dependencies. Through doing so, we reveal how urban contexts shape, and are shaped by, older people’s tactics for seizing opportunities an
Climate change presents significant threats to human health, especially for low-income urban communities in the Global South. Despite numerous studies of heat stress, surprisingly little is known about the temperatures actually encountered by people in their homes, or the benefits of affordable adaptations. This paper examines indoor air temperature measurements gathered from 47 living rooms withi
This paper explores how transdisciplinary design approaches can contribute to peacebuilding. Ways of decolonising workshops to create trust and ensure sensitizing, dialogic and meaningful experiences for participants, to enable them to envision interethnic and intercultural forms of being and becoming, are discussed. The participants were indigenous peoples, Afrodescendants, peasants and excombata
Geographers have shown how mobile phones are transforming urban economies in Africa by altering the temporal and spatial nature of commercial transactions. Less well documented is how young people in Africa are using mobile phones to navigate the interplay between personal hopes, social expectations, and financial uncertainty associated with urban life. Drawing on qualitative data from youth in tw
Extreme weather events pose significant threats to urban health in low- and middle-income countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa where there are systemic health challenges. This paper investigates health system vulnerabilities associated with flooding and extreme heat, along with strategies for resilience building by service providers and community members, in Accra and Tamale, Ghana. We em
This article aims to shape understandings of the geographies of informal education by exploring an aspect of education that has been broadly overlooked by geographers to date—apprenticeships—within a Global South context. Drawing on qualitative research conducted in Accra, Ghana, where young male and female apprentices learn a trade alongside master craftspeople, the nature of the apprenticeship s
This article examines the experiences of an often-neglected population group in geographical scholarship, namely, elderly people living in African cities. Using qualitative research conducted in the Ghanaian cities of Accra and Sekondi-Takoradi, we demonstrate how investigating older people's mobilities, and examining how they influence social and economic processes, has important implications for
Two scales of gold mining operations, artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) and large-scale mining, have operated side by side in Ghana for decades. In the past, the two co-existed on the same mineralised land without much contact or conflict, as large-scale mining occurred underground and ASM operated mainly on the surface. With the former's transition from an underground labour-intensive mining
Many cities in the Global South are facing challenges as they increasingly experience extreme weather events, which disproportionately affect the urban poor. Focussing on severe heat and surface water flooding, this paper explores how these extreme weather events impact on infrastructure provision and livelihoods in low-income urban communities in Ghana. Climate series, including temperature data
Mining settlements are typically portrayed as either consisting of purpose-built housing constructed by mining companies to house their workers, or as temporary makeshift shelters built by miners working informally and inhabited by male migrants who live dangerously and develop little attachment to these places. This paper contributes to these debates on the social and material dynamics occurring
This paper explores the role of smartphones in facilitating the journeys of predominantly young, male Syrians following the onset of the civil war. Drawing on in-depth interviews conducted with Syrian refugees who have reached Denmark but are at different stages of the asylum process, it traces the multiple disruptions they have experienced and delves into the ways in which they navigate in their
Crude oil is often argued to be a natural resource that holds the prospect of accelerated economic development, although the results are mixed. This paper explores how the discovery of crude oil is impacting on urban development, focusing in particular on urban green spaces in Sekondi-Takoradi, a growing oil city in Ghana. Representatives from institutions associated with the management of green s
Despite increasing research interest in the mobile telephony sector, only a few studies have devoted attention to informal businesses in the sector. Using qualitative field data collected on young mobile telephony entrepreneurs in Accra, this paper argues that despite the businesses being ‘informal’, they cannot be dismissed as ‘necessity’ enterprises unworthy of support. On the contrary, many you
The rapid expansion of the mobile telephony sector in African countries has been accompanied by the establishment of a wide range of informal support businesses, mostly run by young people. Little is known, however, about the lived experiences of young entrepreneurs working in this rapidly changing, technologically-driven sector. Drawing on qualitative research conducted in Accra, this paper explo
Existing research on urban Ghana mainly focuses on processes occurring within the country’s major cities, thereby reproducing a trend within the social sciences to overlook the role of intermediate and secondary cities. This paper aims to address this shortcoming by exploring spatial and social transformations in Sekondi–Takoradi, one of Ghana’s secondary cities and the metropolitan area serving t
