Whatever is Sharpened, Cuts: Towards a Decolonial Research Agenda in African Urban Climate Governance Scholarship and Practice

Abstract

The urgency of addressing the climate crisis has spurred the development of novel urban governance models, increasingly prioritizing climate change mitigation and adaptation alongside growing demands for urban environmental justice within Africa's cities. This convergence of climate action and urban governance presents a crucial platform for decolonial praxis, particularly in reimagining the trajectories of African urban centres. In this study, we adopt a decolonial lens to analyse the institutional governance of climate change adaptation in urban settings. We scrutinize the prevailing tendency to universally conceptualize climate risk within dominant governance traditions like master planning, decentralization, and the institutionalization of rights frameworks—traditions often influenced by colonial legacies and ongoing neo-colonial practices. Instead, we advocate for an approach rooted in socio-cultural contexts to comprehend perceptions of risk, thereby paving the way for diverse interpretations of climate change risk and its governance. By centring diverse perspectives and challenging colonial epistemologies, our research contributes to reshaping urban environmental governance within a decolonial framework, fostering more equitable and inclusive responses to the climate crisis.