For centuries, Mumbai’s Koli fishing communities have sustained a way of life shaped by the tides, their Koliwadas (कोळीवाडा, Marathi for hamlet of the Kolis) functioning as self-contained maritime regions with distinct cultural, linguistic, and economic rhythms. These settlements, which are now under pressure from coastal reclamation and urban expansion, illustrate both their deep historical […]
Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, is one of Sub-Saharan Africa’s fastest-growing megacities, with over 15 million inhabitants according to the latest census (The World Bank Group, 2018). According to the CAHF (2018), the city’s rapid and often unregulated expansion has given rise to what urbanists call chaotic settlements, particularly on the […]
The concept of Quyu (区域) in China Across policy and academic debates, regions are increasingly recognised as key arenas for addressing climate change, demographic shifts, and economic transitions. In Western contexts, they are often conceptualised as functional economic spaces shaped by inter-firm trade, labour mobility, supply-chain integration, or as outcomes of local agency where regional […]
Development History: A Multi-Dimensional Region Centred on Shanghai In the Chinese context, as urban spatial patterns and governance systems evolve, the concept of “region” increasingly exhibits multi-dimensional and dynamic characteristics, especially prominent in Shanghai and its surrounding areas. Shanghai is one of China’s four municipalities directly under the central government and a core city of […]
Gauteng province remains the engine of South Africa’s urban-industrial economy, but its dominance has long depended on the marginalisation of peripheral regions. The structural imbalance under apartheid was a result of policies that favoured the Pretoria-Witwatersrand-Vereeniging complex and underdeveloped black urban populations. The apartheid regime created a political economy rooted in racial, class, and spatial […]