On 25 September 2026, the Regional Studies Association (RSA) partnered with the Ghana Geographers’ Association (GGA) to deliver two Postgraduate Training Seminars as part of the 2026 GGA Annual Conference at the University of Education, Winneba, Ghana. The conference theme was “Africa in Transition: Climate Change, Urban Growth and the Quest for Healthy and Sustainable […]
Company Description: Founded in 1919, AUC moved to a new 260-acre state-of-the-art campus in New Cairo in 2008. The university also operates in its historic downtown facilities, offering cultural events, graduate classes, and continuing education. Student housing is available in New Cairo. Among the premier universities in the region, AUC is Middle States accredited; its […]
The importance of ports in the elaborate systems that enable the global mobility of goods has been a critical focus for nation-states and for globalised business interests. As a result, port development schemes, such as those linked to the China-led Belt and Road Initiative, have contributed to the rise in container volumes handled by ports […]
Economic history and background The discovery of gold in 1886 triggered the ‘Gold Rush’ on the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. The Gold Rush was characterized by a boom in gold exports, and by the end of the 1890s, gold accounted for 50% of South Africa’s total exports (Schwank, 2018). The development of the gold mining sector […]
Foundations of Devolution in Kenya Devolution refers to the constitutional transfer of administrative, political, and fiscal power to lower levels of government (Counties in Kenya). The Kenyan 2010 Constitution legally established two distinct government levels, the national and county governments. Each has legislative and executive branches operationalized in 2013. The two levels of government are […]
Dr. Oladayo Ramon Ibrahim, FeRSA Lagos State University of Science and Technology, Nigeria RSA Ambassador to Nigeria 2025 RSA Start-up Grant Awardee Project: A Spatial Analysis of Heat Waves and Urban Planning in Ikorodu, Lagos, Nigeria
Professor Ivan Turok NRF Chair in City-Region Economies University of the Free State, South Africa RSA Ambassador to South Africa Former Editor-in-Chief of Regional Studies 2025 RSA Distinguished Service Award
Dr. Folasade Jokotade Odekunle Bells University of Technology, Ota, Nigeria 2025 RSA Start-Up Grant Project: Leading with Vision:Women Shaping the Future of Urban Development Through Strategic Foresight in Urban Planning
Participation has become a central promise in development and regional planning. Policymakers and international bodies increasingly argue that involving citizens in shaping development leads to better outcomes. Yet inside participatory initiatives, the practical realities are often far more complex than the rhetoric suggests. My research on Ghana’s Decent Work Programme (GDWP) (Arko, 2019) offers a […]
Across the world, regions are shaped not only by their present-day borders but also by layers of past governance, political ambition, and entrenched planning legacies. Nowhere is this more visible than in cities of the global south where the informal economy forms the backbone of everyday life. In Johannesburg, the inner city’s pavements and public […]
Dr. Folasade Odekunle is a Senior Lecturer in Urban and Regional Planning at Bells University of Technology in Ota, Nigeria, where she oversees the Centre for Climate Change. She earned her PhD from the University of Ibadan and is a Fellow of the Regional Studies Association (UK) as well as a member of the International […]
I am Dr Oladyo Ramon Ibrahim, a researcher with a strong interest in rural development, urban informality, and social sustainability. My work focuses on understanding how marginalised groups, particularly the elderly and low-income populations, experience and navigate challenges in rural and urban communities. I am committed to producing research that informs inclusive policies and strategic […]
Takudzwa Mutize is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Economics and Finance at the University of the Free State, South Africa, and a Fellow in the Africa Fellows in Education Program (AFEP) for 2025 – 2027. His research focuses on education and labour economics, regional development, and urban competitiveness. Recent publications include “Attracting […]
South Africa’s post-apartheid development landscape remains profoundly shaped by its inherited spatial and institutional architecture. Derived from my PhD study, Bell (2025) argues that underdevelopment conditions, stemming from apartheid’s racial capitalist project, created spatial and institutional constraints in Gauteng’s periphery. These conditions limited equitable urban and industrial transformation, and persist today (Ashman, 2022; 2023). Understanding […]
Ghana is often celebrated as one of Africa’s most stable democracies—peaceful transitions of power, competitive elections, and a vibrant civic sphere (Gyimah-Boadi 2009; Paller 2019). Yet beneath this democratic success lies a stubborn paradox: political authority remains profoundly centralized. Despite more than three decades of multi-party elections and over four decades of decentralization reforms, Ghana’s […]
Economic diversification involves shifting away from a dominant sector to cultivate multiple industries that generate diverse income streams. Relying heavily on a single resource sector increases an economy’s vulnerability to the global commodity market and amplifies the risk of unemployment. South Africa’s North West Province is bordered by Botswana, Limpopo, the Free State, and the […]
Nigeria’s business environment has been defined by overlapping crises—economic shocks, political instability, and community-level disruptions. For example, in 2015, Nigeria entered a prolonged downturn, largely driven by plummeting oil prices and production cuts. Between 2000 and 2012, crude oil accounted for 98% of the country’s export revenue and 85% of federal government revenue, yet its […]
A recent visit to the University of Education, Winneba (UEW), Ghana, provided a valuable opportunity to engage with students and faculty in meaningful discussions about the work of the Regional Studies Association and opportunities for collaboration. The trip began with Mr Samuel McCarthy interviewing Dr Alex Holmes on the university’s campus radio station, Radio Windy […]
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 […]
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 […]
The Regional Studies Association invites contributions for a special issue of our blog focused on Space and Place Perspectives from Africa. This initiative aims to explore concepts of territory, place, and spatial relations, specifically examining how they are understood from micro, national, or continental perspectives. The goal of this special issue is to highlight African […]
The voting behaviour in Nigeria has been attributed to many factors, such as clientelism, vote buying, party identification, the performance of the government, and ethnicity. Most of these studies have been done at a macro level. There were limited studies done on the rural dwellers. According to the World Population Review (2024), the Nigeria population […]