Astrid Ley

Cameroon is steadily becoming urban, with its urban population share rising from barely 11% in 1960 to 56% today (United Nations Population Division, 2025). Acting as a magnet, Cameroon’s largest c...

Research on well-being has predominantly focused on affluent populations, often neglecting disadvantaged communities and thereby perpetuating their marginalization in both academic and policy discussions. Perspectives from informal settlements—prevalent in the rapidly urbanizing Global South—offer valuable opportunities to expand and challenge prevailing conceptualizations of well-being. Adopting a qualitative approach, the research is based on a case study on placemaking interventions by the Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading (VPUU) program in Cape Town, South Africa. The program is area-based and aims to enhance quality of life in informal settlements through community agency, co-production, and inclusive governance. Based on focus group discussions, transect walks, and qualitative interviews with residents, the study examines how VPUU´s interventions influence residents’ perceptions of life satisfaction and thereby highlights the subjective dimensions of well-being. Accordingly, this study explores (1) the role of community involvement in co-producing social infrastructure; (2) the impact of such involvement on well-being; and (3) strategies to support participation and governance. Findings indicate that while economic stability is important, social and human capital are also significant aspects, underscoring the value of social relationships and community support. Based on the VPUU case, the study introduces a novel framework identifying five key drivers of quality of life: (1) eudaimonic (purpose and belonging); (2) altruistic (community support); (3) relational (trust and social capital); (4) formative (skills and safety); and (5) material (economic and environmental conditions). The research concludes with recommendations for context-specific quality-of-life assessments and governance frameworks to sustain improvements in well-being and strengthen social cohesion.

In informal settlements, public space and community organization are continuously reshaped through everyday practices. Peter Nanyemba, in Windhoek, Namibia, faces recurrent flash floods that prompt spatial and non-spatial responses. This article examines how these measures contribute to forming the public realm, understood as the interaction between public space and community organization. Based on semi-structured interviews with residents and experts, mapping, and a community feedback workshop, the study analyzes processes at household, neighborhood, and administrative-block scales. Findings show that spatial and non-spatial measures operate as an interlinked system: they can foster spatial adaptation, collective learning, and community organization, but also generate fragmentation, inequalities, coordination problems, and maladaptive outcomes. The study shows how recurring environmental risks and everyday responses continuously reshape the public realm through physical and organizational processes.

Africa’s cities, such as Douala in Cameroon, have long been attracting domestic as well as international migrants due to economic opportunities. Through the links and flows they create between rura...

Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) presents a unique opportunity for collective action across various spatial scales. At the local level, programs to revitalize vulnerable neighborhoods offer significant potential to contribute to the SDGs. In Germany, the “Soziale Stadt/Sozialer Zusammenhalt” (Social City/Social Cohesion) funding program supports municipalities in promoting sustainable development in these areas. However, there is currently no direct linkage between this funding program and the SDGs. This raises questions as to how the instruments of the Social City/Social Cohesion program could support the SDGs and their monitoring processes and vice versa and what adjustments could be recommended to enhance this relationship. The research presented in this article is based on a case study conducted in the urban renewal district of Stuttgart‐Münster, Germany. Students and scholars from the University of Stuttgart collaborated with municipal staff and civil society members to explore the funding program’s instruments and assess their potential for monitoring the SDGs. Based on the municipal indicator set developed with the assistance of SDG coordinators at the City of Stuttgart—Germany’s first city to pilot this indicator set in 2019—the transdisciplinary team adapted specific indicators to the neighborhood level. They also investigated the inclusion of qualitative indicators for assessing SDGs and tested a collaborative approach to gathering data for these localized indicators with input from residents. Based on the findings of this case study, this contribution reflects on recommendations for integrating the SDGs into the initial stages of urban renewal practices and related instruments.

What are the drivers for domestic migration and intra-urban mobility in a Sub-Sahara African context? This study analyses this aspect by looking at residential mobility decisions of Anglophone migrants in Douala. The paper presents factors that influenced migrants to move to, within and out of Douala, as well as what made them decide to stay. Based on a framework of drivers of migration (Black et al., 2011), these factors are analysed at macro-, meso- and micro-level. We argue that at the macro-level, it is mostly political, economic, socio-cultural and security-related factors that influence Anglophone migrants’ residential mobility decisions. At the meso-level, language and ethnicity, social networks and technological advances seemingly facilitate moving decisions, whereas at the micro-level, we argue that it is not only individual or household characteristics, but also events that influence the decision to move. Apart from individual preferences, life course events and external forces playing out at micro-level, these also relate to place attachment and migration aspirations.

In Namibia, informal settlements are usually upgraded by a participatory process aimed at providing inhabitants with land tenure security through the Flexible Land Tenure Act (FLTA), followed by the provision of basic services. The pilot FLTA implementation case is the upgrading of the Freedom Square settlement in Gobabis, which was a woman-led process. This research analyzes both the experiences of the women participating during the process as well as the immediate and long-term perceived impacts on their social and economic conditions. The empirical data were collected through interviews and a focus group discussion with experts and key participants in the development process. The findings highlight socio–economic challenges faced by the participating women, including insufficient support from family and limited economic opportunities. Throughout the process, stakeholders shifted their aims. This shift influenced the involvement of women, changing their roles from active participants to service recipients. While the main goals of receiving land tenure and service provision were partially fulfilled, the long-term impact of the process on women is varied from how it was initially envisioned. This was largely due to the absence of a comprehensive plan to improve their livelihoods. The results show that for participatory land tenure processes to become inclusive, a stronger gender-mainstreaming agenda becomes necessary. It also emphasizes holistic development planning as a key factor for long-term success.

In Namibia, informal settlements are usually upgraded by a participatory process that works to provide inhabitants with land tenure security through the Flexible Land Tenure Act (FLTA), followed by the provision of access to basic services. The pilot FLTA implementation case is the upgrading of Freedom Square settlement in Gobabis, which was a unique woman-led process. This research analyzes both the experiences of the women participating during the process as well as the immediate and long-term perceived impacts on their lives. The empirical data was collected through interviews and a focus group discussion with experts and key participants in the development process. Findings shed light on the unresolved socio-economic challenges that the participating women had faced including the influence of other stakeholders on their involvement and changing family dynamics throughout. The main goals of receiving land tenure and service provision were partially fulfilled. However, the long-term impact of the process on women is widely varied from how it was initially envisioned. The results show that in order for participatory land tenure processes to become inclusive a stronger gender-mainstreaming becomes necessary. It also emphasizes the alignment of goals of all stakeholders as a key factor for long term success.