Abstract

Forced displacement has increased dramatically in recent years, particularly in the urban centers of Sub-Saharan Africa. How does forced displacement affect natural resource management and access in vulnerable urban and peri-urban areas in fragile and conflict-affected states? This study focuses on two secondary cities in Sub-Saharan Africa with weak urban governance structures, seeking to understand whether displacement has led to outbreaks of violent conflict between newly displaced populations and longer term residents over natural resource access, and in particular, access to water. While this research does not find evidence of inter-group violence driven by the presence of displaced populations in these areas, it does describe episodes of conflict over water amidst persistent conditions of precarity, much of which is handled and mitigated locally by local, neighborhood, or traditional leaders. This study therefore seeks to problematize the notion of these communities' 'resilience' by understanding this as an involuntary condition in response to precarity and a lack of urban planning and governance, rather than as a durable or acceptable solution to issues of resource access.

Recommended Citation

Starc Card, Katja, Blaise Muhire, Joseph Wilson, Cecilia B. Akawu, Babakura Bukar, Sandra Rincon, Andrew Meaux, Zara Ahmadu, Melissa Pavlik, Belen Fodde, Haruna Ayuba, and Connor Smith. 2024. "'Persistent Precarity' in Fragile Urban Areas: Migration, Urban Conflict, and Water Access in Sub-Saharan Africa." Working Paper.