Neoliberal urban legacies in Luanda and Maputo

ABSTRACT

The paper focuses on the transformation of the Angolan and Mozambican capital cities with regards to the neoliberal context, taking into account local socio-spatial legacies. Following the theoretical conception of the production of space and the right to the city, as discussed by Lefebvre, our purpose is to reflect on the urban strategies, policies and practices of the last decades and to present its main impacts, stressing counter-actions. We conclude that neoliberal dynamics tend to perpetuate forms of spatial fragmentation and social exclusion, while local resistances are a path for more inclusive approaches inspired by the right to the city..

KEYWORDS:

• Neoliberal context
• Socio-spatial legacies
• Production of space
• Right to the city
• Luanda and Maputo

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Freely translated by authors from the original: ‘Qu’est-ce que le néolibéralisme ? Un programme de destruction des structures collectives capables de faire obstacle à la logique du marché pur. […] On voit ainsi comment l’utopie néolibérale tend à s’incarner dans la réalité d’une sorte de machine infernale, dont la nécessité s’impose aux dominants eux-mêmes.’

2. A text presented in the resumption of La Production de L’espace (Lefebvre, 1974/2000).

3. The project Africa Habitat: From the sustainability of habitat to the quality of inhabit in the urban margins of Luanda and Maputo is being developed by the Group of Socio-Territorial, Urban and Local Action Studies of the Research Centre in Architecture, Urbanism and Design of the Lisbon School of Architecture – Lisbon University (Gestual/CIAUD/FA-UL), under the coordination of Isabel Raposo, financed by the ‘Knowledge for Development Initiative’ Programme of the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN).

4. The seminar The Right to the City (1968–2018) was organized by Gestual/CIAUD/FAUL, occurred in December 2018 in the Lisbon School of Architecture of the University of Lisbon, and aimed to deepen the critical analysis of different ongoing visions and practices through the revisiting of the key-concept of the right to the city. More information is available at: http://direitoacidade.fa.ulisboa.pt/

5. In local dialect, the word musseque refers to the red dirt roads that, during colonial times, involved the neighborhoods built for and by Africans.

6. In 1992 the first multiparty, democratic and free elections occurred, in the context of the Angolan Civil War. However, the opposition led by the União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola (UNITA) [National Union for the Total Independence of Angola] did not agree with the results. After this failure, the civil war between MPLA and UNITA got even more violent.

7. This war was carried out by the political party in the power – Frelimo – and its opposition: Resistência Nacional Moçambicana (RENAMO) [Mozambican National Resistance]. The conflict terminated in 1991, with the signing of the Peace Agreement by then president Joaquim Chissano and Afonso Dhlakama, then president of RENAMO.

8. E.g., the Plano de Uso do Solo e Gestão do Crescimento Urbano de Luanda (Plan for Land Use and Growth Management of Luanda), from 2000, financed by the World Bank; and the Carta Estratégica para Luanda (Strategic Charter for Luanda), from 2001/2002.

9. Financial incentives are cost control mechanisms for the construction of social housing or housing credit. Incentives of a fiscal nature are tax exemptions and reductions to be approved under the terms of its specific legislation (Decree no. 24/09, December 11).

10. This scandal involved the concession of loans to Mozambique public companies without the knowledge of the International Monetary Fund. The case prompted donors from the Mozambican State Budget to suspend international aid to the country (Francisco et al., 2016).

Additional information

Funding

This special issue is a product of the project ‘Africa Habitat: From the sustainability of habitat to the quality of inhabit in the urban margins of Luanda and Maputo’ (FCT-AKDN/333121392/2018), developed by the Group of Socio-Territorial, Urban and Local Action Studies of the Research Centre in Architecture, Urbanism and Design of the Lisbon School of Architecture – Lisbon University (Gestual/CIAUD/FA-UL), under the coordination of Isabel Raposo, and financed by the ‘Knowledge for Development Initiative’ Programme of the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN). This work was also supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the Postdoctoral Grant SFRH/BPD/118022/2016 attributed to Sílvia Leiria Viegas; Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia [IC&DT/PALOP/FCT-AKDN/333121392/2018, SFRH/BPD/118022/2016 - FSE/POCH];

Notes on contributors

Sílvia Jorge

Sílvia Jorge, Group of Socio-Territorial, Urban and Local Action Studies of the Research Centre in Architecture, Urbanism and Design of the Lisbon School of Architecture, University of Lisbon - Portugal (Gestual/CIAUD/FA-UL). Information available at: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4587-2262. E-mail: [email protected]

***

Sílvia Leiria Viegas, Scholarship Holder of the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT - SFRH/BPD/118022/2016 - FSE/POCH), postdoctoral researcher with the Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra - Portugal, and member of GESTUAL/Lisbon School of Architecture, University of Lisbon - Portugal. More information available at: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3265-3108. E-mail: [email protected]