Research project The ’infrastructural turn’ in urban service delivery

In an era of globally circulating models of urbanism which prioritize privatization and investments in urban infrastructures, African city governments are embarking on technological intervention projects to address long-standing problems in Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM). Privatization and increased investments in waste technologies is seen as crucial to extending service coverage and achieving sustainable MSWM. Not much is known about who or what spaces are benefiting. Drawing on Urban Political Ecology, the project examines how technological interventions are reshaping access to MSWM services in Lagos, Nigeria. Attention is also given to the impact of technological innovations on the environment through a focus on landfills and the impact on groundwater.