ABSTRACT
Outlining a research agenda for knowledge co-production in urban Africa, this concluding chapter reflects on the experimental spaces for knowledge sharing and production presented in this edited volume. Applying a ‘CityLab’ approach (and a range of related methods and tools) to examine urban development challenges in eight African cities, relationship building emerges as key to success, as do practical considerations around working at different scales, within the informal context, and against the backdrop of complex political dynamics. Flexibility and innovation are thus identified as likely parts of a (still to be defined) ‘best practice’ for local-level knowledge co-production in urban Africa. The chapter argues for CityLabs and other modes of knowledge co-production as vital to creating alternative spaces for knowledge-sharing, participatory planning, and urban governance, and as platforms for voices typically forgotten in the quest for one-size-fits-all solutions to development challenges. Viewing co-produced knowledge about the formal-informal interface as a key entry point to bridging the disjuncture between policy and practice, it calls for researchers to continue engaging with diverse urban stakeholders to generate the knowledge required to disrupt the power imbalances that continue characterize citizen and state relationships in African cities.
