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Title Humanitarian presence and urban development: new opportunities and contrasts in Goma, DRC
Full text http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/j.0361-3666.2010.01157.x; http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-885689
Date 2010
Author(s) Büscher, Karen; Vlassenroot, Koen
Abstract This paper examines the impact of the presence of international humanitarian organisations on local urban transformation processes in the city of Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Rather than evaluating the direct effects of humanitarian interventions and strategies, it focuses on the indirect but profound effects of the presence of this 'humanitarian sector'. It argues that the international humanitarian presence became a significant factor in the recent shaping and reshaping of the city's profile and has reinforced competition over the urban political and socioeconomicspace. The paper evaluates the direct and indirect impact of the international humanitarian presence on the local urban economy and the larger political economy of war in eastern DRC. It analyses how this presence has reinforced processes of spatial reconfiguration, how it has influenced urban planning, and how it has affected dynamics of gentrification and marginalisation on the urban spatial level.
Subject(s) intervention; eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo; humanitarian space; Goma; conflict; CITIES; urban development; Law and Political Science
Language eng
Type of publication info:eu-repo/semantics/article
Source ISSN: 0361-3666
Rights I have transferred the copyright for this publication to the publisher; info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess
Repository Gent - University of Gent
Added to C-A: 2014-03-03;09:53:35