​​​About the topic:

The rapid urbanisation of Africa is one of the great phenomena of this or any century. The massive growth of cities creates the potential for economic growth and political transformation, but there are also demons that come with density. The same urban proximity that can enable trade and face-to-face learning can also enable the spread of viruses and crime. Having reviewed the state of urbanisation in Africa, and its relationship to both economic and social change, Prof Glaeser will talk about the problem of missing interactions, which can reflect segregation at the firm, neighbourhood or industrial level. He will particularly focus on the isolation of vulnerable populations. Finally, the talk will turn to the management of urban spaces and infrastructure, with a particular focus on water and transportation.

About the speaker: Professor Ed Glaeser:

Dr Edward L. Glaeser is the Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics at Harvard University, where he has taught economic theory and urban economics since 1992. He also leads the Urban Economics Working Group at the National Bureau of Economics Research, co-leads the Cities Programme of the International Growth Centre, and co-edits the Journal of Urban Economics. He has written hundreds of papers on cities, infrastructure and other topics, and written, co-written and co-edited many books including Triumph of the City, Survival of the City (with David Cutler) and Fighting Poverty in the U.S. and Europe: A World of Differencey (with Alberto Alesina). He has served as Director of the Taubman Center for State and Local Government and the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston, Editor of the Quarterly Journal of Economics, and Chair of Harvard’s Economics Department. He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Academy of Political and Social Science, and the Econometric Society, and he received the Albert O. Hirschman prize from the Social Science Research Council. He received his A.B. from Princeton University in 1988 and his PhD in Economics from the University of Chicago in 1992.

RSVP by 02 June 2025 by clicking on this link: https://forms.office.com/r/eps4WM9j3M

Thank you to Remgro Ltd whose generous donation makes this lecture series possible, and to Mrs Amanda Visser and the Visser family for allowing us to host this lecture in the late Mr Thys Visser’s name (former CEO of Remgro).

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