Spaces & Flows: Ninth International Conference on Urban and ExtraUrban Studies

Abstract

Cities are dual systems that come into existence through interaction of nonlinear complex subsystems. Formal Physical planning is a force and a process of organizing cities spaces and it is aimed at ensuring coordinated, orderly, equitable development. These spaces however, often do not turn out per the expectations of the physical plan; there are undesirable outcomes. Residential development in many African cities has been haphazard, unplanned, even neglected, this is depicted in the social residential disparities among communities. This paper is an explanation of these residential disparities, focusing on how physical planning influences these disparities on one hand. And on the other hand, being that cities do not come into existence as a result of one single force, and that social systems have a role to play in ordering cities, the role of self-organization in the development of social residential disparities is therefore analyzed. The qualitative study was carried out in Kampala, Uganda, with a focus on selected cases. Data was collected through observation, qualitative semi structured interviews with targeted respondents, documents review. Four categories of disparities were observed in the studied zones; structured residential, residential enclaves, residential pockets and formal rental. These disparities have been influenced by processes, procedure, actions and decisions of different actors - the interaction between formal physical planning and self-organization. Results show that there are different forces pushing towards spatial organization and the interaction between formal physical planning, social systems (self-organization) and the planning object (Human space/land) seems more oppositional than synchronous hence these disparities.