9th Urbanization and Development Conference

WELCOMING REMARKS (Banqueting Hall)

Lungelo Mbandazayo, City Manager, City of Cape Town
Deon Filmer, Director of the Research Group, World Bank
Nina Kelsey, Associate Professor of Public Policy & International Affairs, George Washington University

OPENING SESSION: Building Cities that Work in Africa (Banqueting Hall) (Watch recording)

CHAIR AND MODERATOR
Jonathan Leape, Executive Director, International Growth Centre

PANELISTS
Geordin Hill-Lewis, Mayor of Cape Town
Prudence Kaoma, PS Planning and Administration, Ministry of Finance and National Planning, Zambia
Edward Glaeser, Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics, Harvard University
Satu Kahkonen, Country Director for South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho, and Eswatini, World Bank

Mini Coffee Break

POLICY SESSION: Solutions for Prosperous African Cities (Banqueting Hall) (Watch recording)

CHAIR
Victoria Delbridge, Head of Cities that Work, International Growth Centre

POLICY ADDRESS
Manuel de Araújo, Mayor of Quelimane, Mozambique
Ogalaletseng Gaarekwe, DDG for the Intergovernmental Relations Division, National Treasury of South Africa
Lungelo Mbandazayo, City Manager, City of Cape Town

RESPONDENTS
Diana Mitlin, CEO, African Cities Research Consortium & Professor of Global Urbanism, Global Development Institute, University of Manchester

Lunch Break

KEYNOTE ADDRESS AND DEBATE: Infrastructure, the Backbone of the City (Banqueting Hall) (Watch recording)

CHAIR
Ming Zhang, Global Director, Urban, Resilience and Land Global Department, World Bank

KEYNOTE ADDRESS
Matt Turner, Professor of Economics, Brown University
Kelsey Jack, Associate Professor, Business and Public Policy group, UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business

RESPONDENTS
Hugh Cole, Director of Strategy, City of Cape Town, South Africa

Mini Coffee Break

3:00 - 4:30pm

YOUNG URBAN ECONOMIST WORKSHOP (Meeting Room 2, 6th Floor)

CHAIR
Oliver Harman, Senior Policy Economist, Cities that Work, International Growth Centre

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS
Edward Glaeser, Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics, Harvard University and  IGC Cities Research Programme Co-Director

PAPERS
Paper YUE 1: Moses Mwale (University of Johannesburg), “Forecasting Road-Based Public Transport Needs of Developing Cities: A Case of Lusaka City”
Paper YUE 2: Tsepang Khumalo (Stellenbosch), “Formal Housing and Mental Health in South Africa”
Paper YUE 3: Tankiso Lefeta (Stellenbosch), “The Effect of a Public Housing Subsidy Programme on Child Development among Low-income Households in South Africa”
Paper YUE 4: Cassandra Cole (Harvard), “Pricing and In-Kind Transfers in Environmental Crisis: Evidence from Cape Town, South Africa”
Paper YUE 5: Oluchi Mbonu (Harvard), “Market Segmentation and Coordination Costs: Evidence from Johannesburg's Minibus Networks”

FEEDBACK
Edward Glaeser, Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics, Harvard University and IGC Cities Research Programme Co-Director
Kelsey Jack, Associate Professor, Business and Public Policy group, UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business
Matt Turner, Professor of Economics, Brown University

3:00 - 4:30pm

MODELLING FOR BETTER INFRASTRUCTURE PROVISION (Banqueting Hall) (Watch recording)

CHAIR
Juliana Oliveira-Cunha, Policy Economist, Cities that Work, International Growth Centre

PRESENTATIONS
Presentation 1: Nick Tsivanidis, Assistant Professor of Economics, Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley and IGC Cities Research Programme Co-Director
Presentation 2: Thomas Monnier, Center for Research in Economics and Statistics (CREST)

DISCUSSANTS
Paul Court, Manager: Economic Analysis, Policy and Strategy Department, City of Cape Town

4:30 - 4:45 pm

Break

NEW RESEARCH FOR ACTION IN AFRICAN CITIES: A WAY FORWARD (Council Chambers, 6th Floor) (Watch recording)
(Note that due to a technical issue, the audio is only available on this recording starting at 26:14.)

CHAIR AND MODERATOR
Deon Filmer, Director of the Research Group, World Bank

PANELISTS
Nancy Lozano, Program Manager, Institute for Economic Development, World Bank
Peter Ellis, Practice Manager, East Africa Region, World Bank
Michele Melchiorri, Project Officer, Joint Research Center
Ivan Turok, Research Chair in City-Region Economies, University of the Free State
Kurtis Lockhart, Executive Director, Africa Urban Lab

Cocktail Reception

Registration and Coffee

9:00 - 10:30am

RESEARCH SESSION 1A: Transport (Meeting room 2, 6th floor)

CHAIR
Maria Orjuela-Pava, IGC Country Economist, Uganda

PAPERS
Paper 1A.1: Gabriel Kreindler (Harvard), “Demand for Urban Exploration: Evidence from Nairobi”
Paper 1A.2: Alice Duhaut (World Bank DIME), “Public and Private Transit: Evidence from Lagos”
Paper 1A.3: Alejandro Molnar (World Bank), "Rail service quality and access to employment: Evidence from Cape Town"
Paper 1A.4: Lucas Conwell (UCL), “Privatized Provision of Public Transit”

DISCUSSANT
Nick Tsivanidis, Assistant Professor of Economics, Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley and IGC Cities Research Programme Co-Director

9:00 - 10:30am

RESEARCH SESSION 1B: Firms and local economic development (Boardroom A, 5th floor)

CHAIR
Jodie Posen, Head of Economic Intelligence, City of Cape Town

PAPERS
Paper 1B.1: Deivy Houeix (MIT), “Asymmetric Information and Digital Technology Adoption: Evidence from Senegal”
Paper 1B.2: Carolyn Pelnik (Tufts), “Moving to Profitability? Alleviating Constraints on Microentrepreneur Location”
Paper 1B.3: Justin Visagie (UFS), “Agglomeration and firm-level productivity in African cities”
Paper 1B.4: Ivan Turok (Human Sciences Research Council), “Job creation and destruction in South Africa: The role of firms, industries and cities”

DISCUSSANT
Paul Court, Manager: Economic Analysis, Policy and Strategy Department, City of Cape Town

9:00 - 10:30am

RESEARCH SESSION 1C: Urban Expansion and the organization of the African Cities (Banqueting Hall) (Watch recording)

CHAIR
Soraya Goga, Lead Urban Specialist, East Africa Region, World Bank

PAPERS
Paper 1C.1: Mark Roberts (World Bank), "An Anatomy of Urbanization in Sub-Saharan Africa"
Paper 1C.2: Patrick Lamson-Hall (Africa Urban Lab), "Household-level impacts of a network of arterial roads on the peripheries of rapidly growing cities: An evaluation of urban expansion in Ethiopia"
Paper 1C.3: Harris Selod (World Bank), "Customary Land Conversion in sub-Saharan African Cities"
Paper 1C.4: Javier Baez (World Bank), "South Africa’s Fragmented Cities: Spatial Mismatch between Jobs and People"

DISCUSSANT
Rob McGaffin, Executive Director for Spatial Planning, City of Cape Town

Coffee Break

RESEARCH SESSION 2A: Land use planning and housing (Banqueting Hall) (Watch recording)

CHAIR
Rory Hardie, IGC Country Economist, Zambia

PAPERS
Paper 2A.1: Simon Greenhill (UC Berkeley), “Combining aerial photography and machine learning to map 20th century urban change”
Paper 2A.2: Francois Viruly (UCT) “Unlocking Small-Scale Rental Housing in Cape Town - A Planning Policy Perspective"
Paper 2A.3: Remi Jedwab (GWU), “The Skyscraper Revolution: Global Economic Development and Land Savings”
Paper 2A.4: Diana Mitlin (ACRC), “Understanding the contribution of housing to economic development”

DISCUSSANT
Erika Naude, Director for Urban Planning and Design, City of Cape Town

RESEARCH SESSION 2B: Infrastructure Provision (Meeting room 2, 6th floor)

CHAIR
Kiflu Molla, IGC Country Economist, Ethiopia

PAPERS
Paper 2B.1: Molly Lipscomb (UVA), “Reducing Sewer Blockages through Improved Targeting”
Paper 2B.2: Leonard Le Roux (Science Po), “Informality and Violence: Evidence from South Africa”
Paper 2B.3: Joshua Budlender (UCT): “Surviving in the dark: The mortality effects of reducing rolling blackouts”
Paper 2B.4: Imelda (IHEID), “Crime in the Dark: Role of Electricity Rationing”

DISCUSSANT
Gareth Morgan, Executive Director for Future Planning and Resilience, City of Cape Town

RESEARCH SESSION 2C: Migration (Boardroom A, 5th floor)

CHAIR
Felix Mambo, IGC Country Economist, Mozambique

PAPERS
Paper 2C.1: Pedro Vicente (Nova), “On the Political Economy of Urbanization: Experimental Evidence from Mozambique”
Paper 2C.2: Li Jing (SMU), “Young Women in Cities: Urbanization and Gender-biased Migration”
Paper 2C.3 Samuel Marshall (Warwick) “Spatial Labor Market Power in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Roles of Self-Employment and Migration”
Paper 2C.4: Thomas Monnier (Ecole Polytechnique), “The Informality Trade-Off: Wages and Rural-Urban Migration in South Africa”

DISCUSSANT
Nancy Lozano, Programme Manager, Institute for Economic Development, World Bank

Lunch Break

THEMATIC SESSION A: Transport (Boardroom A, 5th floor)

FACILITATORS
Gabriel Kreindler, Assistant Professor of Economics, Harvard
Keresha Naidoo, Manager of Integrated Transport Planning, City of Cape Town (TBC)

THEMATIC SESSION B: Firms and local economic development (Banqueting Hall)

FACILITATORS
Justin Visagie, Senior Research Specialist, Human Sciences Research Council and Senior Lecturer, Department of Economics and Finance at the University of the Free State
Kristoff Potgieter, Senior Applied Economist, City of Cape Town

THEMATIC SESSION C: Land use planning and housing (Meeting room 2, 6th floor)

FACILITATORS
Kayleen Simpson, Manager for Research, City of Cape Town
Mark Napier, Research Group Leader: Housing and Urban Studies, CSIR Smart Places

THEMATIC SESSION D: Water, energy, and the environment (Boardroom D, 5th floor)

FACILITATORS
Archana MV, Senior Research Manager, Water, Air, and Energy Lab, JPAL Africa
Nina Kelsey, Associate Professor of Public Policy & International Affairs, George Washington University

Coffee Break

3:30 - 4:30pm

CLOSING REMARKS (Banqueting Hall) (Watch recording)

CHAIR
Victoria Delbridge, Head of Cities that Work, International Growth Centre

FEEDBACK FROM THEMATIC SESSIONS

MINI KEYNOTE
Edward Glaeser, Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics, Harvard University and IGC Cities Research Programme Co-Director

CLOSING STATEMENTS
Hugh Cole, Director of Strategy, City of Cape Town, South Africa
Ming Zhang, Global Director, Urban, Resilience, and Land Global Department, World Bank