Rethinking the “Good City” in Contexts of Displacement: Housing, Livelihoods, and Wellbeing in Urban Crisis - A case-study

This lecture examines what it means to speak of a "good city" in contexts defined not by abundance but by conflict, forced displacement, and urban precarity. Drawing on a case study from Pemba, Mozambique -a city shaped by armed conflict, climate shocks, and mass internal migration -it asks how housing, livelihoods, and wellbeing intersect when survival itself is the starting point. The lecture challenges dominant urban narratives that assume prosperity as a baseline, arguing instead that any meaningful theory of the good city must be built from the most vulnerable urban experiences upward. Participants will leave with a more grounded and globally inclusive framework for thinking about urban resilience and inclusive development.