International closing conference - Unruly Spaces : Public Space, Society and Politics in Urban Africa

The research project Unruly Spaces: Public Space, Society and Politics in Urban Africa, funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and led by Stéphanie Perazzone, Lecturer at the University of Glasgow and Associate Researcher at the Global Studies Institute (GSI), is reaching its conclusion after three years of collaborative investigation across Geneva (Switzerland), Glasgow (UK), Kinshasa (DRC) and Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire). Hosted at the GSI, the project explores—at the intersection of political science, anthropology, and urban studies—the socio-spatial practices, imaginaries, and local and global regulatory and control policies that shape urban “public space.” Through a comparative approach between Abidjan and Kinshasa, it reconsiders both the empirical effects and the conceptual meaning of the boundary between public and private spaces.

The International Closing Conference will take place on 16 December 2025 from 9:00 to 20:00 and 17 December 2025 from 9:30 to 12:45 at the Centre Médical Universitaire (Room S1-2), marking the culmination of this…