“Urban Infrastructures in Transition: The Case of African Cities”
The Graduate School for Urban Studies (URBANgrad) from Darmstadt University of Technology announces eight doctoral fellowships, beginning October 1, 2014. We welcome applications from students with a master’s degree interested in joining a new graduate program on urban and infrastructural change in East Africa. This interdisciplinary program is funded by the Hans Böckler Foundation and includes the following academic subjects: Spatial and Infrastructure Planning, Urban Development and Design, History of Technology, and Economic Geography and Global Studies.
The program “Urban Infrastructures in Transition” focuses on developments in the East-African cities of Dar es Salaam and Nairobi. In particular, it highlights the history of and the current challenges posed by urban infrastructures—the supply and use of water, energy, sewerage, and telecommunication services. Within its framework, researchers critically investigate the tensions between, on the one hand, internationally circulating technological ideals and models in the planning, design and construction of cities (especially those of the networked city) and, on the other hand, local processes of appropriation and modification. Studies on the Tanzanian and Kenyan cities are carried out with these overall perspectives in mind:
· The cultural history of urban technologies
· Formal and informal ways of producing urban space
· Socio-technical assemblages and the planning process
· Geographies of marketization, technopolitics and infrastructure
We invite applications from candidates with excellent academic records, a burning interest for African cities, and who are socially and politically engaged (e.g., in NGOs, unions, student bodies, political parties, or churches). Fellowships are granted for a maximum of 3 years in accordance with the rules of the Hans Böckler Foundation and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Monthly stipends are € 1,150,- (parents receive additional child allowances). There are no tax reductions and tuition fees. However, fellows have to finance their own health insurance. For more information, please refer to: http://www.stadtforschung.tu-darmstadt.de/afrika/index.en.jsp, or contact the program director Jochen Monstadt (j.monstadt@iwar.tu-darmstadt.de; +49-6151 16 2248) or one of the other professors.
Interested candidates are asked to send their application (in English or German) as an email attachment directly to the following address: afrika@stadtforschung.tu-darmstadt.de. Please include (1) a CV, (2) copies of academic diplomas, (3) information on your activities in NGOs etc. (4) a 5-page first sketch describing your planned PhD project and how it might contribute to our general research program (please merge the documents into one single pdf-file, max. 6 MB). Deadline is February 28, 2014.
We look forward to receiving your application!