Rethinking the off-grid city

Abstract

There has been a resurgence in interest in the off-grid city in the Global South, and on how it functions as a collection of places, lived spaces, and dynamic infrastructural configurations. As scholars and practitioners working in the South African off-grid urban context, we identify four areas for further elaboration in off-grid urban research: 1.) redefining academic and practical understandings of the “grid”, ultimately moving to rethink its meaning in the city; 2.) the need to decolonize and decenter the relationship between global and technocratic urban development “standards”, practices and discourses, and the granular off-grid context; 3.) the imperative of critically engaging with narratives of inadequacy and imperfection as often applied to off-grid, informal urban spaces; 4.) the priority of moving towards a needs-based approach to off-grid development, focusing on urban knowledge co-production with local communities to ensure their needs and interests are met.