Beyond the networked city: situated practices of citizenship and grassroots agency in water infrastructure provision in the Chamazi settlement, Dar es Salaam

Abstract

This paper problematizes the liberal ideal of citizenship that, it is argued, limits active participation of poor communities in decision-making around basic urban infrastructure services and enjoyment of their citizenship rights. In place of liberal citizenship, the paper argues in favour of newly emerging forms of citizenship within participatory spheres that enhance access of the poor to urban services through direct participation aimed at socially equitable outcomes. Using the case of the Chamazi community water infrastructure initiative in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, this paper demonstrates that community grassroots agency is capable of instigating institutional changes and brokering power in seeking social justice in infrastructure provision. This was achieved in Chamazi through socially innovative strategies that took account of principles of inclusiveness and social justice, contributing to long-term improvement of this marginalized community. The daily struggle by the urban poor to access municipal services provides an avenue for redefining the contemporary meaning and practices of urban citizenship within rapidly transforming cities of the global South.