Yaguma, Penlope;
(2024)
Electricity access in Uganda's slums and informal settlements.
Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).
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Abstract
Africa’s rapid urbanisation has resulted in high slum incidence. Accessing services like electricity in slums poses major challenges, despite their proximity to the grid. This research investigates electricity access in the slums of Uganda’s capital, Kampala where the specific characteristics of electricity access are little known. A household-level analysis of electricity access from Nakulabye slum in Kampala is developed to provide a deeper understanding of the electricity challenges faced. The research employs the sustainable livelihoods approach and energy justice principles to reveal that electricity access in slum areas is very complex, often transcending simple on/off-grid and formal/informal dualisms. For most households, the grid is the idealised source of electricity evidenced by the low adoption of ‘modern’ off-grid energy. However, electricity access is shaped by the vulnerabilities faced, assets owned, and local politics and structures in the slum. Households wield different strategies to access electricity, which obscures the true extent of the challenges faced and engenders complacency in policymaking and service provision. Moreover, conflicting stakeholder interests impact electricity provision, and pro-poor energy policies are often misaligned with the realities in slums. Aspirations for electricity centre around affordability, reliability, and autonomy, and are linked to different livelihood and wellbeing outcomes met by electricity services. This research presents the case that given the diversity of strategies and coping mechanisms for meeting energy needs across social groups in slums, policies and instruments would need to consider this complex landscape. To this end, the research contributes to our understanding of urban energy poverty and can inform urban energy governance and provision strategies that contend with these complexities. Insights from this work can also be applied to slum upgrading and rehabilitation initiatives and facilitate equitable urbanisation and electricity access in cities.
| Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Qualification: | Ph.D |
| Title: | Electricity access in Uganda's slums and informal settlements |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © The Author 2024. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10195446 |
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