What question did this study set out to answer?

The aim is to understand how political and economic factors affect infrastructure planning in Global South cities.

April 21, 2026Open Access

If Planning is Complex and Political, maybe Planning is the Solution: Improving Infrastructure Quality in Global South Cities

Key Points

The aim is to understand how political and economic factors affect infrastructure planning in Global South cities.
Analyzed literature from diverse geographic contexts on political economy and urban planning.
Examined evidence from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, to illustrate planning’s role in infrastructure improvement.
Identified mechanisms linking climate vulnerability, governance, and infrastructure resilience.
Found that large-scale infrastructure developments often neglect the needs of majority populations.
Demonstrated that socioeconomic issues and poor planning exacerbate vulnerabilities in informal settlements.
Proposed pathways for more effective and equitable planning practices in Global South cities.

Abstract

The Global South is undergoing unparalleled urbanisation rates, alongside profound consequences for infrastructure demand and supply. This paper examines the relationship between the political economy and infrastructure planning in the global south cities. A particularly disturbing trend in Global South development is the explosion of large-scale, internationally-financed infrastructure developments that serve exclusive interests while abandoning the everyday necessities of majority populations. Drawing on literature from diverse geographic contexts, we explore the political economy of urban planning in understanding complexity as essential. The paper identifies key mechanisms linking the intersection of climate vulnerability with factors such as sociopolitical issues, poor governance, and limited technological capability, further declining infrastructure resilience. Infrastructure discrepancies in informal settlements echo deliberate poor policy choices and planning failures, isolating these areas. Additionally, we examine evidence on KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, a particularly valuable empirical context for understanding planning’s role in infrastructure improvement, disaster response, and resilience. Evidence shows that climate-induced disasters associated with risk and vulnerability are aggravated by socioeconomic issues, including housing deficiencies, compelling people to construct settlements in flood-prone zones. Finally, we propose several key pathways that emerge from this analysis for advancing more effective, equitable planning in Global South cities. The paper concludes that addressing institutionalized participatory planning as standard practice, integrating planning across sectors and governance levels, adopting explicit equity frameworks in planning, investing in municipal capacity building, decolonizing planning knowledge and practice and address the political economy of infrastructure would shape local institutional capability and encourage adaptive learning as opposed to continued dependence on external finance expertise.

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