Oxford Events, the new replacement for OxTalks, will launch on 16th March. From now until the launch of Oxford Events, new events cannot be published or edited on OxTalks while all existing records are migrated to the new platform. The existing OxTalks site will remain available to view during this period.
From 16th, Oxford Events will launch on a new website: events.ox.ac.uk, and event submissions will resume. You will need a Halo login to submit events. Full details are available on the Staff Gateway.
This talk explores the political and temporal life of infrastructure in East African cities, focusing on the Tanzanite Bridge in Dar es Salaam and the stalled La Gare redevelopment in Addis Ababa. Through these case studies, it interrogates how megaprojects—often celebrated as symbols of progress—can entrench exclusion, serve elite interests, and become suspended in speculative futures. Drawing on urban theory and original research, the session reflects on how ruination, finance, and geopolitical ambition shape both the material and imaginative landscapes of African urbanism.
The speaker, Zayaan, studied BA Land Economy at Cambridge and is currently pursuing an MSc in Environmental Change and Management at Oxford. With a passion for cities, infrastructure, finance, and the political economy of the built environment, Zayaan brings an interdisciplinary lens to questions of development globally. The session invites interactive discussion and reflection on what inclusive, just infrastructure might look like.
