Mélanie Rateau: Electrical infrastructure, inequalities in access and urban practices in Ibadan (Nigeria) and Cotonou (Benin)

In cities across sub-Saharan Africa, electricity grids are unreliable, inadequate and sometimes non-existent, whilst demand is rising. To meet their needs, city dwellers employ a variety of technologies, giving rise to diverse socio-technical systems. At the level of each city, this results in a unique urban electricity configuration.

Comparing a selection of neighbourhoods that reflect urban diversity in Ibadan (Nigeria) and Cotonou (Benin), the research demonstrates that urban practices regarding access to electricity fuel processes of hybridisation in which improvements in the quality and continuity of service depend on ambivalent market and social dynamics that fail to lift the most vulnerable city dwellers out of the poverty trap.

Ultimately, the urban electrification transition requires us to move beyond the framework of a single, uniform conventional grid and instead envisage the contours of a socio-technically heterogeneous urban service, tailored to the diversity of urban living conditions.

Composition of the jury

• Armelle Choplin, Associate Professor at the University of Geneva (co-director)
• Sylvy Jaglin, Professor at Gustave Eiffel University (Director)
• Franck Scherrer, Professor at the University of Montreal (rapporteur)
• Éric Verdeil, Professor at Sciences Po Paris (examiner)
• Marie-Hélène Zérah, Research Director at IRD (rapporteur)
• Guest jury member: Olivier Coutard, CNRS Research Director at Latts (guest)