The impacts of Special Economic Zones on the urban economy of African countries: a comparative analysis among Egypt, Ghana, and Kenya

• Grant number: 23/09597-1
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: May 01, 2024
• End date: April 30, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Geography - Human Geography
• Principal Investigator: Kauê Lopes dos Santos
• Grantee: Kauê Lopes dos Santos
• Host Institution: Instituto de Geociências (IG). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The first decades of the 21st century were marked by a significant expansion in the number of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) installed on the African continent, given that these totaled 20 in 1990 and jumped to 237 in 2020. That expansion can only be understood in light of the favorable situation of economic growth and political stabilization that most socio-spatial formations on the continent are currently experiencing. Thus, in this context, several African countries gradually became more attractive to foreign capital while their governments - concerned with promoting productive diversification in their territories - began considering the SEZs a powerful instrument of industrialization. Given this scenario, the research proposed in this project aims to analyze and compare the impacts of Special Economic Zones on the urban economy of socio-spatial formations in Egypt, Ghana, and Kenya. Thus, based on the assumptions and concepts of the Theory of Circuits of the Urban Economy, developed by the Brazilian geographer Milton Santos in the 1970s, the research methodology consists of a comparative analysis between the three case studies so that the exploratory approach will with the survey, systematization and analysis of qualitative and quantitative data obtained from both secondary and primary sources. With this study, it is hoped to contribute to the interdisciplinary scientific debates about the presence of SEZs in the territories of the Global South and the geographical debates established at the interface between Economic, Urban, and Regional Geography. (AU)