Co-production of Knowledge in Action
Emancipatory strategies for urban equality
Cassidy Johnson (Editor), Vanesa Castán Broto (Editor), Wilbard Kombe (Editor), Catalina Ortiz (Editor), Barbara Lipietz (Editor), Emmanuel Osuteye (Editor), Caren Levy (Editor)
Co-production of actionable knowledge as a development strategy entails working in partnership with different institutions and sharing power so that communities can participate in planning urban futures. From housing, access to land, services and livelihoods, co-production strategies serve to advance collective interventions to improve inhabitation in cities around the world.
Over time, experiences of co-production have generated critical insights about the opportunities and limits of such partnership strategies. Co-production of Knowledge in Action engages with this critique from the perspective of practice. It examines how co-production is articulated and deployed in cities such as Lima, Freetown, Kampala, Dar es Salaam and Delhi, and explores ongoing experiences of co-production-inspired action, mapping the different aspirations that inform co-production practices and the impacts on urban communities.
While the volume recognises the limitations of co-production, and the ways it can serve to reproduce power structures if emptied of its political, transformatory intent, the authors also seek to understand the emancipatory potential of co-production as an incremental strategy that has the power to transform urban planning practices.
List of figures
List of tables
List of contributors
List of abbreviations
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Unlocking co-production in practice
Cassidy Johnson and Vanesa Castán Broto
Part I: Understanding the contexts for co-production
1 Co-production: the power of societal knowledge in post-ante planning of informal settlements: experiences from Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
Alphonce Gabriel Kyessi, Wilbard Jackson Kombe, Tatu Mtwangi Limbumba and Fredrick Bwire Magina
2 Knowledge co-production for transformation in low-income settlements in urban Africa
Shuaib Lwasa, Paul Isolo Mukwaya, Judith Mbabazi, Teddy Kisembo, Hafisa Namuli, Hakimu Sseviiri, Disan Byarugaba, Gloria Nsangi Nakyagaba, Moses Nadiope,Kareem Buyana and Daniel Ochieng Ologe
3 Collective infrastructures and governance in precarious neighbourhoods in Lima, Peru
Belen Desmaison, Luciana Gallardo, Kelly Ros Mery Jaime Arias, Paola Córdova, Lia Alarcón and Luis Rodríguez Rivero
4 Sentipensante: learning from Fals Borda’s Participatory Action Research
Catalina Ortiz
Part II: Experiences of co-production
5 Co-production as a practice of emancipation: perspectives from a community development and savings network in Yangon, Myammar
Marina Kolovou Kouri and Shoko Sakuma
6 Co-producing knowledge: methods, moments and experiences from the Main Bhi Dilli Campaign, India
Malavika Narayan, Rashee Mehra, Ruchika Lall
7 Self-provisioning and reproduction of urban economic spaces through waste micro-small-medium enterprises in Kampala, Uganda
Teddy Kisembo, Hafisa Namuli, Shuaib Lwasa, Paul Isolo Mukwaya, Judith Mbabazi, Hakimu Sseviiri, Disan Byarugaba and Moses Nadiope
8 Co-creation of Nakhon Sawan Community Development Network in Thailand
Supreeya Wungpatcharapon and members of the Community Architects Network, Nakhon Sawan Community Development Network, Thanatip Dumrongpiriyakul and Khakhanang Jonganurak
9 Co-production processes for advancing urban equality in Freetown, Sierra Leone: insights from learning platforms
Braima Koroma, Joseph Macarthy and Emmanuel Osuteye
Part III: Expanding the co-production experience
10 Co-producing an international urban equality agenda through GOLD VI: the transformative potential of global report-making processes
Camila Cociña, Alexandre Apsan Frediani, Caren Levy, Edgardo Bilsky, Ainara Fernández Tortosa, Cécile Roth and Anna Calvete Moreno
11 Engaging with knowledge co-production: critical reflections from global doctoral researchers
Whitney Banyai-Becker, Amy R. Riley-Powell, Jhono Bennett, Aline Fernandes Barata, Nihal Hafez, Abass Bolaji Isiaka, Albert Nyiti, Nikolett Puskás, Alejandro Vallejo andJulia Youngs
12 Co-producing community-based development in informal settlements in Tanzania:the approach and work of the Centre for Community Initiatives Tim Ndezi and Emmanuel Osuteye
13 From pathways to desire lines: transforming urban change through co-production
Zarina Patel
14 Liberating ‘expertise’: knowledge co-production as emancipatory practice
Caren Levy and Barbara Lipietz
Afterword: Provisional conclusions and final thoughts
Vanesa Castán Broto and Cassidy Johnson
Index
DOI: 10.14324/111.9781800088931
Publication date: 15 September 2025
PDF ISBN: 9781800088931
EPUB ISBN: 9781800088948
Hardback ISBN: 9781800088917
Paperback ISBN: 9781800088924
Cassidy Johnson (Editor) 
Cassidy Johnson is Professor of Urbanism and Disaster Risk Reduction at The Bartlett Development Planning Unit, University College London.
Vanesa Castán Broto (Editor)
Vanesa Castán Broto is Professor of Climate Urbanism at the Urban Institute, University of Sheffield.
Wilbard Kombe (Editor)
Wilbard Jackson Kombe is Professor at the Institute for Human Settlements Studies, Ardhi University, Tanzania.
Catalina Ortiz (Editor)
Catalina Ortiz is Professor in Critical Urban Pedagogy at The Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment, University College London.
Barbara Lipietz (Editor)
Barbara Lipietz is Professor of Urban Development Planning at The Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment, University College London and The Bartlett Vice Dean International.
Emmanuel Osuteye (Editor)
Emmanuel Osuteye is Associate Professor at The Bartlett Development Planning Unit, University College London.
Caren Levy (Editor)
Caren Levy is Professor of Transformative Urban Planning at The Bartlett Development Planning Unit, University College London and Principal Investigator of Knowledge in Action for Urban Equality (KNOW) (2017–22).
Urban Violence and Marginalised Communities
Ashvin Devasundaram, Stamatis Zografos, Márcio Mattos, Zoe Holman,
29 January 2026
Co-production of Knowledge in Action
Cassidy Johnson, Vanesa Castán Broto, Wilbard Kombe, Catalina Ortiz, Barbara Lipietz, Emmanuel Osuteye, Caren Levy,
15 September 2025
Urban Transformations in Sierra Leone
Joseph M. Macarthy, Braima Koroma, Andrea Rigon, Alexandre Apsan Frediani, Andrea Klingel,
05 December 2024
Urban Informality and the Built Environment
Nerea Amorós Elorduy, Nikhilesh Sinha, Colin Marx,
12 March 2024
An Introduction to Waste Management and Circular Economy
Stijn van Ewijk, Julia Stegemann,
05 December 2023
Prosperity in the Twenty-First Century
Henrietta L. Moore, Matthew Davies, Nikolay Mintchev, Saffron Woodcraft,
22 June 2023
Co-designing Infrastructures
Sarah Bell, Charlotte Johnson, Kat Austen, Gemma Moore, Tse-Hui Teh,
27 April 2023
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