Biography: Zola Manyungwa is a doctoral researcher in Spatial Planning at TU Dortmund University and a lecturer at the University of Malawi. Her academic background spans education and geography, with interests in urban infrastructure, resource allocation and spatial justice. Her doctoral research focuses on differentiated electricity access within Lilongwe, Malawi, examining how urban form and infrastructure governance shape patterns and experiences of access across residential areas. Through her research, she seeks to develop expertise at the intersection of urban development, infrastructure and justice, with particular interest in the challenges facing rapidly urbanising contexts in sub-Saharan Africa.
PhD Thesis Working Title: Unmasking the Grid: Intra-Urban Electricity Access in Lilongwe’s Residential Areas, Malawi.
Abstract: Electricity access in sub-Saharan African cities remains highly uneven, despite global efforts towards universal energy access. While official statistics often portray urban areas as relatively well served, aggregate figures can conceal significant disparities within cities. In Lilongwe, Malawi’s capital, access to grid electricity remains limited, while conditions of access may also vary considerably across the city.
This study examines grid electricity access across Lilongwe’s residential areas, moving beyond a binary understanding of access as simply connected or unconnected. It explores how different conditions of electricity access are distributed across the city’s diverse residential environments and how these relate to urban morphology and the socio-technical arrangements through which electricity is accessed and sustained.
Using a mixed-methods approach and spatial analysis, the research investigates how urban morphology, socio-technical arrangements and energy governance interact to shape differentiated electricity access across Lilongwe. Drawing on spatial and energy justice perspectives, it further examines how these processes contribute to patterns of inclusion and exclusion. The study seeks to contribute to a more spatially differentiated understanding of urban electricity access in rapidly growing African cities.