Robbins has been a part-time lecturer and researcher in Development Studies at the School of the Built Environment and Development Studies at UKZN. He has an MPhil from the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex and is a PHD student at the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research, University of Amsterdam.

For a number of years he has been an expert advisor to a number of United Nations organizations and an irregular consultant on regional and urban economic development issues to public, private, NGOs and multi-lateral organizations in South Africa and internationally.

Prior to 2004 he was an employee of the eThekwini Municipality where was for some of his eight years of employment, head of city enterprises and economic development. He has published on matters of local development, urban infrastructure development, mining, industry policy and employment.

Robbins reiterated that over a period of 10 years, the city had fallen prey to the exorbitant usage of public resources due to the ever sprouting of urban mega projects which have been said to bring economic impact.

“In this case, the main examples of such projects are the International King Shaka Airport and the Dube Trade Port. Not everyone had benefitted from these proposerous projects. Looking at the King Shaka Airport, those living in townships in the surrounding areas had to move from their homes as they were in the way of the development stages and a majority of them were not compensated accordingly,” said Robbins.

He also spoke about the new port plans and the impact it will have on the people and the economy.

He added that plans were being developed for a new dig out port and logistics corridor, to economic imperatives. Robbins stated that such mega projects had become sudden features of most cities around the world in different eras.

“It’s been described that these projects are being increasingly seen as essential tools to unlocking the global connectivity and international profile in a highly competitive economic context,” he added.

Robbins said that failure for these projects to progress in the 1990s was often cited as a reason for the city’s somewhat sluggish economic performance. He believes more and more cities appeared to be mobilising both public and private capital to fund projects that often appear to feature on a common ‘development menu’. He added that some of the impacts of these projects have had might still continue to have an impact in Durban’s future

DUT’s Prof Monique Marks from the Engineering Department , added that she was very happy with the attendance of such seminars.

“The seminar participants came from a range of disciplines at DUT, from UKZN, NGOs, the City, and interested Durban residents. The seminar was lively as people are keen to know more about the impacts of mega-projects and prospects for mega-projects that are in the pipeline, such as the new port,” she said.

Next week’s seminar will be given by Crispin Hemson, Director, International Centre of Nonviolence, Durban University of Technology. Hemson will be presenting a seminar entitled: Durban’s Black Lifeguards: Masculinity, Aspirations and Violence. This seminar will report a longitudinal study of 11 male lifesavers, undertaken in 1997 and 2012, all former members of eThekwini Surf Lifesaving Club , and all present or past employees of the eThekwini Metro.

The UFC urges all DUT staff and students to attend these seminars. Any graduate students and staff conducting research on urban spaces should consider presenting as part of this seminar series. The seminars are open and the UFC@DUT welcomes participation from government officials, researchers, civil society actors and individuals interested in the future of cities. Contact Prof Monique Marks at moniquem@dut.ac.za

caption
Prof Monique Marks thanks Glen Robbins for his presentation on the impact of mega projects in Durban.

– Philiswa Xulu