Professor Catherine Sutherland from the School of Built Environment and Development Studies within the College of Humanities delivered her inaugural lecture titled Urban Reform Coalitions: Building Transformative Sustainability in Durban, South Africa.
Her lecture mapped the learning and knowledge gained through her research work and teaching undertaken during her tenure at the University over the last 28 years.
Sutherland is a full professor and geographer in the Discipline of Development Studies. She works at the interface between social and environmental systems with a focus on sustainable development. Her research interests are in the relationship between society, space and environment and how this shapes environmental politics, urban development and policy-making. She has worked on topics such as the impact of mega-projects on social environments in Durban, social assessment theory and methodology, risk and vulnerability, informal settlement upgrading, water and climate governance, including innovation in water and sanitation systems, environmental governance in peri-urban areas, and urban policy.
UKZN has been Sutherland’s academic home for almost three decades where she has dedicated her career to co-producing knowledge with Durban’s residents who live on the periphery of society, to improve their “rights to the city” and their quality of life.
Her lecture focused on the emergence of Urban Reform Coalitions, defining what they are, how they are formed and the important role they play in delivering real change to communities. Sutherland uses Mitlin’s (2022) definition of urban reform coalitions which states that these are groups of diverse stakeholders (civil society, state agencies, private enterprises, research institutions) who see benefits in coming together (for varying lengths of time) and co-producing knowledge to achieve common goals (social, environmental and economic).
‘These coalitions seek flexibility to reduce the hierarchical, managerial and technocratic relations between state and citizens. All evidence underscores the fact that these coalitions matter for transformative sustainability,’ said Sutherland.
The lecture detailed the many research projects Sutherland has been involved in and the positive effect and outcomes when using urban reform coalitions to find alternate views to expert-driven, state-centred democracy through the inclusion of multiple stakeholders in development.
Sutherland has been committed to raising the voice of ordinary citizens in the city and representing their everyday lived worlds, ensuring that she and her research groups act as intermediaries between citizens and the state through her action research programmes. She says ‘community members are important contributors to my research and are not just interview subjects.’ She has a strong focus on environmental sustainability, understanding how the protection of the environment is critical to improving the lives of the urban poor.
Her research areas include relationships between people and the environment, using ecological infrastructure and ecosystem services to support built infrastructure and improved quality of life in the city, informal settlement upgrading and hybrid planning systems in areas under traditional authority, the development of innovative, green and socially acceptable sanitation systems, and building of participatory governance platforms or urban reform coalitions for transformative and sustainable urban development. These projects have had an impact as a result of the formation and use of urban reform coalitions, to build trust and relationships, where all stakeholders understand the role they can play in “leaving no one behind” in the development of the city.
Sutherland contends that academics have an important role to play with regards to urban coalitions and must exercise their power as intermediaries wisely, to shift and reframe discourses and ensure that different knowledges are respected and included.
Co-producing knowledge with marginalised communities also enables the community to be part of the solution, thereby empowering both citizens and the state. She challenges academic researchers within this space to be aware of their own agency and agenda and never to break the trust of the community or community members. She continues to work on developing approaches for transdisciplinary research in an African context, through the inspiration and support of Professor Rob Slotow, a colleague in the College of Agriculture, Engineering and Science.
Sutherland thanked her family, colleagues, research group of emerging scholars, and the communities in which she works for their support in her work and allowing her the opportunity, space and time to do the work she loves.
She also paid a special tribute to her mentor and dearest friend, Professor Dianne Scott, a geographer and colleague at UKZN over 27 years, who passed away suddenly in 2022.
Sutherland has a wealth of experience and has contributed immensely to the development of her School and the College of Humanities through her research, which Professor Nhlanhla Mkhize, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Head of the College of Humanities, summed up as strongly reflecting the spirit of umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu (I am because you are).
