Development Studies is an established area of scholarly enquiry, which implies some consensus over what the study of development entails. Does such a consensus exist? This paper argues that although there is some common understanding on Development Studies being about ‘development’ and having an inter-disciplinary as well as normative orientation, there is a set of quite different approaches to, or constellations of, Development Studies.
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The MDGs have had a significant impact so far at a global level, but national level impacts are less clear and need more exploration. There is strong evidence of MDG impacts at a global level and in many countries (in the recent UNDP study of 30 countries, no fewer than 25 countries had added, expanded or modified indicators and 10 had added local goals), and there is good evidence of MDG impacts on social sector budget allocations.
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It is extremely difficult to demonstrate scientifically whether development aid actually works. Yet it is commonly assumed that while aid has often yielded positive results, this has unfortunately not always been the case and has caused frustration in the aid community. Although the explanation was initially increasingly acknowledged its own role in rendering aid ineffective. To improve the effectiveness of aid, several international high level meetings have generated important commitments to rationalize the aid environment.
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This paper is an attempt to outline some concepts and discourses which can point towards a research agenda on cities in the global South. While there are many possible points of entry in this complex field, the paper focuses on the environmental transformations generated by urbanisation in developing countries. But how can we integrate an environmental perspective into a social science research agenda – theoretically and in practice?
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