Lubumbashi and cobalt: African city at the crossroads of global decarbonization and neocolonialism

Abstract

Lubumbashi is the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) southernmost province of Haut-Katanga,¹ and it lies at the crossroads of global decarbonization and neocolonialism. Drawing on our research in the Copperbelt region of the DRC, we present an analysis that serves to unsettle urban theory by placing Lubumbashi at the center of historical geopolitical events over the 20th and 21st centuries. The city's centrality to geopolitics remains today, as Lubumbashi is the headquarters for major mining companies extracting copper and cobalt – minerals essential to decarbonization. We tie Lubumbashi's historical urban development to the region's immense natural resources and extractive potential. We show that the human rights abuses associated with contemporary cobalt mining, such as child labor, social displacement, and structural marginalization, are new forms of old colonial practices. We aim to encourage an expansive critical imagination in urban planning and geography that invites theorizing the history and global significance of understudied African cities,which are central to but often silent within analyses of global capitalism.