University of Malawi

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Dr. Evance Evan Mwathunga

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
Geography, Earth Sciences and Environment

Research Areas

Pathways to Sustainability in Postindustrial Cities of the Global South (from 2019 to 2021) - With funding from GCRF through the Royal Academy of Engineering, the project consortia involving Durham University (UK), Sheffield University (UK), Khulna and BRAC University (Bangladesh), University of Col ... Read More

Profile

EVANCE MWATHUNGA is a development geographer and urban planning scholar in the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences at the University of Malawi’s Chancellor College. He holds a PhD in Geography and Environmental Studies from Stellenbosch University (RSA); a Master of Science in Urban and Regional Planning from Heriot-Watt University (UK) and a BEd in Geography from the University of Malawi. His teaching and research interests are in the areas of urban and regional planning, development and environmental geographies, urban land governance, politics of urban space, urbanisation and informality. He is a visiting lecturer in the School of Architecture and Planning at Witwatersrand University (RSA) under the WITS-TUBERLIN Urban Lab Project. Over the last 15 years, he has undertaken extensive urban research on contestations over urban space in the global South focusing on Lilongwe and Blantyre cities in Malawi. He has also researched on climate change and rural urban interdependence; groundwater governance; and social cash transfers and rural youth poverty in Malawi and Lesotho. He is currently collaborating on a number of international urban research projects including 'Making Africa Urban Project' (funded by European Research Council) and Pathways to Sustainability in Postindustrial Cities of the Global South (funded by Royal Academy of Engineering, UK). He has appeared at numerous local and international conferences in Africa, Europe and USA. He has also attended numerous international training (e.g. Seminar on Master Planning and Development for Malawi in 2016 at Anhui Institute in Hefei, China focusing on city and development planning, tourism planning, land use planning, and heritage planning among others). He served as Head of Geography and Earth Sciences Department at Chancellor College of the University of Malawi from 2015 to 2017. He also worked as Estates Officer with Malawi Housing Corporation (MHC) prior to joining the University of Malawi. Outside teaching and research, he is a member of the Board of the Malawi National Planning Commission.

Publications

  • Journal Article
    Sylvia Croese, Jennifer Robinson, Kofi Kekeli Amedzro, Philip Harrison, Wilbard Kombe, Evance Mwathunga, George Owusu (2023), Persistent, pragmatic and prolific: Urban master planning in Accra, Dar es Salaam and Lilongwe, Land Use Policy, Volume 133: 106832. (2023)
    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264837723002983?via%3Dihub
  • Journal Article
    Ansell, N., Mwathunga, E., Hajdu, F., Robson, E., Hlabana, T., van Blerk, L., & Hemsteede, R. (2023). Ethical Principles, Social Harm and the Economic Relations of Research: Negotiating Ethics Committee Requirements and Community Expectations in Ethnographic Research in Rural Malawi. Qualitative Inquiry, 29(6), 725–736. https://doi.org/10.1177/10778004221124631 (2023)
    https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/10778004221124631
  • Journal Article
    McCauley, D., Grant, R. & Mwathunga, E. (2022), Achieving energy justice in Malawi: from key challenges to policy recommendations. Climatic Change 170, 28:1-22, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-022-03314-1 (2022)
    https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-022-03314-1
  • Journal Article
    Timothy Larson, Zuze Dulanya, and Evance Mwathunga, (2022), "Borehole siting and construction in rural Malawi: A sociotechnical process?" GEOPHYSICS 87: WA39-WA47. https://doi.org/10.1190/geo2021-0076.1 (2022)
    https://library.seg.org/doi/full/10.1190/geo2021-0076.1#
  • Journal Article
    Evance Mwathunga and Ronnie Donaldson (2021) Urban planning history of Malawi: case study of the capital Lilongwe, Planning Perspectives, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02665433.2021.1988867 (2021)
    www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02665433.2021.1988867
  • Journal Article
    Cleaver, F.; Whaley, L. and Mwathunga, E. 2021. Worldviews and the everyday politics of community water management. Water Alternatives 14(3): 645-663, https://www.water-alternatives.org/index.php/alldoc/articles/vol14/issue-3-2/638-a14-3-1/file (2021)
    www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07900627.2021.1897947
  • Journal Article
    Luke Whaley, Frances Cleaver, Evance Mwathunga (2021). Flesh and bones: Working with the grain to improve community management of water. World Development, Volume 138, Pages 105286 [ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X20304137?via%3Dihub ] (2021)
    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X20304137?via%3Dihub
  • Journal Article
    Emmanuel M. Akpabio, Evance Mwathunga & John S. Rowan (2021) Understanding the challenges governing Malawi’s water, sanitation and hygiene sector, International Journal of Water Resources Development, 1897947, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07900627.2021.1897947 (2021)
    https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07900627.2021.1897947
  • Journal Article
    Rebecca Grant, Darren McCauley, Maxmillian von Maltzen, Rebecca Grattage & Evance Mwathunga (2021). An Ecohealth approach to energy justice: Evidence from Malawi’s energy transition from Biomas to electrification. Energy Research and Social Science, Volume 75, 101875. [ https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2020.101875 ] (2021)
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2020.101875
  • Conference Papers
    MacAllister, D. J., Fallas, H., MacDonald, A. M., Kebede, S., Mkandawire, T., Mwathunga, E., ... & Whaley, L. (2021). Determinants of hand-pumped borehole functionality: preliminary evidence from Ethiopia, Malawi and Uganda. In: 42nd WEDC International Conference, EQUITABLE AND SUSTAINABLE WASH SERVICES: FUTURE CHALLENGES IN A RAPIDLY CHANGING WORLD, Online, 13 – 15 Sept 2021. Loughborough, UK, Water Engineering Development Centre. http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/531048/9/WEDC_HP_Functionality_FINAL.pdf (2021)
    nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/531048/9/WEDC_HP_Functionality_FINAL.pdf
  • Book Chapters
    Joshua, M. K., Chirwa, R. K., Ngongondo, C., Monjerezi, M., Mwathunga, E., & Kasei, R. (2021). Impact of Floods on Access to Drinking Water: A Focus on 2019 Floods in Magalasi Village in Chikwawa District, Malawi. In The Increasing Risk of Floods and Tornadoes in Southern Africa (pp. 191-201). Springer, Cham. [https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-74192-1_11] (2021)
    https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-74192-1_11
  • Book Chapters
    Joshua, M. D. K., Stathers, T., Chirwa, R. K., Ngongondo, C., Lamboll, R., Monjerezi, M., Mwathunga, E., Kasei, R., Chipungu, F., & Liwenga, E. T. (2021). A Comparative Study of the Impacts of Flooding on Food Security of Urban and Rural Households in Blantyre City and Chikwawa, Malawi. In Cyclones in Southern Africa (pp. 35-58). Springer, Cham. [https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-74303-1_3 (2021)
    link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-74303-1_3
  • Journal Article
    T. Mkandawire, E. Mwathunga, A.M. MacDonald, H.C. Bonsor, S. Banda, P. Mleta, S. Jumbo,J. Ward, D. Lapworth, G. Chavula, G. Gwengweya, L. Whaley & R.M. Lark (2020). An analysis of hand pumps boreholes functionality in Malawi, Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, Parts A/B/C, 2020, 102897, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pce.2020.102897 (2020)
    doi.org/10.1016/j.pce.2020.102897
  • Journal Article
    Lapworth DJ, MacDonald AM , Kebede S, Owor M , Chavula G, Fallas H, Wilson P, Ward JST, Lark M, Okullo J, Mwathunga E, Banda S, Gwengweya G, Nedaw D, Jumbo S, Banks E, Cook P, Casey V.(2020). Drinking water quality from rural handpump boreholes in Africa, Environmental Research Letters, 15:064020, https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab8031 (2020)
    iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab8031
  • Conference Papers
    Whaley, L., MacAllister, D. J., Fallas, H., Mwathunga, E., Banda, S., Katusiime, F., ... & MacDonald, A. (2019). To what extent does community management ensure good functionality of groundwater supplies in rural Africa? 46th IAH Congress, Malaga, Spain, 23-27 Sept 2019. http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/525209/ (2019)
    http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/525209
  • Book Chapters
    Mwathunga E 2012 ‘Informal settlements: a product of deficient formal land management policies?’ In Donaldson R and Marais L (eds) Small Town Geographies in Africa: Experiences from South Africa and elsewhere, Chapter 29:433-449, Nova Science Publishers, New York. (2012)
    https://www.amazon.com/Small-Town-Geographies-Africa-Experiences/dp/162100001X

More on Research

Pathways to Sustainability in Postindustrial Cities of the Global South (from 2019 to 2021) - With funding from GCRF through the Royal Academy of Engineering, the project consortia involving Durham University (UK), Sheffield University (UK), Khulna and BRAC University (Bangladesh), University of Colombo (Sri Lanka), and University of Malawi seeks to develop an understanding of how cities in the Global South respond to deindustrialisation.,Making Africa Urban (MAU) - (September 2019 to August 2024): With funding from European Research Council, the collaborative research project is led by Prof Jennifer Robinson at the University College of London (UK). Other partners are Witwatersrand University (RSA), University of Ghana (Ghana) and University of Malawi (Malawi). The research seeks to develop an understanding of the transcalar politics of large-scale scale urban developments in three African cities namely: Dar es Salaam, Accra, and Lilongwe as they relate to sovereign, private and developmental circuits of investments. ,