Paper short abstract:

Based on a PhD research carried in Khartoum, the capital region of the Sudan, this paper provides an ethnographic account of how urban development corporations are agents of urban spaces reconfiguration.

Paper long abstract:

Tuti, a river island located at the junction of the blue and the white Niles in Greater Khartoum the capital region of the Sudan. The island is one of the very old neighbourhoods in Khartoum, where most of the population are extended families and they form a unique social fabric. Recently, the island is undergoing different processes of urban refurbishing, led by Khartoum state planning authorities collaborating with national and transnational urban development corporations. Tuti Island Investment Company is one of the leading corporations on the island and it played a significant role in the implementation of a master plan to transform the island from the rural eye of Khartoum, to one of the important business and touristic districts in the capital region. Based on my doctoral thesis fieldwork on Tuti Island, I want to present an Ethnographic account of how urban development corporations can be agents of the socio-physical restructuring of urban spaces.