PRESENTATION - Urban Transformations & Traps: Honiara Today

Honiara has the highest urban growth rate in the Pacific. Urban informal settlements and commercial developments are rapidly expanding and altering the face of the city. Formal institutions which govern Honiara are being reviewed and reformed to try and cope with the mounting pressures of urbanisation, but gaps are being left which informal arrangements are filling only partially. So, new and old economic and social associations are being leveraged to gain advantage and build resilience, including kin relations, market vendor associations, womens networks, and community councils. Despite rapid changes to the physical city, social perceptions of urban spaces remain fairly static and are largely shaped by rural experience. This paper draws on current research on urbanisation processes in Honiara to critically examine how the political economy is reshaping the city, but not significantly transforming dominant social conceptions of urban spaces and their place in the nation.