Africa is the world's most rapidly urbanizing region. The predominantly rural continent is currently undergoing an “urban revolution” unlike any other, generally taking place without industrialization and often characterized by polarization, poverty, and fragmentation. While many cities have experienced construction booms and real estate speculation, others are marked by expanding informal economies and imploding infrastructures.
The Urban Question in Africa: Uneven Geographies of Transition examines the imbalanced and contested nature of the ongoing urban transition of Africa. Edited and authored by leading experts on the subject, this unique volume develops an original theory conceptualizing cities as sociotechnical systems constituted by production, consumption, and infrastructure regimes. Throughout the book, in-depth chapters address the impacts of current meta-trends - global geopolitical shifts, economic changes, the climate crisis, and others - on Africa's cities and the broader development of the continent. - Presents a novel framework based on extensive fieldwork in multiple countries and regions of the continent - Examines geopolitical and socioeconomic topics such as manufacturing in African cities, the green economy in Africa, and the impact of China on urban Africa - Discusses the prospects for generative urbanism to produce and sustain long-term development in Africa - Features high-quality maps, illustrations, and photographs
The Urban Question in Africa: Uneven Geographies of Transition is essential reading for undergraduate and postgraduate students in geography, urban planning, and African studies, academic researchers, geographers, urban planners, and policymakers.
Table of Contents
Series Editor's Preface xi
Acknowledgements xii
List of Abbreviations xiv
Introduction: Urban Transitions in Africa 1
Urban Transition Trajectories in Africa: Generative or Parasitic? 7
Assessing the Urbanization-Globalization-Industrialization Nexus 10
Structure of the Book 13
1. (African) Cities as Sociotechnical Systems: A Conceptual Approach 18
Introduction 18
The Urban (Question) in Africa: A Review of the Literature 21
Economic Geographies of Urban Development 22
Radical, Planetary, Comparative and Postcolonial Urbanisms 24
Urban Studies and Theory in/for Africa 26
Conceptualizing the Urban Question in Africa 28
(African) Cities as Sociotechnical Systems 29
Applying the Approach 33
2. Urbanization with Industrialization? Manufacturing in African Cities 35
Introduction 35
Historicizing Africa's Manufacturing Path Dependencies 38
Africa's Present-day Manufacturing Horizon 40
The China Factor in African Manufacturing 43
The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) 45
Transforming Manufacturing? Governance Challenges and Opportunities 49
Rethinking the Governance of Production Regimes: National Urban Policies 50
Pathways for Industrialization in African Cities 52
Conclusion 54
3. The Impact of China and Other New Economic Powers on African Cities 57
Introduction 57
NEUP-African Relations Today: Key Channels of Impact 59
Imports 59
Infrastructure and Other Productive Investments 60
Housing and Built Environments 62
Migration, Travel and Knowledge Flows 65
Integrating the Channels and Their Impacts 67
Sino-African Relations in Africa Today: Specific Forms and Regime Impacts 68
Production Regimes 70
Consumption Regimes 71
Infrastructure Regimes 72
Conclusion 74
4. Fantasy Urbanization in Africa: The Political Economy of Heterotopias 76
Introduction 76
The Rise of Fantasy Urbanism in Africa 77
Neoliberal Planning and Heterotopic Urbanism in Africa 80
Emerging Heterotopias in Africa 82
Eko Atlantic (Lagos), Nigeria 82
Konza Technopolis (Nairobi), Kenya 84
HOPE City (Accra), Ghana 87
Africa's Neoliberal Heterotopias: Generative or Exclusionary Enclaves? 88
5. A Generative Urban Informal Sector? 92
Introduction 92
The Contours of Africa's Urban Informal Economies 96
Explicating the UIS Experience: Agbogbloshie Settlement, Accra 98
Situating Africa's UIS in a Sociotechnical Systems Framework 104
Transforming the UIS? ICTs, the 4IR and Makerspaces 106
Realizing a More Generative UIS: Collaborative Pathways for Transition 109
Conclusion 110
6. The Rise of the "Gig Economy" and the Impacts of Virtual Capital on African Cities (with Alicia Fortuin) 114
Defining the Gig Economy 115
The Gig Economy in Africa 116
Ride Sharing and the Evolution of Cape Town's Sociotechnical Regimes 118
Practices in Cape Town's Ride-sharing Regime 120
Governing Ride-sharing: Power Asymmetries, Informal Contracts and Rating Schemes 122
Precarious Platforms: Safety Issues in Cape Town's Ride-sharing Economy 124
Ride-sharing and the Evolution of Sociotechnical Regimes in African Cities 125
Conclusion 127
7. Making Cities Livable for All: Infrastructure and Service Provisioning Challenges 131
Introduction 131
The Scale and Scope of the Collective Goods Challenge in African Cities 132
Governance of Infrastructure Regimes: Speculation, Resource Constraints and Political Priorities 138
Splintered Urbanization and the Challenge of Service Distribution 140
Structural and Political Economic Drivers of Infrastructure Deficits in African Cities 143
SkyTrain -- Accra's Utopian Mega Infrastructure Project 144
The Bagamoyo Port Project, Tanzania 145
Kenya's Standard-Gauge Railway (SGR) 146
Achieving Infrastructure Transformations: Recentering Use-Value 147
8. The Wrath of Capital or Nature? Threats to Cities from Climate to COVID-19 150
Introduction 150
The Geography of Risk and Riskscapes 151
Riskscapes, Cities and Sociotechnical Systems 153
Climate Change and Sociotechnical Regimes 155
Heat 155
Sea Level Rise and Coastal Erosion 156
Flooding 157
Drought 159
Public Health Threats: Pandemics (Ebola and COVID-19) 160
Ebola 161
COVID-19 162
Managing Risk and Resilience in African Cities 163
9. The Green Economy and African Cities 166
Introduction 166
The Green Economy and the Global South 168
Africa's Green Economy Experience to Date 170
Green Industrialization through SEZs? South Africa's Atlantis GreenTech Zone 173
Green Economy Transitions and the Urban Informal Sector (UIS) 178
Conclusion 182
10. Prospects for Generative Urbanism in Africa 184
Introduction 184
Assessing the Urban Question in Africa Today: A Multidimensional View 185
Realizing Generative Cities: Constraints, Capabilities, Governance and Resilience Strategies 187
Production Regimes 188
Consumption Regimes 190
Infrastructure Regimes 193
Reframing the Urban Question as a Sociotechnical, Systemic One 194
References 199
Index 251
