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Illuminates the path to more generative urban transitions in Africa's cities and developing rural areas
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.
List 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
About the author
PÁDRAIG R. CARMODY, Professor in Geography, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland; Senior Research Associate, University of Johannesburg, South Africa.
JAMES T. MURPHY, Professor and Director, Graduate School of Geography, Clark University, USA.
RICHARD GRANT, Professor of Geography and Director of Urban Studies, University of Miami, Florida, USA.
FRANCIS Y. OWUSU, Professor and Chair, Department of Community and Regional Planning, Iowa State University, USA.
