Alternative Pathways for Inclusive Urban Planning and Governance in Post-colonial Africa

Geoffrey Nwaka

The paper argues that African city planners and government officials, who aspire to international standards of modernity in the continent, must recognize and come to terms with the local reality of rapid urbanization and extensive urban informality, now and in the foreseeable future. Urban planning and governance in Africa have for too long been tied to the elitist colonial tradition. Sadly, UN-Habitat estimates that Sub-Saharan African cities have close to 200 million slum dwellers, most of who work in the informal sector where they simply do not earn enough to the high standard of shelter and services that planners expect. While some elite neighborhoods enjoy high quality housing and residential environment, the bulk of the urban poor live in appalling and life threatening conditions. Conventional urban planners, with an idealized notion of the modern African city, tends to dismiss the informal sector in these cities as ‘a chaotic jumble of unproductive activities’ that should be removed through forced eviction and repression. But current research suggests that the path to urban peace and sustainability in Africa lies in building more inclusive and socially equitable cities that accommodate the ways of life of majority of city inhabitants. How do we build African cities that are not disconnected from people’s needs? The paper tries to provide fresh insights on alternative pathways to sustainable urban futures in Africa, and on appropriate urban planning and governance models and visions for the continent. We shall consider the colonial heritage of urban planning and governance in Africa, and ways to rethink and re-envision the cities in response to rapid urban growth and extensive informality.
Keywords:
Africa, urban informality, inclusive cities, planning and governance