African Cities and the Development Conundrum

African Cities and the Development Conundrum

Africa is urbanising faster than any other continent. The stupendous pace of urbanisation challenges the usual image of Africa as a rural continent. The sheer complexity of African cities contests conventional understandings of the urban as well as standard development policies. Lingering between ch...

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Wedi'i Gadw mewn:
Manylion Llyfryddiaeth
Cyhoeddwyd yn:URI:https://journals.openedition.org/poldev,
Prif Awduron: Förster, Till, Ammann, Carole
Fformat: Article ou chapitre numérique
Iaith:Anglais
Cyhoeddwyd: International Development Policy | Revue internationale de politique de développement 2020
Pynciau:
urban development
urban policies
Mynediad Ar-lein:Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
id openedition-oai:revues.org:poldev_2621
record_format openedition
spelling openedition-oai:revues.org:poldev_2621 https://doi.org/10.4000/poldev.2621 urn:doi:10.4000/poldev.2621 en https://journals.openedition.org/poldev/2621 2020-03-02T01:00:00Z info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess article info:eu-repo/semantics/article urn:handle:20.500.13089/j49j https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ African Cities and the Development Conundrum International Development Policy | Revue internationale de politique de développement Institut de hautes études internationales et du développement info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/1663-9391 info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/1663-9383 URI:https://journals.openedition.org/poldev Förster, Till Ammann, Carole Africa Sub-Saharan Middle East and North Africa (MENA) urban development urban policies Africa is urbanising faster than any other continent. The stupendous pace of urbanisation challenges the usual image of Africa as a rural continent. The sheer complexity of African cities contests conventional understandings of the urban as well as standard development policies. Lingering between chaos and creativity, Western images of African cities seem unable to serve as a basis for development policies. The diversity of African cities is hard to conceptualise—but at the same time, unbiased views of the urban are the first step to addressing the urban development conundrum. International development cooperation should not only make African cities a focus of its engagement—it should also be cautious not to build its interventions on concepts inherited from Western history, such as the formal/informal dichotomy. We argue that African cities are more appropriately regarded as urban grey zones that only take shape and become colourful through the actors’ agency and practice. The chapters of this special issue offer a fresh look at African cities, and the many opportunities as well as limitations that emerge for African urbanites—state officials, planners, entrepreneurs, development agencies and ordinary people—from their own point of view: they ask where, for whom and why such limitations and opportunities emerge, how they change over time and how African urban dwellers actively enliven and shape their cities.
collection OpenEdition Journal
language Anglais
format Article ou chapitre numérique
building 0/Bibliothèque numérique/
1/Bibliothèque numérique/OpenEdition Journals/
topic urban development
urban policies
spellingShingle urban development
urban policies
Förster, Till
Ammann, Carole
African Cities and the Development Conundrum
description Africa is urbanising faster than any other continent. The stupendous pace of urbanisation challenges the usual image of Africa as a rural continent. The sheer complexity of African cities contests conventional understandings of the urban as well as standard development policies. Lingering between chaos and creativity, Western images of African cities seem unable to serve as a basis for development policies. The diversity of African cities is hard to conceptualise—but at the same time, unbiased views of the urban are the first step to addressing the urban development conundrum. International development cooperation should not only make African cities a focus of its engagement—it should also be cautious not to build its interventions on concepts inherited from Western history, such as the formal/informal dichotomy. We argue that African cities are more appropriately regarded as urban grey zones that only take shape and become colourful through the actors’ agency and practice. The chapters of this special issue offer a fresh look at African cities, and the many opportunities as well as limitations that emerge for African urbanites—state officials, planners, entrepreneurs, development agencies and ordinary people—from their own point of view: they ask where, for whom and why such limitations and opportunities emerge, how they change over time and how African urban dwellers actively enliven and shape their cities.
author Förster, Till
Ammann, Carole
author_facet Förster, Till
Ammann, Carole
author_sort Förster, Till
title African Cities and the Development Conundrum
title_short African Cities and the Development Conundrum
title_full African Cities and the Development Conundrum
title_fullStr African Cities and the Development Conundrum
title_full_unstemmed African Cities and the Development Conundrum
title_sort african cities and the development conundrum
publisher International Development Policy | Revue internationale de politique de développement
publishDate 2020
container_title URI:https://journals.openedition.org/poldev
url https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://doi.org/10.4000/poldev.2621
https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://journals.openedition.org/poldev/2621
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