Persistent, pragmatic and prolific: Urban master planning in Accra, Dar es Salaam and Lilongwe

This paper interrogates the persistence of urban master planning in African cities. Critiques of master planning in Africa label it as a stifling product of colonial legacies, an inappropriate imposition of external ideas, or a device to achieve the goals of global actors, all seen as being at odds with the rapidly changing settlement patterns and needs of many African urban contexts. This paper instead focuses on the role of local planning actors in the demand for and the production of master plans and proposes a different analytical perspective on the role of master planning in African urban contexts. Notably, we point to the weak presence of master planning in colonial contexts, in contrast with the strong activation of master plans to shape the ambitions of newly independent governments. We observe also the nuanced interactions between local actors and transnational circuits and influences in devising and implementing plans. The paper presents three case studies which demonstrate the persistence of master planning practices through the post-independence period and their proliferation in contemporary moments. We document the diverse range of local actors who have chosen to retain or revise colonial planning legacies, initiate new city-wide master planning, or solicit, shape and assume responsibility for master planning promoted by transnational circuits of development and planning. We find that actors embedded in local or national institutions, and a wide variety of transnational actors, are driven by a range of, at times conflicting, interests and ideas about what planning is and is meant to do. Historical surveys and in-depth interviews with current actors, as well as those from the recent past in Accra (Ghana), Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) and Lilongwe (Malawi), help us to identify three aspects of urban master planning which challenge existing interpretations. We observe that master planning has been a persistent presence, although often taking a more ephemeral form in extended “silent” periods when outdated but valued plans remained operative. We note that complex political tensions and institutional landscapes shape enthusiasm for, and control over the nature, preparation, adoption and implementation of master plans, including their being side-lined or resisted – local-national dynamics are crucial here. This leads to a pragmatic engagement with transnational actors to bring forward different kinds of plans. The prolific production of master plans supported by multiple transnational actors in poorly resourced contexts constitutes a dynamic, although at times counterproductive, terrain of visioning and practical planning initiatives seeking to grapple with the pace and unpredictability of urbanisation. Our analysis provides an opening for considering the politics of urban planning from an African-centric perspective and as an active part of African urbanization

Post-war state-led development at work in Angola : the Zango housing project in Luanda as a case study

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2013.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This dissertation is a case study of the Zango social housing project in Luanda, the capital of the southern African state of Angola. Through an examination of the Zango project, which was born on the cusp of peace after nearly 30 years of civil war in 2002, I provide insight into the nature, workings and possible outcomes of post-war state-led development in Angola under non-democratic conditions. I do so by analyzing how the Angolan state ‘sees’ and does development, as well as how this development works. Empirically, this thesis argues that post-war state-led development is controlled by the Angolan presidency and financed and managed through extra-governmental arrangements. This both enables as well as limits state-led development as it allows for the maintenance of a gap between a ‘parallel’ and the formal state of Angola. In this process, local governments and citizens are largely side-lined as development actors. Yet, through an analysis of local governance and housing allocation arrangements in Zango, I show that the formal Angolan state is no empty shell and that its officials and those they engage with may operate in ways that take ownership of development directed from above. Theoretically, this thesis then argues for a research approach to the African state and state-led development that is empirically grounded.AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis is ‘n gevallestudie van die Zango sosiale behuisingsprojek in Luanda, die hoofstad van die Suider-Afrikaanse staat van Angola. Ek poog om insig te gee in die aard, aktiwiteite en moontlike resultate van na-oologse staatsgeïnisieerde ontwikkeling in Angola onder nie-demokratiese toestande deur ‘n ontleding van die behuisingsprojek wat in 2002, met die aanbreek van vrede na die 30 jaar burgeroorlog, aangevang het. Dit word gedoen deur ‘n analise van hoe die Angolese staat ontwikkeling ‘sien’ en onderneem, sowel as hoe ontwikkeling ontplooi. Hierdie tesis redeneer dat empiries staatsgeleide ontwikkeling na die oorlog beheer word deur die Angolese Presidensie en gefinansieer en bestuur word deur buite-staatsinstellings. Dit fasiliteer sowel as beperk ontwikkeling omdat dit ‘n gaping tussen ‘n ‘parallele’ en die formele Angolese staat handhaaf. Hierdie proses sluit beide plaaslike regering en burgers grootliks as ontwikkelingsakteurs uit. Deur middel van ‘n ontleding van die plaaslike bestuur en die toekenning van wooneenhede in Zango, toon ek aan dat die formele staat tog nie ‘n lëe dop is nie en dat amptenare en ander betrokkenes eienaarskap van ontwikkeling gerig van bo kan neem. Dus, teoreties, word aanspraak gemaak vir ‘n benadering tot die staat en staatsgeïnisieerde ontwikkeling in Afrika wat empiries gefundeer is

African Urban Studies: Contributions and Challenges

Scholarship on African cities represents a growing yet still scarce subfield in urban studies, especially considering the scale and variety of African urbanisation patterns. The purpose of this Virtual Special Issue is to review the scholarship published on urban Africa in Urban Studies over the past five decades. In this Editorial, we reflect on the contributions of African urban scholarship and present a selection of articles to highlight the ways in which it has shaped key fields of urban studies. We also note the challenges that underpin ongoing lacunae in urban knowledge production and suggest directions for future work. This discussion provides a lens on our understandings of the urban condition in Africa and the general trajectory of urban scholarship

Urban Climate Resilience and Its Link to Global Sustainability Agendas

This chapter examines urban climate resilience. It provides a conceptual introduction, followed by an explanation of how urban areas have been recognized in recent global agendas related to sustainability, climate change, and disaster risk reduction. The chapter provides a picture of the complexity and diversity of urban climate resilience experiences, through seven case study cities on four continents. The sample of cities includes small, medium, and larger cities, both coastal and landlocked, in diverse political, socioeconomic, and geographical contexts. Drawing on comparative research using co-production between academic researchers and local authority counterparts, the detailed case studies illustrate the climate resilience challenges faced by each city, the work in terms of strategies and initiatives they have carried out and are planning to increase their resilience, as well as the geographical and policy contexts in which those strategies are embedded