RGS IBG Book Series The Urban Question in Africa

A timely exploration of the world’s most rapidly urbanizing region The Urban Question in Africa explores the uneven and contested nature of the urban transition on the continent, offering fresh insights into the implications of climate crisis, geopolitical changes, and other contemporary meta-trends. Addressing Africa's urbanization as well as its broader development, the authors present an original framework that points towards more generative urban transitions by conceptualizing cities as sociotechnical systems constituted by production, consumption, and infrastructure regimes. Based on extensive fieldwork in multiple countries and regions of Africa, The Urban Question in Africa is a valuable resource for undergraduate and postgraduate students, researchers, geographers, and urban planners alike. “The complexities of Africa’s urbanization processes and challenges – present and future – clearly dissected and presented in an easy to read and understand style. This book presents the different faces of Africa’s urbanization which have been neatly crafted together in a single edited volume and offers the reader the different perspectives of viewing urbanization on the continent, certainly a must read for urbanists and all interested in Africa’s present and future.” —George Owusu, Professor of Urban Geography, Institute of Statistical, Social & Economic Research (ISSER)/Dean, School of Social Sciences, University of Ghana “This lively text takes on the most cogent themes of today in urban Africa, while addressing the long-running debate over whether cities in Africa can generate development or simply operate as parasites. This will be a valuable text for courses on urban Africa, African development, and globally-oriented urban-economic geography. The authors make a strong case for the utility of a sociotechnical systems approach in African urban studies.” —Garth Myers, Center for Urban and Global Studies, Trinity College, Hartford, USA 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.