Urban Planning in Sub-Saharan Africa: Colonial and Post-Colonial Planning Cultures - Softcover

"This book is an important addition to African planning scholarship, recognizing the interface between urban planning practices shaped by context as well as imported ideas." - Vanessa Watson, Deputy Dean, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of Cape Town

"We are increasingly familiar with the problems that demographic growth, inequality, spatial dualism and post-colonial adjustment pose for cities in the developing world. Few studies, however, have fully got to grips with the sheer diversity of challenges that planners in such cities face. This book breaks new ground by offering comparative analysis of past, present and emerging planning practices across a swathe of sub-Saharan Africa. Packed with incisive case-studies and penetrating critique, it is required reading for anyone interested in the realities of planning cities in the Global South." - John Gold, Professor of Urban Historical Geography, Oxford Brookes University

Cities in Sub-Saharan Africa are unequally confronted with social, economic and environmental challenges, particularly those related with population growth, urban sprawl, and informality. This complex and uneven African urban condition requires an open discussion of past and current urban planning practices and future reforms. Urban Planning in Sub-Saharan Africa gives a broad perspective of the history of urban planning in Sub-Saharan Africa and a critical view of issues, problems, challenges and opportunities confronting urban policy makers.

The book examines the rich variety of planning cultures in Africa, offers a unique view on the introduction and development of urban planning in Sub-Saharan Africa, and makes a significant contribution against the tendency to over-generalize Africa's urban problems and Africa's urban planning practices. Urban Planning in Sub-Saharan Africa is written for postgraduate students and advanced undergraduates, researchers, planners and other policy makers in the multidisciplinary field of Urban Planning, in particular for those working in Spatial Planning, Architecture, Geography, and History.