Refractions of the National, the Popular and the Global in African Cities

Case studies of metropolitan cities in nine African countries – from Egypt in the north to three in West and Central Africa, two in East Africa and three in Southern Africa – make up the empirical foundation of this publication. The interrelated themes addressed in these chapters – the national influence on urban development, the popular dynamics that shape urban development and the global currents on urban development – make up its framework. All authors and editors are African, as is the publisher. The only exception is Göran Therborn whose recent book, Cities of Power, served as motivation for this volume. Accordingly, the issue common to all case studies is the often conflictual powers that are exercised by national, global and popular forces in the development of these African cities.

Rather than locating the case studies in an exclusively African historical context, the focus is on the trajectories of the postcolonial city (with the important exception of Addis Ababa with a non-colonial history that has granted it a special place in African consciousness). These trajectories enable comparisons with those of postcolonial cities on other continents. This, in turn, highlights the fact that Africa – today, the least urbanised continent on an increasingly urbanised globe – is in the thick of processes of large-scale urban transformation, illustrated in diverse ways by the case studies that make up the foundation of this publication.

Preface – Goran Therborn

1 Introduction – Simon Bekker, Sylvia Croese and Edgar Pieterse 

Part I The national in urban Africa

Introduction to Part I – Simon Bekker

2 National projects in a postcolonial capital city: The example of Yaounde – Jean-Pierre Togolo

3 Lip service: How voices from informal settlements were sidelined during the first decade of local democracy in South Africa – Liela Groenewald

4 Centralised urban governance in the Greater Cairo City Region: A critical understanding of key challenges and responses – Amr Abdelaal, Hajer Awatta, Omar Nagati, Salwa Salman and Marwa Shykhon

5 Traditional chiefs and traditional authority in Kinshasa – Philippe Ibaka Sangu

Part II The popular in urban Africa

Introduction to Part II – Sylvia Croese

6 Local government as the stage for resistance: Strategies and tactics of opposing mega projects in Gauteng – Margot Rubin

7 Popular protests and the limits of civil society in the struggle for democracy in Zimbabwe, 2011 to 2016 – Ngonidzashe Marongwe

8 ‘We will be back to the street!’: Protest and the ‘empires’ of water in Nairobi – Wangui Kimari

Part III The global in urban Africa

Introduction to Part III – Edgar Pieterse

9 Africa’s new Dubai? Intersections between the global and the local in the redevelopment of the Bay of Luanda, Angola – Sylvia Croese

10 Urban governance and smart future cities in Nigeria: Lagos flagship projects as springboard? – Muyiwa Elijah Agunbiade, Oluwafemi Olajide and Hakeem Bishi

11 The governance of Addis Ababa Light Rail Transit – Meseret Kassahun

12 Conclusion: African cities in the world of today and tomorrow – Goran Therborn and Alan Mabin

List of contributors

Index