Overview

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.

Full Product Details

Author:   Padraig R. Carmody (Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland; University of Johannesburg, South Africa) ,  James T. Murphy (Clark University, USA) ,  Richard Grant (University of Miami, USA) ,  Francis Y. Owusu (Iowa State University, USA)
Publisher:   John Wiley & Sons Inc
Imprint:   John Wiley & Sons Inc
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.20cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.539kg
ISBN:  

9781119833611

ISBN 10:   1119833612
Pages:   288
Publication Date:   26 October 2023
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Out of stock  
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Table of Contents

"Series Editor's Preface xi Acknowledgements xii List of Abbreviations xiv Introduction: Urban Transitions in Africa 1 Urban Transition Trajectories in Africa: Generative or Parasitic? 7 Assessing the Urbanization-Globalization-Industrialization Nexus 10 Structure of the Book 13 1. (African) Cities as Sociotechnical Systems: A Conceptual Approach 18 Introduction 18 The Urban (Question) in Africa: A Review of the Literature 21 Economic Geographies of Urban Development 22 Radical, Planetary, Comparative and Postcolonial Urbanisms 24 Urban Studies and Theory in/for Africa 26 Conceptualizing the Urban Question in Africa 28 (African) Cities as Sociotechnical Systems 29 Applying the Approach 33 2. Urbanization with Industrialization? Manufacturing in African Cities 35 Introduction 35 Historicizing Africa's Manufacturing Path Dependencies 38 Africa's Present-day Manufacturing Horizon 40 The China Factor in African Manufacturing 43 The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) 45 Transforming Manufacturing? Governance Challenges and Opportunities 49 Rethinking the Governance of Production Regimes: National Urban Policies 50 Pathways for Industrialization in African Cities 52 Conclusion 54 3. The Impact of China and Other New Economic Powers on African Cities 57 Introduction 57 NEUP-African Relations Today: Key Channels of Impact 59 Imports 59 Infrastructure and Other Productive Investments 60 Housing and Built Environments 62 Migration, Travel and Knowledge Flows 65 Integrating the Channels and Their Impacts 67 Sino-African Relations in Africa Today: Specific Forms and Regime Impacts 68 Production Regimes 70 Consumption Regimes 71 Infrastructure Regimes 72 Conclusion 74 4. Fantasy Urbanization in Africa: The Political Economy of Heterotopias 76 Introduction 76 The Rise of Fantasy Urbanism in Africa 77 Neoliberal Planning and Heterotopic Urbanism in Africa 80 Emerging Heterotopias in Africa 82 Eko Atlantic (Lagos), Nigeria 82 Konza Technopolis (Nairobi), Kenya 84 HOPE City (Accra), Ghana 87 Africa's Neoliberal Heterotopias: Generative or Exclusionary Enclaves? 88 5. A Generative Urban Informal Sector? 92 Introduction 92 The Contours of Africa's Urban Informal Economies 96 Explicating the UIS Experience: Agbogbloshie Settlement, Accra 98 Situating Africa's UIS in a Sociotechnical Systems Framework 104 Transforming the UIS? ICTs, the 4IR and Makerspaces 106 Realizing a More Generative UIS: Collaborative Pathways for Transition 109 Conclusion 110 6. The Rise of the ""Gig Economy"" and the Impacts of Virtual Capital on African Cities (with Alicia Fortuin) 114 Defining the Gig Economy 115 The Gig Economy in Africa 116 Ride Sharing and the Evolution of Cape Town's Sociotechnical Regimes 118 Practices in Cape Town's Ride-sharing Regime 120 Governing Ride-sharing: Power Asymmetries, Informal Contracts and Rating Schemes 122 Precarious Platforms: Safety Issues in Cape Town's Ride-sharing Economy 124 Ride-sharing and the Evolution of Sociotechnical Regimes in African Cities 125 Conclusion 127 7. Making Cities Livable for All: Infrastructure and Service Provisioning Challenges 131 Introduction 131 The Scale and Scope of the Collective Goods Challenge in African Cities 132 Governance of Infrastructure Regimes: Speculation, Resource Constraints and Political Priorities 138 Splintered Urbanization and the Challenge of Service Distribution 140 Structural and Political Economic Drivers of Infrastructure Deficits in African Cities 143 SkyTrain -- Accra's Utopian Mega Infrastructure Project 144 The Bagamoyo Port Project, Tanzania 145 Kenya's Standard-Gauge Railway (SGR) 146 Achieving Infrastructure Transformations: Recentering Use-Value 147 8. The Wrath of Capital or Nature? Threats to Cities from Climate to COVID-19 150 Introduction 150 The Geography of Risk and Riskscapes 151 Riskscapes, Cities and Sociotechnical Systems 153 Climate Change and Sociotechnical Regimes 155 Heat 155 Sea Level Rise and Coastal Erosion 156 Flooding 157 Drought 159 Public Health Threats: Pandemics (Ebola and COVID-19) 160 Ebola 161 COVID-19 162 Managing Risk and Resilience in African Cities 163 9. The Green Economy and African Cities 166 Introduction 166 The Green Economy and the Global South 168 Africa's Green Economy Experience to Date 170 Green Industrialization through SEZs? South Africa's Atlantis GreenTech Zone 173 Green Economy Transitions and the Urban Informal Sector (UIS) 178 Conclusion 182 10. Prospects for Generative Urbanism in Africa 184 Introduction 184 Assessing the Urban Question in Africa Today: A Multidimensional View 185 Realizing Generative Cities: Constraints, Capabilities, Governance and Resilience Strategies 187 Production Regimes 188 Consumption Regimes 190 Infrastructure Regimes 193 Reframing the Urban Question as a Sociotechnical, Systemic One 194 References 199 Index 251"

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Author Information

PÁDRAIG R. CARMODY, Professor in Geography, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland; Senior Research Associate, University of Johannesburg, South Africa. JAMES T. MURPHY, Professor and Director, Graduate School of Geography, Clark University, USA. RICHARD GRANT, Professor of Geography and Director of Urban Studies, University of Miami, Florida, USA. FRANCIS Y. OWUSU, Professor and Chair, Department of Community and Regional Planning, Iowa State University, USA.

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