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2016 | Book

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Governing Urban Africa

Editor: Carlos Nunes Silva

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan UK

Part of: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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About this book

This book explores some of the key challenges confronting the governance of cities in Africa, the reforms implemented in the field of urban governance, and the innovative approaches in critical areas of local governance, namely in the broad field of decentralization and urban planning reform, citizen participation, and good governance. The collection also investigates the constraints that continuously hamper urban governments as well as the ability to improve urban governance in African cities through citizen responsive innovations. Decentralization based on the principle of subsidiarity emerges as a critical necessary reform if African cities are to be appropriately empowered to face the challenges created by the unprecedented urban growth rate experienced all over the continent. This requires, among other initiatives, the implementation of an effective local self-government system, the reform of planning laws, including the adoption of new planning models, the development of citizen participation in local affairs, and new approaches to urban informality. The book will be of interest to students, researchers and policy makers in urban studies, and in particular for those interested in urban planning in Africa.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter
Chapter 1. Introduction
Abstract
One of the challenges confronting African countries is the rapid urban growth the continent has experienced in the last decades, which is expected to continue in the near future. These demographic and urbanization growth trends raise new problems, challenges and opportunities for the governance of cities and towns in Africa. This initial chapter provides an introduction to the main issues associated with the recent and expected demographic and urbanization changes in the continent as well as an introduction to the decentralization process and planning of law reforms in Africa. The chapter ends with a brief outline of the structure of the book, which deals with these issues in 16 African countries—Algeria, Angola, Cape Verde, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Malawi, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Sao Tome and Principe, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe—some of which are covered in more than one chapter.
Carlos Nunes Silva

Decentralization and Planning Law Reforms

Frontmatter
Chapter 2. Local Government and Urban Governance in Lusophone African Countries: From Colonial Centralism to Post-Colonial Slow Decentralization
Abstract
The chapter explores the development of local government in the five Lusophone African countries—Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and São Tome and Príncipe—in the colonial and post-colonial periods. The aim is to examine how the structure of local government in these countries evolved and how it affected the governing of cities. Although the main focus is the post-colonial period, the colonial legacy is also explored. The chapter examines this development process, the key dimensions of institutional reforms, compares the five countries and discusses the expected impact in the governance of urban areas
Carlos Nunes Silva
Chapter 3. Urban Governance in a Devolved Kenya
Abstract
In 2010 Kenya adopted a new constitution that ushered in an ambitious decentralization reform, known as devolution. The country has established 47 autonomous counties with executive and legislative branches. Under the reform, cities and urban areas have been reclassified using population thresholds that have lead to the elimination of virtually all urban local governments. Using primary data drawn from document/legal analyses and key informant interviews, this chapter presents a case study of devolution as it is unfolding in Kenya, with a particular focus on the implications of the reform for the country’s rapidly growing urban areas. By eliminating urban local governments, devolution has ironically reduced democratic representation and raised potential obstacles to effective urban management and for the governing of cities in general.
Ellen M. Bassett
Chapter 4. Decentralization in Africa: Local Government and Health Care in Ghana, Malawi and Tanzania
Abstract
There are several arguments that in sub-Saharan Africa urgent reforms are needed in local government for citizens to experience the benefits of development. This chapter examines how Ghana, Malawi and Tanzania have decentralized their health care delivery systems. Using a secondary literature approach, the study found out that in spite of the progressive strides made towards the implementation of ambitious health care decentralization plans, different forms of capacity and accountability gaps, as well as unclear and inadequate decision-making roles affect implementation. The study concludes that governments need to pay particular attention to socioeconomic contexts as they pursue decentralization in the sector. Doing this consistently and effectively over time will engender benefits for all sections of the population and for the governing of cities in Africa.
Daniel Kweku Baah Inkoom, Adwoa Yeboah Gyapong
Chapter 5. Planning Law Reforms in Africa: Case Studies From Uganda, South Africa and Nigeria
Abstract
This chapter examines the origin and development of planning-laws in Africa, establishes the rationale behind the major planning-law reforms where they are found and where not found, questions are raised as to why. The processes of planning-law reforms, the identification and contribution of major stakeholders, the opportunities and challenges involved in the process, the effects of the absence of and/or bad implementation of existing or reformed laws, and the eventual outcome on the pattern and structure of African cities and on the lives of Africans are analysed. In view of the new African urban agenda, there is an urgent need for a revolution in planning-laws in Africa, which is an essential element in the process of governing urban Africa.
Babatunde Samuel Agbola, Olusegun Joseph Falola

Issues and Challenges in Urban Governance

Frontmatter
Chapter 6. ‘Programmed to Serve’: Urban Planning and Elite Interests in Zimbabwe
Abstract
Based on an analysis of documents and interviews, the chapter recasts the role of planning vis-à-vis elite interests in urban Zimbabwe. It deploys three cases to examine the (ab)use of planning by the elite. Cautioning against hasty judgements of impropriety and vice, the chapter argues for the recognition of planning systems as being programmed to serve elite interests. This is seen as an important step towards a more realistic interpretation of how cities are governed in Africa. The chapter maintains that productive lines of enquiry are those that focus on whether and how the pro-elite ‘programme’ can be violated. The chapter concludes by arguing that only through reflective practice and the resultant insurgency can the pro-elite programme be challenged.
Amin Y. Kamete
Chapter 7. Urban Planning: When Mining Companies Take on Government’s Role—Public–Private Collaboration in Regional Development in Guinea
Abstract
The arrival of mining investments in Guinea lead to an important influx of migrants and changes throughout the region. Under international and national regulations, mining companies are obliged to mitigate their negative impacts, including migration. Based on an analysis of several mining projects since 2008, we have assessed the contribution of mining companies to regional development and through that to the overall process of governing urban Africa. A common practice is to develop public–private collaboration by the creation of tools and guidelines for regional development. But this type of collaboration modifies the established balance of local power. Mining companies may be perceived as social agents instead of governments. There is also a risk that mining companies will make decisions that serve their own interests.
Pascal Rey, Anaïs Weber
Chapter 8. Strategies of Urban Inclusion in the Imagined Modern Luanda
Abstract
Luanda, the capital of Angola, has recently been subjected to extraordinary changes, supported by increased wealth and investments associated with the end of the war. The ideas of modernity that clearly stand out are deeply rooted in the city’s configuration and reconfiguration over the years. They inform not only the modernising perspectives and philosophy of policymakers and investors but also those of the urban dwellers. Often, however, the imagined modernity and its benefits do not match the lived realities. This chapter makes reference to the evolution of the city, emphasising the differences between main periods and identifying the underlining strategies in terms of inclusions and exclusions. The conclusions presented, based on empirical and documentary research, point to shifting strategies of urban inclusion and changing categories of the excluded.
Cristina Udelsmann Rodrigues
Chapter 9. The Rising “Floating Class” in Sub-Saharan Africa and Its Impact on Local Governance: Insights From Mozambique
Abstract
The renewed interest in sub-Saharan Africa urbanities is due, in part, to the entrance of a rising middle class into them. Affected by dysfunctional real estate markets, this class seeks alternative ways to obtain a decent dwelling, maintaining or diverting from culturally embedded continuums of urban behaviours. This chapter contributes to such a debate, analysing some challenges to the governance of cities in Africa that are highly likely to be raised by the new class. Maputo’s outskirts provide the case study areas and the “floating” class is the segment taken into consideration. The analysis of the nexus between urban informality and the new urban actor is pivotal for transformation of existent urban policies or the emergence of new forms of urban governance.
Anna Mazzolini
Chapter 10. New Urbanities: Exploitation of Water Resources in Return for a Dream—The case of Kigamboni in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Abstract
The chapter examines the relationships between large development plans in sub-Saharan Africa and the process of providing new water resources to those developments, considering the final impact on the city. The case study analysed is Kigamboni, in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The chapter investigates how the power of investment affects the prioritization of works by the water authority. Analysis of the master plan, field surveys and interviews with stakeholders, and comparison with the existing water and sanitation facilities for the whole city support the idea that there is unbalanced planning in the provision of the city’s infrastructure. Additionally, the planning and urban governance authorities need to reconnect city development with an understanding of water and sanitation in order to overcome striking differences and social divisions.
Maria Chiara Pastore
Chapter 11. Public Spaces in Constantine, Algeria: Between Discourse and Reality
Abstract
After 50 years of independence, Algeria is experiencing great changes in all areas. The state is confronted today with the consequences of the political decisions made and actions taken without regard for the reality of urban living and the inhabitants’ real concerns. This chapter attempts to verify the practical implementation of the measures set out in the policy discourse on public spaces and their use. By examining a specific case of a policy focused on urban public spaces, the chapter aims to contribute to the wider debate on the governing of urban Africa. The sociological survey conducted in the field with the inhabitants of Constantine and in its new town Ali Mendjeli tries to determine whether public spaces play a role as places for democratization of political actions. The management, design, participation and use of these areas by the inhabitants constitute the real indicators of governance in Algeria.
Nadia Chabi, Khalil Bouhadjar
Chapter 12. Limits of Acceptable Change and Heritage Management on the Island of Mozambique
Abstract
Heritage sites are frequently intertwined with spaces that are subject to dynamic political, social and environmental influences. Yet, conceptually heritage conservation puts a focus on promoting measures that curb change and this tends to neglect or underestimate user needs. The aim of this chapter is to show through the case study Island of Mozambique that the instrument Limits of Acceptable Change (LAC) can contribute positively to the management of historic heritage sites if it is carefully inserted into institutional planning spheres. The creation and exploration of the possibilities that change offers can help to improve the position of heritage and has the potential to enhance local acceptance of heritage conservation, an important issue in the overall processes of governing urban Africa.
Margarita Gómez Salas de Schetter, Oliver Schetter

Citizen Participation in Urban Governance

Frontmatter
Chapter 13. Stakeholder Contribution to Municipal Planning in Mozambique: An Obvious Response?—The Case of Inhambane
Abstract
The aim of the chapter is to analyse the quality and nature of stakeholder contributions and their relevance for the development of the 2013 Land Use Plan for the Municipality of Inhambane, in Mozambique. It assesses two parallel coordination processes focusing on different orders of infrastructures and participation: one, at the neighbourhood level, concentrating on secondary technical and social infrastructure; and another, at a larger territorial level, focusing on the key infrastructure of the airport. Both processes facilitate an understanding of the larger planning logic and stakeholders’ opportunities for participation, which vary according to individual, collective, or administrative position and commission. By exploring this relation, the chapter contributes to the wider debate on the governing of urban Africa.
Oliver Schetter
Chapter 14. Urban Practices and Planning. A Moroccan Case Study
Abstract
Using the example of the ordinary town of Kasba Tadla, this chapter examines interrelations between urban development and urban practices. Starting with everyday practices and their significance for the constitution of space, the chapter investigates a recent urban development process on communal land. It highlights the importance of cooperation with local groups and points out frictions between urban planning and interests of diverse inhabitants, including groups with local tribal backgrounds and women. The results indicate that further research on urban practices, social organization and potentials of urban quarters, including informal settlements, are a basis for a better understanding of urban practices and for a development of flexible processes of urban growth, an idea that should be carefully considered within the overall processes of governing urban Africa.
Heide Studer
Chapter 15. My Water, My Choice! The Role of Citizens in Ensuring Equitable Access to Water in Soweto East Village—Nairobi
Abstract
The chapter highlights the local governance structure of disenfranchised citizens and their role in self-mobilization to enforce democratic innovations in governing their water resources, an important issue confronting the governing of urban Africa. In the wake of lack of accomplishment of the Millennium Development Goals, these failures manifest themselves in the form of competition for urban services with an increasingly high rate of inequality between planned and unplanned settlements, further depicting a lack of leadership in policy implementation and political goodwill of the governance systems in upholding the sustainability agenda. Ethnographic surveys and interviews were used to acquire information relevant to the study and indicate that citizen empowerment is a panacea to development.
Jacqueline Walubwa
Backmatter
Metadata
Title
Governing Urban Africa
Editor
Carlos Nunes Silva
Copyright Year
2016
Electronic ISBN
978-1-349-95109-3
Print ISBN
978-1-349-95108-6
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95109-3