16. Lilongwe Metropolitan Area

This chapter traces the origin and brief history of Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi in southern Africa. Its primacy in the urban landscape of the country is assessed by examining the urban land use/cover change patterns and the driving forces that are influencing its rapid urbanization. Lilongwe started off as a dusty colonial town which became an administrative center by 1904. Its growth had been slow until it became the capital in 1975 when built-up area grew sevenfold from 5.08 km² in 1990 to 34.73 km² in 2013. Furthermore, it is projected that its built-up area would have increased from 34.73 km² in 2013 to 41.24 km² by 2020 and 53.08 km² by 2030, respectively. Much of this growth is due to rural–urban migration, natural increase, and reclassification of settlements apart from being physically central, making it easily accessible. However, a significant portion (16–21%) of this growth has been occurring in informal settlements. As such, the urbanization of Lilongwe has been, to a large extent, unsustainable as the proportion of the urban poor is relatively high not just in monetary terms but also along the lines of access to basic urban services. All is not lost, however, for the primate city as the growth of informal settlements continues to decrease over the years. While this improvement is observed despite having several loopholes in the legal framework to support proper urban planning, it is only hoped that the strategic plans outlined for the city get implemented.