Routledge Handbook of Urban Planning in Africa

389 Pages·2019·6.768 MB·English

by  Carlos Nunes Silva

Routledge Handbook of Urban
Planning in Africa
This handbook contributes with new evidence and new insights to the on-going debate on the
de-colonization of knowledge on urban planning in Africa.
African cities grew rapidly since the mid-20th century, in part due to rising rural migra-
tion and rapid internal demographic growth that followed the independence in most African
countries. This rapid urbanization is commonly seen as a primary cause of the current urban
management challenges with which African cities are confronted. This importance given to
rapid urbanization prevented the due consideration of other dimensions of the current urban
problems, challenges, and changes in African cities. The contributions to this handbook explore
these other dimensions, looking in particular to the nature and capacity of local self-government
and to the role of urban governance and urban planning in the poor urban conditions found in
most African cities. It deals with current and contemporary urban challenges and urban policy
responses, but also offers an historical overview of local governance and urban policies during
the colonial period in the late 19th and 20th centuries, offering ample evidence of common
features, and divergent features as well, on a number of facets, from intra-urban racial segregation
solutions to the relationships between the colonial power and the natives, to the assimilation
policy, as practised by the French and Portuguese and the Indirect Rule put in place by Britain
in some or in part of its colonies.
Using innovative approaches to the challenges confronting the governance of African cities,
this handbook is an essential read for students and scholars of Urban Africa, urban planning in
Africa, and African Development.
Carlos Nunes Silva, Geographer, PhD, is Professor Auxiliar at the Institute of Geography
and Spatial Planning, University of Lisbon, Portugal. He is the Chair of the IGU Commission
on Geography of Governance and the founding editor-in-chief of the International Journal of
E-Planning Research.

Routledge Handbook of
Urban Planning in Africa
Edited by Carlos Nunes Silva
First published 2020
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2020 selection and editorial matter, Carlos Nunes Silva; individual
chapters, the contributors
The right of Carlos Nunes Silva to be identified as the author of the
editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been
asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-1-138-57543-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-351-27184-4 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India
Contents
Figures viii
Tables xi
Contributors xii
1 Ancient, colonial, and post-colonial urban planning in Africa: An introduction 1
Carlos Nunes Silva
PART I
Colonial urban planning and pre-colonial urban heritage in Africa 13
2 The birth of a town: Indigenous planning and colonial intervention in
Bolgatanga, Northern Territories of the Gold Coast 15
Domenico Cristofaro
3 History of the urban planning of the city of Zinder in the Niger Republic 30
Abdou Kailou Djibo
4 Mise en valeur and repopulation in colonial rural development in French
Morocco 44
Michele Tenzon
5 Infrastructure and urban planning: The port and city of Algiers under
French colonial rule, 19th–20th century 61
Souha Salhi
6 Living in Lourenço Marques in the early 20th century: Urban planning,
development, and well-being 76
Ana Cristina Roque
7 Colonizing and infrastructuring the Angolan territory through colonial
settlements: The case of the Cela settlement 90
Filipa Fiúza and Ana Vaz Milheiro
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Contents
8 Diamang’s urban project: Between the Peace of V ersailles and the
Colonial Act 107
Ana Vaz Milheiro and Beatriz Serrazina
PART II
Post-colonial urban planning in Africa 123
9 Local governance and urban planning: Centralization, de-concentration,
and decentralization in Africa 125
Carlos Nunes Silva
10 The resilience, adaptability, and transformation of the South African
planning profession 149
Verna Nel and Martin Lewis
11 Setting standards and competencies for planners 162
Martin Lewis and Verna Nel
12 African design and CIAM expansion after the Charter of Athens 177
Elisa Dainese
13 To survey, control, and design: Doxiadis and Fathy on Africa’s future and
identity (1959–1963) 193
Filippo De Dominicis
14 New towns in Algeria: Planned process to control the accelerated
urbanization, case of Sidi Abdellah and Ali Mendjeli 211
Nadia Chabi and Khalil Bouhadjar
15 Emergent urbanism in Angola and Mozambique: Management of the
unknown 233
Cristina Udelsmann Rodrigues
16 The Africanization of public space in South Africa: A moment
of opportunity 248
Karina Landman
17 Missed the stop? Incremental upgrading or waiting for housing in
Buffalo City 263
Gerhard Kienast
18 Framing power in co-production engagements in Kampala City, Uganda 291
Gilbert Siame and Wilma S. Nchito
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Contents
19 Power-shifts in the organizational landscapes of transport provision: The
introduction of BRT in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam 308
Nadine Appelhans and Sabine Baumgart
20 Informality, urban transport infrastructure, and the lessons of history in
Accra, Ghana 320
Jennifer Hart
21 Moroccan towns: Nourishing urban spaces 341
Heide Studer
22 Planning for less planning: Supporting informal food systems in Nairobi 354
Andrea M. Brown
Index 367
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Figures
2.1 Bolgatanga settlements map 23
2.2 The old colonial road that connected Bolgatanga to Zuarungu 24
2.3 Bolgatanga. Les P.P. Leclerq, Balch et Bracoud devant la maison des Péres 25
3.1 Location of Zinder 32
3.2 Demographic evolution of Zinder city 33
3.3 Spatial evolution of Zinder city 33
3.4 Rest of the wall of Birni Zinder 37
3.5 The city of Zinder in 2017 40
3.6 A decorated house in Birni 41
4.1 The Official Colonisation in the Gharb valley 49
4.2 Irrigation and drainage perimeters in the Gharb valley 52
4.3 Location of the proposed cités ouvrières in the Beht irrigation perimeter 53
4.4 Central place model 55
4.5 Conglomeration of settlements near Temara 56
4.6 The network of settlement proposed by the Service de l’Urbanisme
in the Gharb Valley 57
5.1 Map of the railways of department of Algiers in the early 1900s 63
5.2 Port-city of Algiers in the 1930s 64
5.3 System of artificial concrete blocks designed by the engineer
Victor Poirel, 1838 65
5.4 System of harbour’s refit designed in 1869 66
5.5 Docks designed by the French architect Henri Petit in 1894 66
5.6 The port of Algiers in 1950s 67
5.7 The Rotival plan for Algiers, 1931 71
5.8 The container park of the port of Algiers 72
6.1 Major António Araújo. Projecto de ampliação da cidade de Lourenço
Marques, Moçambique.1887. PT/AHU/CARTI/064/00539 78
7.1 The British Ultimatum of 1890, cartoon by Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro 93
7.2 Salazar’s Lesson: God, Fatherland and Family: The National Indoctrination
Trilogy, design by Martins Barata 95
7.3 Aerial view of Cela (Waku Kungo), 1960s, photo by Luís Possolo 96
7.4 “On the way to the fountain”, 1954, colonists settle in the new villages
of the Cela Colonato: S. Tiago de Adeganha, Freixo and Vimieiro 98
7.5 The Cela Colonato: “The meal” 99
7.6 The Cela Colonato: “Preparing the land” 100
7.7 The Cela Colonato: “Aviary” 101
vviiiiii
Figures
7.8 Houses built by the Israeli cooperation 103
7.9 One of the original houses of Cela 104
8.1 Diamang’s settlement in Lunda allowed occupation of the hinterland 109
8.2 The company’s villages were based along river lines, in a close
relationship with the Belgian Congo 111
8.3 Dundo’s pharmacy in 1927 112
8.4 Dundo and Vila Paiva de Andrada plans (around 1930) 113
8.5 Perspective of “Type of Indigenous Village Diamang” (as a side note:
Voluntários’ villages in Dundo should be built according to this plan) 114
8.6 “Village built for African workers near Luaco mine in 1927” 116
8.7 Soba Baraca’s village, near Camabouco’s mine, winner of the
Best Village Contest in 1957 117
8.8 Diamang’s houses were seen as a “role model”. Houses in Andrada 119
9.1 Analytical framework: The context of local government action 129
9.2 Analytical Framework: Local self-government autonomy 130
10.1 The growth in registration of planners 158
12.1 Volta River project 184
12.2 CIAM-9, Mahieddine Bidonville, Section of the CIAM-Alger grid, 1953 185
12.3 Vertical housing units designed by Candilis and Woods among
the houses of the Carrières Centrales, Casablanca, 1952 187
13.1 Greater Khartoum Masterplan 196
13.2 The African survey of Hassan Fathy 199
13.3 Plan of the Greater Kano (Dynapolis) 202
13.4 Ecumenopolis in West Africa, D-COF 1115, Constantinos A 206
14.1 Spatial structure of the Algerian national territory 215
14.2 Situation of the new town Sidi Abdellah in relation to Algiers 215
14.3 Territorial extent of the new city Sidi Abdellah 216
14.4 Creation conditions of the new city of Ali Mendjeli 224
14.5 Situation of the new town of Ali Mendjeli in relation to
Constantine city 225
14.6 The new town of Ali Mendjeli by Districts 226
14.7 Population’s repartition percentages in the new town Ali Mendjeli 228
14.8 Assets of the new town Ali Mendjeli 228
14.9 New town Ali Mendjeli by Neighbourhood Unit 229
14.10 Execution process of the new city Ali Mendjeli 230
16.1 Polluted stream in Springbok Park 251
16.2 Broken infrastructure and play equipment in the Pienaarspoort Park 251
16.3 People enjoying various activities in Burgers Park 252
16.4 Beautiful landscaping in Jan Cilliers Park 253
16.5 Landscaped common open space in Silver Lakes Estate
with paved walkway, golf course and waterbody 254
16.6 Lilian Ngoyi Square with the new Woman’s Museum in the background 255
16.7 Pedestrianized walkway in Helen Joseph Street with informal traders 256
16.8 Kalafong Fitness Park in Attridgeville 257
17.1 Buffalo City Population Density 266
17.2 Duncan Village: The largest and most dense cluster of informal
settlements in Buffalo City, with approximately 15,000 shacks
close to the city centre 267
ix