African Cities: Alternative Visions of Urban Theory and Practice

The challenge of urban development in Africa is already well-known to readers of Environment and Urbanization through papers we have published that describe its local manifestations in multiple sectors, including land, health, housing, basic services, livelihoods and the environment. This book elaborates on the nature of life in African cities and the ways in which urban realities are unfolding. Myers seeks both to provide a commentary and also suggest ways in which improved access to justice can enhance the lives of African’s urban citizens.
The book offers three distinct representations of urban Africa. The first (broadly, Chapters 2 and 3) is more reflective, reviewing key concepts and considering their validity. The second representation (Chapters 4 and 5) is more pragmatic and grounded in empirical research. The final representation (Chapters 5 and 6) is the imaginary. In using this structure Myers seeks to go beyond previous discussions which, he suggests, have failed to capture the essence of the African city because they have been grounded in empirical research, and in so doing have failed to capture the less tangible experiences of urban living.
The geographical focus is on East Africa and South Africa rather than West Africa, the countries to the north of the Sahel and southern Africa. There is repeated recognition of the difficulties of generalization, and the discussions make reference to the specificity of the experiences considered. Such specificity is used to ground discussions that have considerable scope, arguably beyond Africa, and Myers makes a general case for the importance of literary representation in understanding urban visions evidenced by literature on the northeastern corner of the continent. The discussion about migration draws on experiences in the United States and as such extends beyond the regional boundaries of Africa.
Arguably, what unites Africa is its experience in the processes of colonialization, its location within a capitalist global trading system and some universalities in the global media about how it is represented. Such aspects are explored through local manifestations of the lived urban experience. How these universalities are realized through diverse cultures and the efforts of individual and collective agencies is recognized through individual elaborations that only suggest at systemic patterns. Myers asks “…is there any potential for ‘African’ urban studies to be a part of this alternative visioning of a deeper democracy that might lead to imaginative, relational and just city spaces?” (page 196). And in answering this question he makes a call for a new fusion between the formal and informal and a relational politics that steps beyond dysfunctional practices, at best representational and at worst clientelist, to realize a new participatory democracy. The major focus of the discussion is on the need for this and the different ways in which we can understand the urban challenge.