The African City

The African City
Author: Bill Freund
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2007-03-05
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780521527927

Publisher description

The History of African Cities South of the Sahara

The History of African Cities South of the Sahara
Author: Catherine Coquery-Vidrovitch
Publisher:
Total Pages: 448
Release: 2005
Genre: Africa, Sub-Saharan
ISBN:

Cities have existed in sub-Saharan Africa since antiquity. But only now are historians and archaeologists rediscovering their rich heritage: the ancient ruins of Great Zimbabwe and Congo, the harbor cities at the Indian Ocean, the capitals of the Bantu Kingdoms, the Atlantic cities from the 16th to the 18th centuries, and the urban revolutions in the 19th century. Mercantile cities opened Africa to the world, Islamic cities became centers of scholarship and the trans-Saharan trade, Creole cities appeared after the first contact with Europeans, and Bantu cities of the hinterland reacted against them. The author has gone through vast numbers of archival records and conducted independent field research to analyze and describe the rich history of African cities even long before imperial colonization began, and she continues her story until the time of urban reorganization during industrialization. The result is a colorful panorama of urban lifestyles including unique examples of architecture, and lasting traditions of ethnic, cultural, religious, and commercial forms of co-existence.

Urbanization in Africa

Urbanization in Africa
Author: James D. Tarver
Publisher: Greenwood
Total Pages: 528
Release: 1994-06-20
Genre: Education
ISBN:

The objective of this reference book is to present the different aspects and features of urbanization in Africa, both historical and contemporary. This reference work traces urban developments in Africa from their beginning in ancient Egypt through the medieval and early modern periods and contrasts the relatively stable urbanization patterns of the colonial period with the greatly accelerated urban growth since independence. The reference book is organized into three interelated parts which portray different aspects of urbanization in Africa.

African Urban Spaces in Historical Perspective

African Urban Spaces in Historical Perspective
Author: Steven J. Salm
Publisher: University Rochester Press
Total Pages: 448
Release: 2005
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781580463140

This book presents new and interdisciplinary approaches to the study of African urban history and culture. Moving between precolonial, colonial, and contemporary urban spaces, it covers the major regions, religions, and urban societies of sub-Saharan Africa. African Urban Spaces in Historical Perspective presents new and interdisciplinary approaches to the study of African urban history and culture. It presents original research and integrates historical methodologies with those of anthropology, geography, literature, art, and architecture. Moving between precolonial, colonial, and contemporary urban spaces, it covers the major regions, religions, and cultural influences of sub-Saharan Africa. The themes include Islam and Christianity, architecture, migration, globalization, social and physical decay, identity, race relations, politics, and development. This book elaborates on not only what makes the study of African urban spaces unique within urban historiography, it also offers an-encompassing and up-to-date study of the subject and inserts Africa into the growing debate on urban history and culture throughout the world. The opportunities provided by the urban milieu are endless and each study opens new potential avenues of research. This book explores some of those avenues and lays the groundwork on which new studies can build. Contributors: Maurice NyamangaAmutabi, Catherine Coquery Vidrovitch, Mark Dike DeLancey, Thomas Ngomba Ekali, Omar A. Eno, Doug T. Feremenga, Laurent Fourchard, James Genova, Fatima Muller-Friedman, Godwin R. Murunga, Kefa M. Otiso, Michael Ralph, Jeremy Rich, Eric Ross, Corinne Sandwith, Wessel Visser. Toyin Falola is the Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities and University Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Texas at Austin; Steven J.Salm is Assistant Professor of History, Xavier University of Louisiana.

Africa's Urban Past

Africa's Urban Past
Author: David Anderson
Publisher: James Currey Publishers
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2000
Genre: Literary Collections
ISBN: 0852557612

A selection of papers first delivered at the conference on Africa's Urban Past, held at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 1996.

Globalization and Urbanization in Africa

Globalization and Urbanization in Africa
Author: Toyin Falola
Publisher: Africa World Press
Total Pages: 310
Release: 2004
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781592211937

In this book scholars present new interpretations of African cities, from the pre-colonial to the modern, set in the context of national and international economy, politics and culture. While providing insights into the evolution of African cities, they also raise issues of vital importance to the survival of African cities. The chapters capture the mixed legacies of colonialism and the lingering consequences of neo-colonialism in a so-called age of globalisation.

Living the City in Africa

Living the City in Africa
Author: Brigit Obrist
Publisher: LIT Verlag Münster
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2013
Genre: History
ISBN: 3643801521

Research on cities worldwide still takes its cue from cities in Europe and the US, which are seen as the standard model. However, cities in the global South are undergoing a much more rapid transformation, including multiple interlinked transitions, with Africa featuring the highest urbanization rates world-wide. Scholars therefore call for a new approach to urban studies which examines cities from a more global comparative perspective. This book discusses the new approach, which pays added attention to the role that societal creativity plays in processes of urbanization, instead of concentrating exclusively on expert-driven planning and intervention. Especially in fast-growing cities with weaker institutional capacity for interventions, the interplay between intervention and invention, between expert and societal agency, becomes more tangible and all the more significant. (Series: Swiss African Studies / Schweizerische Afrikastudien / Etudes africaines suisses - Vol. 10)

Reflections on African Cities in Transition

Reflections on African Cities in Transition
Author: Purshottama Sivanarain Reddy
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 330
Release: 2020-09-15
Genre: Law
ISBN: 3030461157

This volume describes African cities in transition, and the economic, socio-political, and environmental challenges resulting from rapid post-colonial urbanization. As the African continent continues to transition from urban configurations inherited from colonial influences and history, it faces issues such as urban slum expansion, increased demands for energy and clean water, lack of adequate public transportation, high levels of inequality among different socio-economic population strata, and inadequate urban governance, planning, and policies. African cities in transition need to reconsider current policies and developmental trajectories to facilitate and sustain economic growth and Africa’s strategic repositioning in the world. Written by an international team of scholars and practitioners, this volume uses case studies to focus on key issues and developmental challenges in selected African cities. Topics include but are not limited to, smart cities, changing notions of democracy, the city’s role in attaining the SDGs, local governance, alternative models for governance and management, corruption, urbanisation and future cities.

Colonial Architecture and Urbanism in Africa

Colonial Architecture and Urbanism in Africa
Author: Fassil Demissie
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
Total Pages: 460
Release: 2012
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9780754675129

Colonial architecture and urbanism carved its way through space: ordering and classifying the built environment, while projecting the authority of European powers across Africa in the name of science and progress. The built urban fabric left by colonial powers attests to its lingering impacts in shaping the present and the future trajectory of postcolonial cities in Africa. Colonial Architecture and Urbanism explores the intersection between architecture and urbanism as discursive cultural projects in Africa. Like other colonial institutions such as the courts, police, prisons, and schools, that were crucial in establishing and maintaining political domination, colonial architecture and urbanism played s pivotal role in shaping the spatial and social structures of African cities during the 19th and 20th centuries. Indeed, it is the cultural destination of colonial architecture and urbanism and the connection between them and colonialism that the volume seeks to critically address. The contributions drawn from different interdisciplinary fields map the historical processes of colonial architecture and urbanism and bring into sharp focus the dynamic conditions in which colonial states, officials, architects, planners, medical doctors and missionaries mutually constructed a hierarchical and exclusionary built environment that served the wider colonial project in Africa.