urban population

Africa’s cities are growing and changing rapidly. Without appropriate planning, they will become increasingly chaotic, inefficient and unsustainable. In many countries, planning legislation dates back to the colonial era.

Launch of “Whatever happened to Africa’s rapid urbanisation?” with a presentation by author Dr. Deborah Potts and response from Dr David Cowan of Citibank.  Discussion chaired by Edward Paice. It is widely believed that urbanisation is occurring faster in...

Speakers: Dr Deborah Potts (Kings College London), David Cowan (Citibank)

It is widely believed that urbanisation is occurring faster in sub-Saharan Africa than anywhere else in the world, as migrants move from rural to urban settlements. This is a fallacy. While the populations of numerous urban areas are growing rapidly, the urbanisation levels of...

Rapid urbanisation is being portrayed – by the UN, the World Bank and many others – as a potential developmental “silver bullet” for Africa. Edward Paice argues these claims are too simplistic and overly-optimistic.