Cities in contemporary Africa / edited by Martin J. Murray and Garth A. Myers. - xiv, 318 p.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction : situating contemporary cities in Africa / Douala/Johannesburg/New York : cityscapes imagined / Internal migration and the escalation of ethnic and religious violence in urban Nigeria / (Re)configuring the city : the mapping of places and people in contemporary Kenyan popular song texts / Johannesburg Fortified / Douala : inventing life in an African necropolis / Economic globalization from below : transnational refugee trade networks in Nairobi / Changing African cityscapes : regional claims of African labor at South African-owned shopping malls / Cars are killing Luanda : cronyism, consumerism, and other assaults on Angola's postwar, capital city / Luanda, Angola / Human capital, embedded resources, and employment for youth in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe / Gender relations, bread winning, and family life in Kinshasa / South African urbanism : between the modern and the refugee camp / Planning, anti-planning, and the infrastructure crisis facing metropolitan Lagos / City life in Zimbabwe at a time of fear and loathing : urban planning, urban poverty, and operation Murambatsvina / Social control and social welfare under neoliberalism in South African cities : contradictions in free basic water services / Garth A. Myers and Martin J. Murray -- Dominique Malaquais -- Daniel Jordan Smith -- Joyce Nyairo -- Martin J. Murray and Juanita Malan -- Basile Ndjio -- Elizabeth H. Campbell -- Darlene Miller -- M. Anne Pitcher and Aubrey Graham -- Aubrey Graham and M. Anne Pitcher -- Miriam Grant -- Guillaume Iyenda and David Simon -- AbdouMaliq Simone -- Matthew Gandy -- Deborah Potts -- Greg Ruiters. 1. 2. 3. Photographic Essay 1. 4. 5. 6. 7. Photographic Essay 2. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13.

"This book offers a broad range of scholarly interpretations of the evolving forms, the changing dynamics, and the unexpected surprises that characterize contemporary African cities. It wrestles with important questions concerning how large numbers of people without regular work nevertheless find ways to survive and even prosper. It balances investigations of particular cities in sub-Saharan Africa with considerations of a diversity of topics, themes, and multi-city comparisons, including themes in: culture, imagination, place, and space; political economy and work livelihoods; and urban planning and governance. The collection is both theoretically informed and empirically grounded. Aimed at mid-level undergraduate students, these essays, taken as a whole, provide an understanding of what is happening in African cities today, and why."--BOOK JACKET.

1403970351 (alk. paper)

2006045227


Cities and towns--Africa
City and town life--Africa
Urban policy--Africa
City planning--Africa
Urbanization--Africa


Africa--Social conditions--1960-
Africa--Economic conditions--1960-
Africa--Geography.
Africa--History, Local

HT148.A2 / C55 2006

307.76096