Introduction: governance and the politics of urbanisation and the urban poor in Africa: the historical context

Abstract

The African continent is the most rapidly urbanising continent in the world. However, the challenges associated with this rapid urban growth are enormous, including growing slums, poverty and inequality, combined with weak government capacity. Thus, African cities are often seen as a threat or a challenge that needs to be managed. Many have argued that slums and bidonvilles should not be considered part of the urban cityscape in Africa. More theoretically, these have been viewed as appendages and parasitic towns that feed major African urban areas. Many have disputed this perspective, arguing that slums and bidonvilles have contributed to better economic outcomes and higher standards of living. It is, therefore, important that the definition of what constitutes an African metropolitan area should take into consideration these important peripheral towns. While it is obvious that African cities face major challenges, it is important to consider slums and bidonvilles as part of African metropolitan cities, principally because these slums and bidonvilles outperform the rest of the countries in which they are located. The gap between the economic indicators of the slums and bidonvilles and the national average figures is much larger than the corresponding gaps in many parts of the world.