Urban Planning, Housing and Spatial Structures in Sub-Saharan Africa Nature, Impact and Development Implications of Exogenous Forces

About this book

This volume examines why European colonial powers imposed Western spatial organization on top of indigenous urban structure and how this has affected urban development in the sub-Saharan region. The conclusions indicate that this policy has proven anything but positive and has caused a significant portion of the development problems faced in this region.

Contents

Part 1 Introduction: central questions; some preliminary answers; focus of the book; organization and overview; target audience. Part 2 Urban form and the meaning of development: modernization theory; dependency theory; conceptualizing development; development as economic growth; the evolving meaning of development; development as redistribution; development as basic need fulfillment; auto-centred development; sustainable development; colonial spatial and physical structures; colonialism and colonial urban forms; conclusion. Part 3 Pre-colonial human settlement planning: traditional architecture and spatial development; traditional settlements and the natural environment; indigenous culture and spatial organization; the Mbuti pygmies of Ituri Forest; the bushmen of the Kalahari Desert; the Mettas of Cameroon; Yoruba spatial and residential development; conclusion. Part 4 Colonial urban and spatial planning laws: planning theory and urban spatial development; colonial planning laws and spatial strategies; the purpose of colonial planning laws; conclusion. Part 5 Post-colonial urban planning: planning legislation and the colonial legacy; planning law and process; land use regulation; case studies; European antecedents to post-colonial planning; zoning and health problems; conclusion. Part 6 Received land laws and land use control measures: received land laws and development; the nature and role of the state in Africa; the state, received planning laws and society; land reforms and elite members of society; socio-economic development implications; land reforms and development; major classes of land; conclusion. Part 7 Conventional housing policy: the concept of uncertainty; uncertainty in planning; uncertainty in development projects; conventional housing programmes; government supplied housing; slum and squatter eradication; employer-supplied housing; minimum required standards; uncertainty of quantitative realities; uncertainty in qualitative realities; conclusion. Part 8 Squatter settlements and second-best housing policies: changing perceptions and second-best policies; colonial urban policies and squatter housing; second-best housing policies; history and evolution of second-best policies; the evolution of self-help housing; the role of international forces; discussion and conclusion. Part 9 External forces, transportation and development: colonial transport infrastructure development; colonial spatial organization strategies; international and inter-regional transportation; implications of transfer technology; recommendations and conclusion.

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