It is common knowledge that sub-Saharan Africa is urbanising faster than anywhere else in the world ... but what if we're wrong?! This misconception, based on simplistic projections from very old data, is contradicted by recent censuses, which suggests we need to rethink our understanding of urban poverty across the continent.
Africa is not urbanising as rapidly as we think. What are the implications for the business world, or for the possibilities for local economic development?
While there is a strong relationship between increasing urbanisation and increasing prosperity, it cannot be assumed that inequalities such as gender are reduced at the same time.
Authorities meet in Nairobi this week to set the agenda for UN-HABITAT, but domestic politics makes a lot of that agenda impossible. How can we put domestic politics back on the table?
Vijay Govindarajan's proposal to design a $300 one-room shed to solve the world's housing problems is riddled with stereotypes and prejudices.
Several months after residents of Kibera's 'Soweto East' settlement were decanted into temporary housing, the process of returning them to permanent housing is stalled by legal battles over ownership of the sites.
On the occasion of the World Urban Forum in Rio de Janeiro, Kerwin Datu speaks with Professor Edgar Pieterse, director of the African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape Town, on retheorising the African city, the politics of Africa's mega-regions…
The proportion of Kenyans living in urban settlements seemingly reduced from 34% of the total population in 2001 to 22% in 2010. Was it really possible that such a huge number of people had left Kenyan towns for rural areas in the first decade of the 21st century?
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The Global Urbanist is an online magazine reviewing urban affairs and urban development issues in cities throughout the developed and developing world.
Its readers are drawn from the urban policy and international development sectors, and include urban planners, officers in local, national or international government agencies, civil society leaders, and researchers.
