Lecture 8 Flashcards
How urbanized is sub saharan Africa?
• One of the least urbanized (37% urban dwellers)
Are there high growth rates in SSA?
Very high rates of growth especially in East Africa.
○ Growth rate hasn’t been able to keep upwith infrastructure rate so there arent many places for services
What has happened to SSA in terms of globalization?
Huge inequalities (economic globalization left it behind) ○ SSA cities left behind in globalization with an exploited relationship with other nations
What is the historical view of SSA?
- Nile valley region (one of first urban hearths)
* SSA cities started growing in the lateer phases 1000AD and later
What are the different historical periods of SSA?
• Ancient or medieval precolonial period (pre-1800)
• Period of the trans-Atlantic slave trade or European trade and exploration (1440 to 1850)
○ Almost all coutnried in afirca become ruled by another power
- Period of formal colonial rule (1850-independence)
- Postcolonial period (~1960+)
Who was said to be the richest man in SSA?
Mansa musa led a huge empire (muslim imfluencing empire), visited mecca to do the pilgramage and took a lot of people and slaves as he went and gave out gold to cities along the way
○ Actually casues economic depressions in places where he went
Where are the important centres in SSA?
- Important center Timbuktu (Mali) and Benin city (Nigeria)
- Central africa and east/south east african cities had vast empires and really well connected to other parts of the world
Where was the city of stone?
Great Zimbabwe
City of stone in medvile times
What was colonization in SSA based on?
Urbanization based on resource exploitation
Where were the first trading posts in SSA during colonization?
First trading posts on the coast
• E.g. St Louis est. in 1440 at mouth of Senegal River by the Portuguese
• Dutch, French, British (different waves of empires)
• Trading: gold, ivory and slaves (biggest products 40 million people shipped)
What is the European scramble?
European Scramble for Africa (1880-1914) continent was divided up between European powers (British, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Belgian, Spanish)
What 2 countries were not under European rule?
Liberia and ethiopia
What did segregation look like in SSA?
- Severe limits placed on residency in urban areas for Africans
- Little or no provision of urban services to African areas even when investing heavily in European areas of the city
- Locals would have to live outside of the city, sometimes very far away because europeans didn’t want to be near them
- Legacy is imprinted into these cities
- Segregation by race turned into segregation by class now in these cities
What was urbanization under colonialism in SSA?
- First wave cities were Mostly port cities but some like Nairobi, Kampala, Salisbury (Harare) were inland cities
- Later on they built cities further in land
- Focus on export of minerals, metals, and primary goods
- Little real industrialization occurred
What as SSA like post colonial urbanization?
Eastern and southern African countries had highest urbanization rates in world (>5% from 1950 to 1995, currently between 3% and 5%
Some BUT no substantial economic transformation of society toward industry and manufacturing
• Means they havent vbeen able to keep up with infrasturcture and provision of services, they just cant keep up
What are the different types of cities in SSA?
- Indigenous city
- Islamic City
- European City
- Colonial City
- Dual city
- Hybrid
What are the current trends in urbanization in SSA?
Two world cities: Johannesburg & Cape Town (well integratded into global system)
Lagos is largest city (which country is it located in?) has highest population?
Lots of primate cities (except for South Africa)
○ Development of primate at expense of other cities
○ Administration, transport, communications, educations, industrial functions concentrated here
Some planned cities (e.g. Dodoma, Lilongwe)
What are common features in SSA cities?
- Dual cities
- Traffic congestion
- Markets
- Informal economy- really big here
- Infrastructure gap
Urban agriculture
What are dual cities?
• Wealth disparities between the 2 sides
• Satrted with colonist, now dominated by local elite
• Have part: people and places that are much better integrated into the world economy
○ Other sidee there is a clear difference, people no having a lot of money, not stable environmnt, little services. Resiliance and creatice individuals
○ Shanty towns
• Aka Splintering urbanism
• Kibera one of the biggest slums in SSA, in nairobi
What is traffic like in SSA?
Huge traffic congestion
○ is a big reason
Limited (public) transport systems
○ E.g. Dar es Salaam bus rapid transit
What is organized chaos?
Public transport following the “organized chaos” principle
• Can still get places but it will take you forever
What is at the centre of urban life?
Markets are what define a city
Open air market most common type, fairly informal or can be informal
Are SSA cities benefiting from their raw resources?
Even though Ghana has fossil fuels to extract, th elocals don’t have easy accesss or have to wait a long time to get it
What is the informal economy like in SSA?
Small-scale, low-technology manufacturing, petty trading, informal service provision
○ Only place where they can make some kind of living
Result of multiple factors: structural adjustment programs, colonialism
Most formal sector works supplement income with part-time informal-sector jobs such as cab driving or petty trading
Highly gendered division of labour
○ More females in informal sector than males
What is the infrastructure gap in SSA cities?
Failing infrastructure and basic urban services
○ Lack of solid waste disposal
○ Lack of decent sanitation and clean water access
○ Lack of decent and affordable housing
○ People are left to their own devices to look after themselves
Increasing inequalities (with increase liberalization, privatization) -Those who can afford the services will enjoy them but most can not participate
Are cities affected by floods?
Drought (water shortages)
Flood risks (severe flooding in Dar es Salaam) ○ Both poor and well off parts of time are affected by both of these ○ Probably both will become more accute with climate change
How is SSA supposed to solve their infrastructure problem?
All the solutions will be dependent on behavioural change, also depends on education on garbage and water conservation
What is a new trend for those living in SSA cities?
Gated communities
• Consumes a lot of gas, might help out housing situation of well to do people but not those who cant afford it
What are SSA cities leaders in?
Urban agriculture
How is urban ag incorporated into SSA?
• Revise African models to include urban cultivation
• Houses no longer mono-functional units (they are also economic enterprises)
○ Multiple types of activies are happening, growin crops raising animals etc
• Public –sector efficiency takes a dive when they are involved with multiple informal jobs
What is the problem with urban ag?
Pollutants in disposed waste enter into fruits and vegetables
○ Roma-Ngombe – urban women gardeners utilize a “rich” section of sewage-infested wetland for growing tomatoes, vegetables and sugar can
What is migration like in SSA?
• Urban-out migration
• Zambia – redistributed land and people left the cities.
○ Land given to people so they con move outside of the city
• Re-localization – cities divide into small village-like self-sufficient pockets [many times cut off from each other]
What are ecovillages?
Ecovillages: Have access to land water and to earn living
What are characteristics of Lagos?
Megacity
• SSA’s most populous city: 13 million
• History:
○ Established in 17th century (fishing, farming villages)
○ Slave trade 1786-1851
• Current problems rooted in rapid growth
○ Lots of people going to lago and city officials cant keep up for the demand in services
What are the problems facing Lagos?
- Congested traffic
- Inadequate sanitation (solid-waste management, toxic-waste disposal, environmental health, air and water pollution
- Housing
- Social services
- Urban decay
- Insufficient employment opportunities (depresses urban wages)
- Huge disparity (two contradictory modes of living: Western style, traditional)
What % of people lives in Lago’s slums?
64%
what is the city of gold?
Johannesburg
• City was built around gold mines
What are the characteristics of Johannesburg?
- Conurbation of Joberg, Ekurhuleni, Tshwane, Vereeniging
- 11.6 million
- World city
- Largest stock exchange, busiest airport, diverse manufacturing sector, dark history
How did europeans and locals live together in cities?
• Severe separation and segregation
• No natives could live within 112 km of city
○ Workers who provided labour were housed in townships next to th e city
• Internal passport system
• Production wealth appropriated by European minority
○ Even though majority labour provided by african, all wealth went to europeans
Who is the apartheid?
○ Whites had own part of city and services and local/blacks had separate everything woth worse standards
