101
Week Eleven Notes: Urbanization
______________________________________
Reading Notes
Reading 1: Demography Urbanization and Inequality
SOURCE: T.J. Moss and D. Resnick, ch. 11 “Demography Urbanization and Inequality” in African
Development: Making Sense of Issues and Actors, Rienner (2017) pp. 207-221.
SUMMARY: from 14 pages to 5
Introduction
● ln the 1968s, when independence was beginning to sweep across the continent, Africa's
population was equivalent to only one third of Europe's
● By 2030, this pattern will be completely reversed, with Africa having more than double Europe's
population.
● Demographic trends in recent decades are indeed transforming Africa, creating a sense of
dynamism and opportunity while also raising questions about how to accommodate, employ, and
govern so many people.
● Especially in urban areas → pressure on already weak services and infrastructure.
● Provides evidence o f inequality → slums next to shopping malls and high end housing
communities.
● Much of this population growth has been disproportionately concentrated among younger
generations, which has prompted a flurry of initiatives around African youth.
Urbanization Rates and Levels
● Urbanization refers to an increase in the share of a country's population who are living in areas
classified as urban.
● The urbanization level captures the share of the population living in urban areas while the
urbanization rate is the speed at which the national population in urban areas is increasing.
● There can be low urban growth rates in areas with high levels of urbanization.
○ There can be a slow rate of people living in urban areas while a large portion of them are
living there. …
● Typically, urbanization requires rural-to-urban migration in order for the rural rate of population
growth to decline vis-a-vis the urban rate.
○ Long been the major driver of Africa's urbanization.
● This urbanization has been stimulated more by economic decline in rural areas that is “pushing”
people out rather than by economic growth that is “pulling” people into cities and towns.
● Natural population growth in urban centers is also driving urbanization as mortality rates fall
but birth rates remain relatively constant.
● General trends:
○ Approximately 60 percent of Africa's population lives within three hours or less of a
major urban center.
○ Dominated by one large city, usually the capital, increasingly secondary cities/towns
● Subregional differences
○ Since it has the lowest urbanization levels, eastern Africa is expected to experience urban
growth rates of approximately 4 percent per year over the next decade.
○ Southern Africa, by contrast, is already highly urbanized and its growth rates are closer to
the global average of about 1.8 percent a year.
○ The definition of urban vastly varies in the region.
■ Botswana: Agglomeration of 5,000 or more inhabitants where 75 percent of the
, 102
economic activity is non-agricultural.
■ Ethiopia: Localities of 2,000 or more inhabitants
■ Rwanda: All administrative areas recognized as urban by law. These are all
administrative centers of provinces, and the cities of Kigali, Nyanza, Ruhango,
and Rwamagana.
Key Definitions
● Megacity: Minimum population of 10 million people.
● Primate city: Contains at least twice the population of the: country's second largest city.
● Secondary city: Contains a population of at least 100,000 people and does not encompass the
country's largest city.
● Urban agglomeration: Population within contiguous territory inhabited at urban density levels
without regard to administrative boundaries, including suburban areas adjacent to city
boundaries.
● Metropolitan area: Includes contiguous territory inhabited at urban levels of residential density
and surrounding areas of lower settlement density that are also under the direct influence of the
city.
Service Delivery and Housing
● The demographic pressures have led to significant and often negative impacts on housing and
service delivery.
● Few African countries have urban development strategies or city master plans, and many of the
region's capital cities still rely on colonial-era planning legislation drafted when population
pressures were minimal and racial segregation was pronounced.
○ For instance, the capital of Zambia, Lusaka, was originally built for only 125,000 people,
but it currently houses almost 2 million people.
● Today, this has resulted in antiquated zoning and building laws that now guide haphazard
property development and partially account for the approximately 60 percent of Africa's urbanites
living in slums.
● Although progress has improved in some places, many poor urban residents across the region
remain without reliable sources of electricity, sanitation, or clean water.
○ A common problem in many of the region's low-income, informal settlements is cholera,
with outbreaks occurring around the rainy season when shallow drains and pit latrines
overflow and contaminate water sources.
● Since many slums, such as Kibera slum in Kenya, are deemed technically illegal because they are
located on government-owned land, residents are often not entitled to public services.
○ Absentee landlords (who are often politicians or their families) may sell services to their
poor tenants at inflated prices.
● Due to insufficient job creation in the manufacturing and industrial sectors, a large share of
urbanites work in the low-productivity, insecure, informal economy, engaged in petty trade and
small-scale services like hairdressing, tailoring, and bike repairs.
Urban Governance
● As many African countries have proceeded with some type of decentralization, urban
development is overseen by both a plethora of national ministries (planning, housing,
infrastructure) as well as local governments, including mayors and municipal councils.
○ Lack of clarity in terms of who is incharge of specific issues if water sewage / street
lighting for instance
○ Makes cooperation difficult
● Municipal finance is another constraint. Cities often rely on transfers from the national
, 103
government, as well as raising their own revenue from utility fees on water and electricity.
● Property taxes represent a huge source of untapped revenue for municipal governments, but
outdated survey maps and informal housing and construction can often thwart collection.
● African cities have long been major sites of contestation and change.
○ One of the most notable trends in African politics since democratization is that, in most
countries, opposition parties tend to fare best and to derive a majority of their support
from cities.
○ This has resulted in many more mayors from opposition parties governing cities, as a
result, sometimes national governments reduce fiscal transfers to opposition-controlled
areas, undermine their functional authority, or even resort to removing elected mayors
altogether.
■ Museveni of Uganda used that tactic in Kampala in 2010, by reducing the
opposition mayor's role to a ceremonial role and appointing an executive director
to manage the city.
Megaprojects to Create a “Modern” City
● Some governments are investing more in creating new satellite cities rather than improving the
conditions of the ones that already exist.
● Influenced by cities in East Asia and the Middle East → embrace a vision of high-rise planning
centered around green spaces, with access to high-speed transport, fast internet, and luxury
amenities.
○ These initiatives are aimed at creating modern cosmopolitan African centers of
technology, culture, and commerce.
○ However, they also raise a number of concerns:
1. People are often living on the land where property developers want to create
these new communities leading to forced evictions
2. Few Africans will be able to afford to live in such areas, exacerbating inequalities
between the rich and poor. If the wealth and middle class retreat into special areas
of private infrastructure it also undermines the financial viability of larger public
infrastructure investments in the rest of the country
■ EXAMPLE: Chinese-built New city of Kilamba ~20 km from Luanda, Angola,
meant to house half a million Angolans, rest at $600 (out of reach for much of the
pop living on less that $2 a day), and the units were filled with those with good
jobs or connections to the ruling party
Inequality
● Urbanization occurs at two speeds: a minority benefiting from growth and either consolidating
their affluence; becoming part of the middle class while a majority simply survive on meager
incomes and adapt to dismal situations.
● There are a number of measures for gauging inequality and can be based on either the distribution
of income or consumption/expenditure.
○ GINI coefficient: ranges from 0-1 with zero being perfect equality and one being perfect
inequality.
○ GINI coefficients in Africa are higher within urban areas than for the country overall
○ Africa has amongst the highest inequality
○ Research suggests that half of the twenty most unequal countries in the world are located
in Africa, with South Africa, Namibia, and Botswana at the top of the list.
○ A few reasons have been offered for this:
1. Economic growth has not resulted in significant structural transformation.
2. This inequality is linked to the concentration of human and physical capital as well as
