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5 - Urban Planning and Sustainable Land Governance in Africa

Dialectics and Dialogues

from Part I - Understanding Sustainable Urban Planning in Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2023

By
Uchendu Eugene Chigbu
Edited by
Patrick Brandful Cobbinah  and
Eric Gaisie
Patrick Brandful Cobbinah
Affiliation:
University of Melbourne
Eric Gaisie
Affiliation:
University of Melbourne
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Summary

A problem in the African urban development system is that the authorities have not always listened to the people. This chapter shows that dialogues between urban-dwelling people can serve as sources of ideas for city authorities and policymakers towards solving land and planning problems. It uses dialectics and dialogic enquiries to evoke the voices of people in African cities through short dialogues that reflect critical questions concerning urban planning and sustainable land governance. These brief dialogues constitute a walk-through of the texts that laid out a diverse set of statements probing the urban prognosis of five cities – Addis Ababa, Cairo, Kinshasa, Lagos and Windhoek – from five regions of Africa. Explicit and implicit scenarios within the dialogues present the inherent challenges in Africa’s urban land situation. The chapter concludes that the reimaging of African cities should be part of a reimagining process in urban planning.

Keywords

land dialecticsland dialoguesland governanceurban developmenturban planning
Type
Chapter
Information
Reimagining Urban Planning in Africa , pp. 70 - 83
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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