The skyline of Kampala, Uganda, in 2015. The African continent is currently urbanising at the fastest pace in the world. It is estimated that by 2040 the majority of Africans will live in cities.
© picture alliance / Yannick Tylle | Yannick Tylle
doi:10.18449/2022MTA-WP03
The working paper finds that urbanisation does not automatically lead to democratisation, but structures the way citizens relate to the state. While urban density facilitates collective accountability demands, the link between urbanisation and individual accountability relationships with the state is less straightforward. The reviewed evidence suggests that the force to reckon with is not the middle class, but rather the poor masses. It is not enough for governments to cater to the elites anymore, as the share of the urban poor becomes too large to ignore.
The skyline of Kampala, Uganda, in 2015. The African continent is currently urbanising at the fastest pace in the world. It is estimated that by 2040 the majority of Africans will live in cities.
© picture alliance / Yannick Tylle | Yannick Tylle
African cities are growing fast. A highly controversial solution is the construction of so-called “new cities”. Based on a study of the new Urban Hub of Diamniadio (UHD) in Senegal, this paper unpacks and challenges the idea of new cities as a horizontal, one-size-fits-all solution. The paper argues that the UHD represents an inherently political policy tool, used to reassert central state power over strategic territories. As a political flagship project of President Macky Sall, the UHD is a top-down approach that excludes decentralised bodies and citizens from urban policy making.
doi:10.18449/2022MTA-PB06
Urbanisation offers great potential for Africa’s economic and social development but the rapid transformation is also putting a strain on Africa’s cities. Citizens have long demanded participation in urban governance that goes beyond elections. Although participatory processes have become increasingly evident, they are still far from being institutionalised at scale. This policy brief argues that participatory processes need to be thoroughly embedded in politics in order to move beyond particularistic gains towards a structural improvement of relations between citizens, CSOs, and local governments.
doi:10.18449/2022MTA-PB05
