The urban question in Africa : uneven geographies of transition

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"Since 2007, most of the world's population has lived in urban settings for the first time in human history. Africa is the last (inhabited) predominantly rural continent, but its most rapidly urban...

"Since 2007, most of the world's population has lived in urban settings for the first time in human history. Africa is the last (inhabited) predominantly rural continent, but its most rapidly urbanising one. It is undergoing an "urban revolution" (Parnell and Pieterse, 2014) unlike that seen anywhere else in the world for reasons that will be elaborated later. What this means for development outcomes and pathways is one of the most pressing questions facing the region. Africa's urbanisation rate is rising steadily, and this will continue in coming decades (see Figure I.1). The geographical distribution of urban agglomerations is widespread, and some estimates suggest more than 50 cities on the continent have populations greater than one million people (see Figure I.2). Lagos and Kinshasa alone are thought to hold approximately 14 million people each (United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2018), although some estimates put the formers' population at over 20 million. Many cities in the region have populations which have grown rapidly in recent decades. For example, Kinshasa added 8.2 million people between 2000 and 2020; Lagos added 354,000 per annum, and a few even tripled their population numbers since 2000 (e.g., Luanda and Dar es Salaam). However, some of the fastest growth rates of all (7.3% per year 2015-2020) are registered for smaller urban settlements such as Gwagwalda (Nigeria), Kabinda (Democratic Republic of Congo [DRC]) and Mbouda (Cameroon) (Satterthwaite, 2021). Some observers posit that thirteen of the world's twenty largest cities will be in Africa by the end of this century, with Lagos potentially being the first city with more than 100 million people (Hoornweg and Pope, 2017) . As Figure 2 demonstrates, urban growth will be highly significant throughout the region and not only in mega, primate, or large cities but in secondary agglomerations as well. By 2050 it is estimated that 70% of all Africans will be urbanites (Paller, 2019)"--Provided by publisher.

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