Considering complexities in unique African planning approaches: abstracting the role of African urban residents
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Date
2017Author
Cornelius, Selna
Viviers, Jako
Cilliers, Juanee
Niesing, Christi
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Show full item recordAbstract
Africa is currently the fastest urbanising region in the world and has subsequently become the centre of
continuously growing attention from planning practitioners and academics. Many of these scholars
argue for a unique African planning approach in light of the failure of the African urban landscape to
emulate Western models of urbanisation. However, whilst practitioners and academics are deliberating
concepts like decolonisation and African urbanism, African urban residents have been labouring nonstop
to create sustainable living environments and meaningful lives for themselves. This paper aims to
showcase how these residents have proven themselves to be active agents in constructing sustainable
human settlements rather than simply being passive victims of relentless structural processes beyond
their control. It argues the failure of unique African planning approaches and decolonisation attempts
to recognise and more importantly, incorporate the solutions provided by the said African residents,
because of the inherent Western ideals and ways of thinking guiding global planning approaches.
The paper employs theory-based sampling as part of a qualitative inquiry into African urbanism,
decolonisation and sustainable human settlement development, before turning to case studies in South
Africa and Zambia to consider the complexities within these concepts and support the line of argument.
The subsequent discussion begs the question of the role and interference required from planning
practitioners and academics within the rapidly changing African urban landscape. It also explores the
causative position of African residents in creating sustainable human settlements, highlighting
the instances where they have created unique solutions to planning problems and have shaped the urban
landscape to suit their own needs and circumstances, challenging Western rationalities underpinning
African planning approaches. The paper concludes that abstracting the role of African urban residents
in creating a unique African planning approach, may hold potential to create more sustainable and just
human settlements in Africa
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10394/26192https://doi.org/0.2495/SC170361
https://www.witpress.com/elibrary/wit-transactions-on-ecology-and-the-environment/223/36429