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This book explains how and why cities on the African continent have grown at such a rapid pace, how municipal authorities have tried to cope with this massive influx of people, and how long-time urban residents and newcomers interact, negotiate, and struggle over access to limited resources.

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Introduction: Situating Contemporary Cities in Africa; G.Myers & M.Murray PART I:Culture, Imagination, Place, and Space Douala/Johannesburg/New York: Cityscapes Imagined; D.Malaquais Internal Migration and the Escalation of Ethnic and Religious Violence in Urban Nigeria; D.J.Smith Re(figuring) the City: The Mapping of Places and People in Contemporary Kenyan Popular Song Texts; J.Nyairo Photographic Essay: Johannesburg Fortified; M.J.Murray & J.Malan (photography) Douala: Inventing Life in an African Necropolis; B.Ndjio PART II: Political Economy, Work, and Livelihoods Economic Globalization from Below: Transnational Refugee Trade Networks in Nairobi; E.Campbell Changing African Cityscapes: Regional Claims of African Labor at South African-owned Shopping Malls; D.Miller Cars Are Killing Luanda: Cronyism, Consumerism, and Other Assaults on Angola´s Post-War Captial City. M.A.Pitcher (with A.Graham) Photographic Essay II:Luanda, Angola; A.Graham Human Capital, Embedded Resources and Employment for Youth in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe; M.Grant Gender Relations, Bread Winning and Family Life in Kinshasa; G.Iyenda & D.Simon PART III: Urban Planning, Administration and Governance South African Urbanism: Between the Modern and the Refugee Camp; A.Simone Planning, Anti-Planning and the Infrastructure Crisis Facing Metropolitan Lagos; M.Gandy City Life in Zimbabwe at a Time of Fear and Loathing: Urban Planning, Urban Poverty, and Operation Murambatsvina; D.Potts Social Control and Social Welfare under Neoliberalism in South African Cities: Contradictions in Free Basic Water Services; G.Ruiters

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"Readers of African Affairs who are seeking insights into what is now happening in a range of African cities, from Lagos to Luanda, will find plenty here...there is much of great interest and great value in this book." - Anthony O´Connor, African Affairs"Cities in Contemporary Africa is a refreshing collection, putting African cities at the center of urban thinking. It intelligently sets agendas for studying and acting in the diverse urban settings of the continent and beyond. Scholars and practitioners interested in cities everywhere will find themselves stimulated to deepen their understandings of their own cities with this exploration of cities in Africa. The continent s cities are sites for diverse, complex and inventive forms of urban living, often in situations of economic and political crisis. The authors are clear that this doesn´t mean these cities are foreshadowing the future of the rest of the world; but they insist that learning from the experiences of African cities is crucial both to address these challenges, and to understand urbanism in the twenty-first century." - Jennifer D. Robinson, Professor of Urban Geography, The Open University, and author of Ordinary Cities: Between Modernity and Development

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