Examines issues from why urban life emerged in the first place to how present-day African cities cope in difficult times. Instead of seeing towns and cities as somehow extraneous to the real Africa, it views them as an inherent part of developing Africa, indigenous, colonial, and post-colonial and emphasizes the extent to which the future of African society and African culture will likely be played out mostly in cities. consider cities from the entire continent, not just Sub-Saharan Africa, covering a time scale from before the Pharaohs to the present moment. Index, b/w illus, maps, 214pp, UK. CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS.

How have Africa's large cities provided economic livelihood and shelter to growing populations amidst the continent's protracted economic crisis of the last three decades? African urban areas have not received as much attention as rural studies, yet the continent is steadily urbanizing with profound implications for national economic development and welfare. Based on recent city case studies and longitudinal data collection, this book outlines economic trends and key urban theories. BNS, 416pp, UK. PALGRAVE.

Presents new and interdisciplinary approaches to the study of African urban history and culture. Moving between pre-colonial, colonial, and contemporary urban spaces, it covers the major regions, religions, and cultural influences of sub-Saharan Africa. The themes include Islam and Christianity, architecture, migration, globalization, social and physical decay, identity, race relations, politics, and development. Contributors include: Maurice Nyamanga Amutabi, Catherine Coquery Vidrovitch, Mark Dike Delancey, Thomas Ngomba Ekali, Omar A. Eno, Doug T. Feremenga, Laurent Fourchard, James Genova, Fatima Muller-Friedman, Godwin R. Murunga, Kefa M. Otiso, Michael Ralph, Jeremy Rich, Eric Ross, Corinne Sandwith, Wessel Visser. 440pp, USA. UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER PRESS

Seventeen essays focus on associations that have emerged in many African cities in recent years. In most cases they are a response to mounting poverty, failing infrastructure and services, and more generally, weak and abdicating urban governments. Tables, glossary, refs, index, 324pp, SWEDEN. NORDIC AFRICA INSTITUTE, 9171064656

A study which questions assumptions about urban management and looks at ways in which natural environments can be protected while producing safe living environments. African cases studied are Cairo, South Africa and Mozambique. Index, refs, notes, b/w illus, xix, 299pp, UK. ITDG PUBLISHING, 1853395412

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. Selected contents: 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; Economic Globalization from Below: Transnational Refugee Trade Networks in Nairobi, E. Campbell; Cars Are Killing Luanda: Cronyism, Consumerism, and Other Assaults on Angola's Post-War Capital City, M.A. Pitcher (with A. Graham) Photographic Essay; 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 ; City Life in Zimbabwe at a Time of Fear and Loathing: Urban Planning, Urban Poverty, and Operation Murambatsvina, D. Potts. 318pp, UK. PALGRAVE.

Compares three great cities of the South, Nairobi, Colombo and Rio de Janeiro, to explore how local government interacts with the communities of the cities, and to discover how communication can lead to partnership between low income communities and local governments for new approaches to communication and capacity building. Index, notes, xvi, 192pp, UK. ITDG PUBLISHING.

The importance of public space in supporting city economies and in contributing to poverty reduction is rarely recognized. Instead, public space is more often an arena for contest between municipal governments or other vested interests, and street traders, whose activities are proscribed by restrictive social norms, ambiguous legal status, street violence, or an official response that vacillates between indifference and eviction. Based on a research study in four developing cities, Dar Es Salaam, Kumasi, Maseru and Kathmandu, this book explores the survival strategies of street traders and their relationships with city governments, and examines the practical and policy implications for pro-poor street management. Index, bib, notes, maps, b/w illus, 242pp, UK. ITDG PUBLISHING.

At times of economic and political crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa, urban dwellers display a large degree of creativity in their survival strategies by developing social networks and constructing imaginative and original practices and ideas. This volume views the urban neighbourhood from two different perspectives. The first approach considers the neighbourhood as a geographical domain in which people are engaged in a variety of activities to advance their material and immaterial well-being, making use of their wealth of opportunities, assets and diverse forms of natural, physical, financial, human and social capital. The second angle sees the neighbour-hood as not necessarily geographically located or bounded but as having been created and defined by human beings. These neighbourhoods may take on the form of self-help organizations, associations or churches, or may be based on gender, generational, ethnic or occupational identities. As the contributions from all over Sub-Saharan Africa show, the two ap-proaches do not necessarily exclude each other. 256pp, NETHERLANDS. EJ BRILL.

An exploration of the political, social, economic and environmental viability of new and alternative approaches to urban development in the South. Index, tables, diags, xii, 365pp, UK. OXFAM PUBLICATIONS, 0855984651

Based on in-depth fieldwork in three cities, Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar and Lusaka, this book provides a critical analysis of the United Nations Sustainable Cities Program in Africa (SCP). Focusing on the SCP's policies for solid waste management, which was identified as the top priority problem by the SCP, the book examines the success of these pilot schemes and the SCP's record in building new relationships between people and government. It argues that the SCP has operated in a political vacuum, without recognition of the long and problematic histories and cultural politics of urban environmental governance in Eastern and Southern Africa. 150pp, UK. ASHGATE PUBLISHERS.

An examination of modern energy services for the poor in Africa. Issues discussed include the affordability of energy, the relevance of energy subsidies on public finances and how electricity tariffs affect the operations of small and medium enterprises. BNS, 320pp, UK. ZED BOOKS, 1842775588

While Africa's cities are often perceived as failed, Simone points to dynamic provisional networks producing services. Social ties may be risky for city residents, but using these informal networks and incorporating local knowledge is vital to reinventing urban centres. Case studies examine Pikine (Dakar), Senegal; Winterveld (Pretoria), South Africa; Doula, Cameroon; and Africans job hunting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Index, refs, notes, x, 297pp, USA. DUKE UNIVERSITY PRESS, 0822334453

A discussion of the changing role of urban management in countries rapidly decentralising. Case studies include Ethiopia, Indonesia and Brazil. Index, refs, notes, tables, diags, xiv, 234pp, UK. ITDG PUBLISHING, 1853394971

A critical examination of urban governance in Africa looking in particular at the serious problem and the challenges posed by waste management. The contributors analyse and compare the situations in Abidjan, Dar es Salaam, Ibadan, and Johannesburg. Bib, tables, x, 269pp, CANADA. INTERNAT'L DEVELOPMT RESEARCH CENT.

This book and PC CD-Rom explains how participatory urban planning strategies can help safeguard poor and vulnerable people. Based on a three-year project in Kenya, and aimed at people working in local authorities, it offers guidance on understanding power relations and comparative advantage as a basis for deciding on partners, deciding the type of partnership in relation to project purposes and assessing the advantages and risks associated with participation and partnership. Bib, 64pp, UK. ITDG PUBLISHING.

A collection of essays divided into two parts. Part one considers the changing paradigms of development and environmentalism and how these have impacted on the process of urbanisation and the emerging debates on the sustainability of cities. Part two discusses these issues in the context of ten case studies including Lesotho, Egypt, South Africa and Mexico. Index, refs, notes, maps, charts, tables, 247pp, UK. ITDG PUBLISHING, 1853395439

Explores how to improve the process of effective urban poverty action, and shows how to bridge the gap between practitioners and those making policy decisions. The first part looks at networking and partnerships as a mean to influence policy. The second part consists of eight country based case studies including ones on Kenya and Zambia which discuss how practitioners in both southern and northern NGOs have faced the problem of communication between workers at different levels of a development institution. Index, tables, 217pp, UK. ITDG PUBLISHING.

Illustrated by in-depth examinations of four cities regions, this study makes connections between the impact of governance, and deals with the transformation processes in the develop-ing world. The cities in question are Johannesburg, Sao Paolo, Shanghai, and Mumbai. Index, 434pp, UK. ASHGATE PUBLISHERS.

A study bringing together research on urban land use and housing with research on work and livelihoods. Using case studies, the contributors discuss informal cities, increasing urbanisation in Africa and social inequality. Index, refs, maps, 235pp, SWEDEN. NORDIC AFRICA INSTITUTE, 9171065180

Explores the relative importance to urban residents of race, class and ethnicity but also of work, space and language are compared in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Libreville and Lome. This volume also includes a chapter investigating the emergence of a continental African identity. Index, bib, 248pp, SOUTH AFRICA. AFRICAN MINDS.

Applying Amartya Sen's concept of 'Development as Freedom' to the challenges of urban governance across the globe, this re evaluates existing approaches to urban development by assessing degrees of freedom rather than relying exclusively on measuring poverty. While early models of urbanization focussed on economic valuation, service provision, or city design, here the concern is directed toward the individual citizen's ability to live the life he or she values. Thus, by identifying and then removing 'unfreedoms', global urban strategies ensure the citizen's role as an active agent of change. Foreword by Ms. Anna K. Tibaijuka, Under Secretary General and Executive Director, UN Habitat. Index, bib, notes, xvi, 188pp, UK. ITDG PUBLISHING.

Many African urban dwellers have to find ways of making a living within cities dominated by powerful economic and political interests. This book explores how they negotiate the spatial practices, politico-economic processes and social relations that entangle place, identity and power in urban sites. While historically familiar links between countryside and city remain, these are constantly being reworked to give life to highly diverse urban formations. Meanwhile, African cities are being further fashioned through the geographically uneven dynamics of globalization. Index, bib, notes, tables, 256pp, UK. ZED BOOKS.

Essays concerned with documenting how gender and generations are constructed or perceived and negotiated by social groups and individuals faced with urban challenges and their struggles for social justice in Malawi, Lesotho, Zambia, Tanzania and South Africa. 306pp, LESOTHO. INSTITUTE OF SOUTHERN AFRICAN STUDIES.

2007 9789991131443 Paperback

What kinds of research into poverty are most helpful to those trying to deal with key issues in poverty reduction in an urban setting: topics like shelter, land tenure, partnership and migration? Through country case studies, including Kenya and South Africa, the contributors explore what works, and discuss the issues and principles of different aspects of urban development and in relation to poverty. Index, bib, 228pp, UK. ITDG PUBLISHING.