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Too Many Things to Do: Social Dimensions of City-Making in Africa

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The Arts of Citizenship in African Cities

Part of the book series: Africa Connects ((AFC))

Abstract

Urbanization has much to offer African economic and social wellbeing. This remains the case despite the clear problems inherent in the ways that cities have been put together. These problems include shrinking rural livelihoods, insufficient value-added production, excessive emphasis on rents and administration, and low-cost informal labor. Nevertheless, although much is known about all of the things wrong, biased, distorted, and underdeveloped in African cities, it is also critical to understand urbanization as something capable of stirring productive relationships among people, materials, and places, regardless of specific histories, political conditions, or positions within larger economies.

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  1. AbdouMaliq Simone
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Mamadou Diouf Rosalind Fredericks

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Simone, A. (2014). Too Many Things to Do: Social Dimensions of City-Making in Africa. In: Diouf, M., Fredericks, R. (eds) The Arts of Citizenship in African Cities. Africa Connects. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137481887_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137481887_2

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-51631-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-48188-7

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