Africa’s cities groan under the weight of urbanisationAfrica stands at a crucial juncture as its cities swell with a tide of humanity – a tide that promises vast opportunity but threatens to become a tsunami of misery.The sprawling slum of Khayelitsha outside Cape Town is a stark example of the desperate conditions in which the majority of the continent’s urban population lives. Despite being in one of sub-Saharan Africa’s most successful economies, half of the slum’s 407,000 residents live in makeshift hovels built with cast-off sheets of corrugated iron.Erected cheek-by-jowl in a low-lying area prone to flooding, these shacks offer…
Anton Ferreira
More than half the world’s population now lives in towns or cities, according to the United Nations Population Division. In Africa, less than 40% do. This proportion will increase as more people move to urban areas in search of better economic opportunities. Anton Ferreira discusses the effects of urbanisation and what can be done to make the process smoother. Africa stands at a crucial juncture as its cities swell with a tide of humanity—a tide that promises vast opportunity, but threatens to become a tsunami of misery. The sprawling slum of Khayelitsha outside Cape Town is a stark example of…
