This reference work provides a summary of historical and contemporary aspects of urbanization in Africa. The volume is organized in three parts. The first part provides a historical overview of urbanization in Africa from ancient civilizations to the present day. The second part provides detailed studies of urbanization in fifteen highly urbanized African countries. Each chapter in this section is devoted to one country, and the chapters are arranged alphabetically for convenient access. Countries profiled are located in different regions of the continent, and each has an urban population of at least 500,000 people. The third part of the volume includes chapters on topics of special importance to African urbanization, such as economics and demographics. The chapters are written by expert contributors and provide current references. The volume concludes with a selected bibliography.

Written from the perspective of developing countries, this book discusses the development process from a spatial perspective, focussing particularly on the evoltuion of the intra-national space-economy. With emphasis on African nations, this book offers a distinctive interpretation of the current situation and policy prescriptions differing significantly from previous literature in the area.