ABSTRACT
Accra (Ghana), Harare (Zimbabwe), and Gaborone (Botswana) — the three African cities whose urban environment are examined — are similar in many ways. First, each is effectively the capital city of a former British colony. Second, the three cities are alike in that the countries have made a serious and largely successful effort to provide the public goods necessary for the well-being of their urban population. But these three countries, and their capital cities, differ in important ways, too. The rates of population growth of the cities themselves have also been quite different. The populations of Accra and Harare have grown slowly — at less than 5% per year over 1960–94 — though for different reasons. The rainfall endowments of the countries also differ greatly, with obvious effects on the urban availability of drinking water and the handling of wastewater.
