ABSTRACT
The settler cities were created by British administrators and settlers for British settlers. Few settler cities were cramped and in the majority of cases, space for expansion was viewed as presenting no problem for the town planners. Settler cities were mercantile in their origins and early development. In the majority of colonies, industrialisation, other than service and processing of local products, was little advanced until after the First World War. The areal extent of settler cities was limited, prior to the 1930s, by the means by which people could be transported to work in the burgeoning city. The suburbs could be built blighted is significant for the development of many colonial settler cities. The West Indies provide an early illustration of a multi-racial population living in an urban framework designed for British settlers. It was in Africa that the most complex reaction to the multi-racial character of the settler city was apparent, reflecting the more diverse composition of the population.
