ABSTRACT
In the early independence years this might have seemed a silly question, the answer being so obviously national and municipal governments. Both are of course still responsible for much urban policy formulation in sub-Saharan Africa, as elsewhere; but with the widespread ‘rolling back’, and in many cases the weakening, of the state in the 1980s and 1990s, much decision making has been taken over by various elements of civil society (Aina, 1997; Halfani, 1997). These include private enterprise, NGOs and local communities, all of which are left increasingly to their own very diverse devices; and both national and municipal governments may themselves lack vital information on these policy makers. Even the survival strategies of extended families and individual households are also now important in shaping Africa’s urban future (Potts, 1997; Tripp, 1997).
