ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the history of urban planning in Sub-Saharan Africa since the end of the nineteenth century. It describes the different planning cultures in Sub-Saharan Africa, in the colonial and in the post-colonial periods, and to explore challenges likely to confront urban planning in the near future. The chapter examines the influence of the various European planning cultures, highlighting intra-urban racial segregation as one of the distinctive marks of urban planning in this period. It deals with the post-colonial period, highlighting the continuities and ruptures with the colonial past and the key issues in the new African urban agenda. The idea that urban planning should ensure equitable distribution of urban services, taking into consideration the specific local contexts, has been exceptional in the planning discourse in Sub-Saharan Africa. Operations similar to that of Harare in 2005 and in Luanda after the end of the Civil War find adherents in urban policy makers in other cities of Africa.
