Resource information
This article addresses the problems of
governance in municipalities in Africa. The concern has been
to adapt traditional systems of governance to the needs of
modern urban management. This article investigates the need
for a new analysis of the twin problems of urban land and
urban management in sub-Saharan Africa. This need is based
on the apparent paradox between the dynamic, city-creating
activities of civil societies in all of these countries, and
the weak capabilities of states to guide and direct these
activities. This article focuses on governance at the
community level, where empowerment and accountability begin.
It argues that a prerequisite for dealing with these
problems is an institutional environment with which the
target populace is familiar and to which it is likely to
relate in participating in managing the city. The importance
of the particularly dynamic systems of traditional
governance at the lowest level in managing urban growth is
only recently being recognized.
