The African Centre for Cities published a new report on the need to reform urban laws in Africa, especially Sub-Saharan cities. The report points to the fact of rapid urbanization in many African nations and the archaic urban laws and legal processes that are often still a relict of colonial rule. Colonial planning was adapted to African cities without a site-specific context, that usually had a European background with completely different standards. Therefore cities and regions were not planned according to their tailored needs, but to European regulations.
In order to deal with complexities such as informal settlements or tight restrictions on land ownership, African cities require a “solid, workable legal framework that is capable of introducing fundamental change”, argues Stephen Berrisford, who is an urban planning consultant and one of the lead authors of the report.
The authors advocate for a ‘relevant context’ where local laws meet these benchmarks:
Pragmatic: Only achievable standards should be adopted.
Scalable and responsive: New laws should be able to evolve to fit the contours of fast-expanding cities, they become irrelevant otherwise.
Inclusive: Efforts to restrict the number of residents or workers in cities inevitably excludes and discriminates poor residents.
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