The Urban World, 9 th Ed.

The Urban World, 9th Ed. J. John Palen

Chapter 16: African and Latin American Urbanization • Introduction • Africa • Urban Development • Latin America: An Urban Continent • Spanish Colonial Cities • Recent Developments • Summary

Introduction • Although geographically and socially different, these countries share rapid rates of urbanization • As globalization increases, their futures and ours become more closely linked

Africa • Currently the least urbanized of the continents, and the continent with the highest rate of increase in urban population • Challenges • The most serious is AIDS • Has dropped life expectancy rates • Africa has 13 percent of the worlds population but over 69 percent of the cases of HIV infection • Deaths from AIDS disrupts industrial and agricultural operations

Figure 16.1 Map of Africa

The economic policies are also a problem • A third problem is unstable and/or unresponsive governments • Responses • New, lower-cost AIDS drugs • South Africa is now a stable multiracial nation • Inefficient and corrupt state industries are being sold off • The downside is that freeing up domestic markets is creating major economic disparities within countries • Cities are almost always doing better than countryside

Regional variations • Africa has some 54 separate nations, and African cities vary greatly • North Africa is the most urbanized of the African regions • West and Central Africa lie in the middle range of African urbanization, with larger cities located along the coast • East Africa has always been the least urbanized part of the country • The Republic of South Africa is by far the most industrialized nation on the continent, with just over half of its population in urban places

Urban Development • Early Cities • Africa did produce substantial cities • Those of North Africa have the longest urban traditions • Many cities were first built during the revival of trade in the 10th century • Colonial Period • European seizure of land in black Africa accelerated during the last quarter of the 19th century • The colonial city was organized around the central district • Spatial location reflected power within colonial society • Until 50 years ago, most African cities were relatively small

Indigenous African Cities • In West Africa the most noted cities of strictly African origin are the Yoruba cities of Nigeria, which had the largest populations before the colonial period • The main focus was the central market • Each quarter was a self-contained area within the larger city, and were divided on the basis of tribal or religious affiliation

Contemporary Patterns • Primate cities • Fits the pattern of urbanization found in most nations of sub-Saharan Africa • Importance heightened by the economic separation of the major city from its surrounding countryside • Squatter slums • A fact of city life of every growing African city • They house one-third of the total urban population • Social Composition of African Cities • Cities have a disproportionate number of males • Family ties and wider kinship ties are surprisingly strong and resilient to urban pressures • The pull of the town is not uniform for all groups

Ethnic and Tribal Bonds • Urbanization has strengthened tribal identification • Kinship and ethnic-tribal affiliation provide bridges • Status of Women • Varies from country to country • A long history of strongly favoring male dominance • In villages, a woman’s position set by custom • In cities, the structure is more flexible • Often part of the informal self-employed sector • Differences from the Western Pattern • William Hance has given a list of differences, including rates of growth, higher rates of unemployment, and the heavy governmental responsibility

Latin America: An Urban Continent • Almost all sources indicate that Latin America (Mexico included) is 77 percent urban • Of the world’s 10 largest urban places, possibly four are in Latin America • Urban problems such as violent crime and infrastructure deterioration are especially severe

Figure 16.2 Map of Latin America

Spanish Colonial Cities • Colonial organization • The early cities looked toward Spain • Did not develop into commercial or manufacturing centers • Today, most metro area still found on coastline • Physical structure • The pattern of spatial separation was set well before the Spaniards • Most Spanish settlements adhered to the classical model of a central plaza mayor • The grid layout offered considerable flexibility

Recent Developments • Urban growth • Currently proceeding at a phenomenal rate • Transformed from a rural, agricultural continent to an urbanized one in just decades • Far more urbanized than Asia or Africa • Economic Change • Brazil is the biggest success story • Because funds are limited, “community development” often is more effectively directed toward urban populations • For the majority of ruralites, the move to the city is a wise one • The in-migration of ever more peasants simply compounds already severe urban problems

Urban Characteristics • The city-bound migrants tend to be mostly young adults • Some 30 percent of the Latin American population is under fifteen years of age • The cities have more females than males • Crime • San Paolo has five times the murder rate of New York • Police forces are often either ineffectual, corrupt, or both • The wealthy provide security for themselves • Shantytowns • Grow because of population explosion and migration • Politics plays a large role in the perception of these towns

Future of Settlements • Already-high levels of drug gang and other violence may become more common in marginal settlements • Squatter settlements differ in many ways • Newer settlements are disorganized • Older settlements are highly organized, and may even have well-built homes • Maquiladoras • Assembly plants set up to cheaply produce goods for the U.S. market • Workers live in makeshift shanty housing • Hundreds of female workers have been brutally abducted, raped, and murdered

Myth of Marginality • The traditional view is that shantytown inhabitants are set apart from the other city residents not only by their poverty but by their marginality and traditional rural orientation • The alternative position is that the rural character of the immigrants is considerably overemphasized, and that problems of adjustment are not severe • A Success Story • Curitiba, Brazil: • A city of 1.6 million • Green, clean, and very livable • Mayor advocated pedestrian malls and recycled buildings • Crime is minimal • Rural immigrants given vocational classes

The Urban World, 9 th Ed.