It has been nearly 10 years since Johnson came to Nairobi, Kenya’s capital city, from his rural birthplace in Makueni County to find work. Every day, residents of the countryside…

On the edge of Lilongwe’s Area 44, the maize field where 50-year-old Grace Nyimbiri’s parents buried their umbilical cords now lies behind plastic tape and concrete survey pegs. A man…

Most urban planning for Africa’s mushrooming cities has focused on megacities and high-value port-and-transport corridors, but medium-sized cities, which accommodate a quarter of the continent’s urban population, should play a…

I spent a holiday near Port St Johns in the Eastern Cape more than 20 years ago. Even then, the contradictions of South Africa’s decade-old democracy were in sharp focus.…

When discussions about South Africa’s townships arise, the focus is often predictable: unemployment, poverty, crime, service delivery protests, or the promise of the “township economy”. Yet there is another, quieter…

Africa is the world’s fastest urbanising region, with cities growing at an average rate of 3.5% per year. Experts predict that by 2050, the continent will add nearly one billion…