The Settlement of Central and Eastern Africa: Inherited Logics and Contemporary Urban Development

Abstract

Our initial objective is to evaluate the state of urbanisation in Central and Eastern Africa and its evolution since the 1960s, by geographically locating the multiplication of the number of agglomerations of more than 10,000 inhabitants and their population growth. Surprisingly, the data produced lead us to re-examine the historical relationship between agricultural activities and urban growth by crossing urban locations and agricultural and non-agricultural land use. The forms and formations of the population are then linked to successive housing patterns that can fade, emerge, combine and lead to the recognition of differentiated regional territories.

Keywords

• Central and Eastern Africa
• settlement
• urbanisation
• agricultural land use
• spatial differentiation