Exploratory Notes on African Urbanism

It is pertinent to move away from the tropes of segregation, fragmentation and bifurcation in
thinking about the African urban condition. However, it would be an error to simply trade the
dominant ideas on polarisation for an account that only foregrounds interconnections and fluid intermingling. Instead, what is required is a careful explication of tendencies towards new forms of segregation and unforeseen collaborations but with an eye on how these dynamics are never complete or uncontested or unambiguous. In light of this angle I want to use this paper to suggest that one aspect of this new research agenda is to articulate three dominant literatures on African cities that, if read together, or held in tension epistemologically, can take us in new directions.