Pre-colonial and Early Colonial Urbanization in the East Coast of Africa: The African-Asian Connection

R. A. Obudho and S. O. Owuor

Chapter 20 in Regional Science in Developing Countries, 1997, pp 284-290 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract East Africa, comprising the Republic of Kenya, United Republic of Tanzania and Republic of Uganda, covers a diverse region of the central portion of Eastern Africa. These three national states have varied and different historical, economic, political and socio-cultural development which must be taken into account in presenting the urbanization process in the respective countries (Hutton, 1972; Kanyaeihamba and McAuslan, 1978; Obadho, 1984, pp. 134–54; 1986, pp. 171–93; 1989, pp. 292–315 and 1993, pp. 77–108). East Africa is not only one of the poorest regions of the world but also the least urbanized relative to the continent as a whole, the average of developing countries and the world at large. Until recently, urbanization was not considered to be a problem in most African countries because it was associated with modernization and industrialization. Both governments and international donor agencies fostered rural development and agriculturally-based strategies without paying attention to the rapid rates of urbanization. In the 1990s, urbanization has been added to the long list of potentially devastating development problems which must be addressed. The fundamental problem is that the urban population is growing very fast while the economic growth and development transformations necessary to support it and enhance the quality of urban life are not occurring as rapidly.

Keywords: Urban Population; Urban Centre; Urban Growth; Central Place; Large Urban Centre (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1997
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-1-349-25459-0_20

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.palgrave.com/9781349254590

DOI: 10.1007/978-1-349-25459-0_20

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Palgrave Macmillan Books from Palgrave Macmillan
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().