Title: Changing Planning Law in Africa: An Introduction to the Issue
Abstract: Most countries in Africa inherited their planning law from former colonial powers.Many of these countries have since revised their planning law, but the attitudes and practices of politicians and planning professionals towards urban development still reflect the approaches enshrined in the older colonial laws.The continuation of these in a context where towns and cities have changed dramatically since the first half of the twentieth century probably represents one of the most important obstacles to successful long-term management of these urban centers.The aim of this special issue is to draw together a number of international experts on planning law in countries of the global South, to reflect on why changing these laws and practices is so difficult in Africa and what has happened where reforms have been attempted.The case of Brazil has been juxtaposed with the African cases to show how a progressive urban reform agenda can have far-reaching implications for planning law.This special issue, and the imperative to change planning law so that it is a useful instrument for addressing twenty-first century urban issues in Africa, is part of a larger research and advocacy agenda which shapes the work of the African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape Town.The center takes as a starting point the fact that in 2007, 38.7% of Africa's population was urban, but this is projected to rise to over 60% in 2050, implying a trebling of the continent's urban population (United Nations 2008).Future rapid urban growth in Africa also faces the particular problem of weak formal urban economies.In fact, Africa is the only continent where urbanization and urban economic growth have not been mutually reinforcing, leading to a situation where an impoverished urban populace survives largely under conditions of informality.It is estimated that 72% of the current urban population lives without acceptable shelter and services (UN-Habitat 2003), and the bulk of the urban population in most countries survives in the "informal sector" (Guha-Khasnobis and Kanbur 2006).In Africa, these factors are compounded by a deep