New city building in urban Africa

The unprecedented scale and scope of urbanization in Africa has gone hand-in-hand with the emergence of new master-planned, holistically designed, and private managed cities built on the edges of existing urban agglomerations. What distinguishes these new city-building projects from earlier iterations of urbanization in Africa is that they have been constructed entirely from scratch rather than retrofitting or rebuilding existing urban landscapes. These master-planned, holistically designed, and privately managed cities offer the advantage of starting fresh, with up-to-date infrastructure and the imposition of top-down urban management systems that enforce rules and regulations that outlaw overcrowded streetscapes and irregular housing. One particular corporate enterprise, Rendeavour, has taken an over-sized role in this approach to city building in Africa. In constructing these new master-planned satellite cities, Rendeavour has followed a standardized formula, blending mixed-use elements (under the mantra “live, work, and play”) with a business model that stresses private enterprise over everything else.