Dystopia

How the Tyranny of Specialists Destroy African Cities

Archimedes Muzenda

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English

African Urban Institute Press
01 September 2020

City & town planning - architectural aspects; Central government policies; Regional government; Urban economics; Urban & municipal planning

A revelation of the spatial atrocities committed by specialists in development of African cities.

For more than fifty centuries, cities were planned and developed by generalists. The town planners were Jacks of all trades yet masters of none. In the last fifty years however, this all changed. Town planning dismantled into various specialists - masters of a single trade. Traffic engineers, urban environmentalists, modernist architects, town planning regulators, Marxist and postmodern scholars . As these specialists focus on their specialities, governed by ideological loyalty and possessiveness, they work in isolations a practice that is pushing African cities off the cliff.

In Dystopia, Archimedes Muzenda reveals the destruction that specialists are creating in cities across Africa. He reveals how in their tyrannical nature specialists are committing spatial atrocities, turning African cities into dystopias. In doing so, Muzenda sets basis for specialists to find one another if they are to create prosperous, sustainable and just cities - cities that are liveable.

By: Archimedes Muzenda
Imprint: African Urban Institute Press
Dimensions: Height: 216mm, Width: 140mm, Spine: 14mm
Weight: 318g
ISBN: 9781779068873
ISBN 10: 1779068875
Pages: 248
Publication Date: 01 September 2020
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Archimedes Muzenda is a city planner and researcher who focus on urbanisation in Africa. He works with cities across Africa supporting them with technical advisory on urban transformation. Archimedes is a senior research associate at the African Urban Institute.

Reviews for Dystopia: How the Tyranny of Specialists Destroy African Cities

"""Archimedes Muzenda understands the evolution of cities in an illuminating way. His use of global history to put urbanization of Africa into global perspective debunks so many myths about African cities...This is a must read book on African cities beyond the hype...he takes no prisoners in his polemic against what he calls specialists."" - African Planning Magazine"