International development cooperation should not only make African cities a focus of its engagement-it should also be cautious not to build its interventions on concepts inherited from Western history, such as the formal/informal dichotomy. The diversity of African cities is hard to conceptualise-but at the same time, unbiased views of the urban are the first step to addressing the urban development conundrum. Lingering between chaos and creativity, Western images of African cities seem unable to serve as a basis for development policies. The sheer complexity of African cities contests conventional understandings of the urban as well as standard development policies.
The stupendous pace of urbanisation challenges the usual image of Africa as a rural continent. Africa is urbanising faster than any other continent.
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