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The making of the central markets of Dakar and Kinshasa: from colonial origins to the post-colonial period

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2015

LUCE BEECKMANS  and
LIORA BIGON
LUCE BEECKMANS
Affiliation:
Department of Architecture and Urban Planning, Ghent University, Belgium
LIORA BIGON
Affiliation:
The Institute of Western Cultures, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mount Scopus 91905, Jerusalem, Israel
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Abstract

This article traces the planning history of two central marketplaces in sub-Saharan Africa, in Dakar and Kinshasa, from their French and Belgian colonial origins until the post-colonial period. In the (post-)colonial city, the marketplace has always been at the centre of contemporary debates on urban identity and spatial production. Using a rich variety of sources, this article makes a contribution to a neglected area of scholarship, as comparative studies on planning histories in sub-Saharan African cities are still rare. It also touches upon some key issues such as the multiple and often intricate processes of urban agency between local and foreign actors, sanitation and segregation, the different (post-)colonial planning cultures and their limits and the role of indigenous/intermediary groups in spatial contestation and reappropriation.

Type
Research Article
Information
Urban History , Volume 43 , Special Issue 3: Markets in modernization: transformations in urban market space and practice, c. 1800 - c. 1970 , August 2016 , pp. 412 - 434
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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References

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