AbdouMaliq Simone presently holds joint academic appointments at New School University and the Institute of Social and Economic Research, University of Witwatersrand.Professor Abouhani Abdelghani teaches at the Institut National d'Amenagement et d'urbanism in Rabat, Morocco. He is also vice president of the Centre for Social Science Research.

• 1. Introduction: Urban Processes and Change - AbdouMaliq SimonePart I: Making Urban Politics2. Urban Policies in Cairo: From Speeches on New Cities to the Adjustment Practices of Ordinary City Dwellers - Bénédicte Florin3. Feasts: Panoramas in Town: The Spaces and Times of the Moulids of Cairo - Anna Madoeuf4. Kisangani: A city at its Lowest Ebb - Jean Omasombo5. The City Centre: A Shifting Concept in the History of Addis Ababa - Bahru Zewde6. At the Limits of Possibility: Working Notes on a Relational Model of Urban Politics - Edgar PietersePart 2: Urban Practices7. Life in a High Density Urban Area: Anguwar Mai Gwado in Zaria - Mohammed-Bello Yunusa8. Ethnicity and the Dynamics of City Politics: The Case of Jos - Victor A. O. Adetula9. Urban Development and Urban Informalities: Pikine, Senegal - Mohamadou Abdoul10. Formal and Decentralized Financing of Housing: Operation 200,000 Houses, Marrakesh - Mohamed Gheris

'Is urban life in Africa exceptional or is it another expression and reworking of universal urban modernity remolded and appropriated by Africans making their own lives in relation to and in spite of the myriad of structural and other constraints they face? This powerfully insightful book edited by Abdoumaliq Simone successfully brings out the rich and diverse complexity, ambivalence, resilience and variety of African urban lives and experiences. The book shows that there can be no simple, naive and monolithic explanations and interpretations. This is an important book that re-affirms the agency of ordinary African urban dwellers, while recognizing the often very difficult conditions of their existence but at the same time expressing the optimism and resilience that define African urban life.'Tade Akin Aina, The Ford Foundation, Nairobi'Argues that approaching African cities through normative ideas of urbanization only obscures how Africans have created their own paths and strategies to make cities work ... recommended.'African Studies Review

AbdouMaliq Simone presently holds joint academic appointments at New School University and the Institute of Social and Economic Research, University of Witwatersrand.Professor Abouhani Abdelghani teaches at the Institut National d'Amenagement et d'urbanism in Rabat, Morocco. He is also vice president of the Centre for Social Science Research.

• 1. Introduction: Urban Processes and Change - AbdouMaliq SimonePart I: Making Urban Politics2. Urban Policies in Cairo: From Speeches on New Cities to the Adjustment Practices of Ordinary City Dwellers - Bénédicte Florin3. Feasts: Panoramas in Town: The Spaces and Times of the Moulids of Cairo - Anna Madoeuf4. Kisangani: A city at its Lowest Ebb - Jean Omasombo5. The City Centre: A Shifting Concept in the History of Addis Ababa - Bahru Zewde6. At the Limits of Possibility: Working Notes on a Relational Model of Urban Politics - Edgar PietersePart 2: Urban Practices7. Life in a High Density Urban Area: Anguwar Mai Gwado in Zaria - Mohammed-Bello Yunusa8. Ethnicity and the Dynamics of City Politics: The Case of Jos - Victor A. O. Adetula9. Urban Development and Urban Informalities: Pikine, Senegal - Mohamadou Abdoul10. Formal and Decentralized Financing of Housing: Operation 200,000 Houses, Marrakesh - Mohamed Gheris

'Is urban life in Africa exceptional or is it another expression and reworking of universal urban modernity remolded and appropriated by Africans making their own lives in relation to and in spite of the myriad of structural and other constraints they face? This powerfully insightful book edited by Abdoumaliq Simone successfully brings out the rich and diverse complexity, ambivalence, resilience and variety of African urban lives and experiences. The book shows that there can be no simple, naive and monolithic explanations and interpretations. This is an important book that re-affirms the agency of ordinary African urban dwellers, while recognizing the often very difficult conditions of their existence but at the same time expressing the optimism and resilience that define African urban life.'Tade Akin Aina, The Ford Foundation, Nairobi'Argues that approaching African cities through normative ideas of urbanization only obscures how Africans have created their own paths and strategies to make cities work ... recommended.'African Studies Review

AbdouMaliq Simone presently holds joint academic appointments at New School University and the Institute of Social and Economic Research, University of Witwatersrand.Professor Abouhani Abdelghani teaches at the Institut National d'Amenagement et d'urbanism in Rabat, Morocco. He is also vice president of the Centre for Social Science Research.

• 1. Introduction: Urban Processes and Change - AbdouMaliq SimonePart I: Making Urban Politics2. Urban Policies in Cairo: From Speeches on New Cities to the Adjustment Practices of Ordinary City Dwellers - Bénédicte Florin3. Feasts: Panoramas in Town: The Spaces and Times of the Moulids of Cairo - Anna Madoeuf4. Kisangani: A city at its Lowest Ebb - Jean Omasombo5. The City Centre: A Shifting Concept in the History of Addis Ababa - Bahru Zewde6. At the Limits of Possibility: Working Notes on a Relational Model of Urban Politics - Edgar PietersePart 2: Urban Practices7. Life in a High Density Urban Area: Anguwar Mai Gwado in Zaria - Mohammed-Bello Yunusa8. Ethnicity and the Dynamics of City Politics: The Case of Jos - Victor A. O. Adetula9. Urban Development and Urban Informalities: Pikine, Senegal - Mohamadou Abdoul10. Formal and Decentralized Financing of Housing: Operation 200,000 Houses, Marrakesh - Mohamed Gheris

'Is urban life in Africa exceptional or is it another expression and reworking of universal urban modernity remolded and appropriated by Africans making their own lives in relation to and in spite of the myriad of structural and other constraints they face? This powerfully insightful book edited by Abdoumaliq Simone successfully brings out the rich and diverse complexity, ambivalence, resilience and variety of African urban lives and experiences. The book shows that there can be no simple, naive and monolithic explanations and interpretations. This is an important book that re-affirms the agency of ordinary African urban dwellers, while recognizing the often very difficult conditions of their existence but at the same time expressing the optimism and resilience that define African urban life.'Tade Akin Aina, The Ford Foundation, Nairobi'Argues that approaching African cities through normative ideas of urbanization only obscures how Africans have created their own paths and strategies to make cities work ... recommended.'African Studies Review