Editorial: resurgent African cities?

There is a welcome new narrative about Africa as a continent on the move and verging on economic take-off. The old assumptions of political mismanagement, economic failure and entrenched poverty have been replaced by an optimistic scenario of growing prosperity rooted in stable democracies. Some expect parts of Africa to follow in the footsteps of China, Brazil and India, and become a new growth pole in the global economy. This is associated with a variety of factors, including major new discoveries of oil, gas and minerals, rising foreign investment in expanding consumer markets, accelerated investment in infrastructure from Asia, and the spread of new technologies such as mobile telecoms.