Urban planning as a tool of power and social control in colonial Africa

A power theoretical framework is employed to analyse physical and spatial policies in colonial Africa. Officially, the policies were designed to accomplish public welfare goals, such as ensuring sound architectural standards and promoting the efficiency and effectiveness of the built environment. A more critical analysis reveals that the policies constituted part of a meticulous and multifarious agenda on the part of colonial powers to harness and reinforce their grip on the territories they had conquered in Africa. This article shows how planning policies found expression as instruments of power, domination and social control in urban space in colonial Africa.