Planning and managing urbanization in the twenty-first century: content analysis of selected African countries’ national urban policies

In recent times, African governments have been adopting explicit National Urban Policies (NUPs). The adoption of NUPs is a sharp contrast to the past when some governments were ambivalent to it.Focusing on eight (8) African countries-South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Malawi and Uganda, we undertook systematic content analysis of the written policy documents for each country. African governments recognise the need for coordinated policy responses to enhance sustainable urban growth in line with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG #11) and the New Urban Agenda (NUA). The paper cautions against adopting ‘silver bullet’ solutions to avoid jeopardising the creation of local policy innovations that are more suitable to national and local contexts.