1. To cite this article: Abubakar, I. R. & Doan, P. R. (In press). Building New Capital Cities in Africa: Lessons for
New Satellite Towns in Developing Countries. African Studies
Building New Capital Cities in Africa: Lessons for New Satellite Towns
in Developing Countries
Ismaila Rimi Abubakar1
and Petra Leisenring Doan2
1 College of Architecture and Planning, University of Dammam, P.O. Box 2397, Dammam 31451,
Saudi Arabia
2 Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32306,
USA
ABSTRACT
New town building is currently reemerging in the Third World to decant major metropolitan areas using
modernist design and planning assumptions. Using the experience of Africa’s postcolonial new capital cities of
Abuja (Nigeria), Dodoma (Tanzania), Gaborone (Botswana) and Lilongwe (Malawi), this paper analyzes the
effectiveness of new town building as an urbanization strategy in Africa and highlights some lessons for new
satellite towns currently being built in developing countries. Based on extensive analysis of secondary data,
plans and empirical studies, this article found that in addition to their inability to provide adequate housing
and infrastructure, these new capital city projects are very expensive, overwhelmed by rapid urbanization,
emphasize much on physical development, exacerbate social exclusion, disrupt informal settlements and
businesses, and lack public involvement. In conclusion, this paper suggests that new town building in the global
South should learn from the experience of the reviewed cases and focus more on meeting contemporary
urban challenges such as rapid urbanization, informality, social exclusion, economic development, urban
sustainability, as well as climate and environmental change.
KEY WORDS: new town development; capital cities; satellite settlements; urbanization and informal sector;
urbanization; housing and urban services; social exclusion; developing countries; modernist planning
1. Introduction
In the past two decades, developing countries have seen a wave of construction of new towns around booming
cities. A new town is a relatively safe-contained settlement, usually built from scratch, large enough to support
a range of housing types and public facilities and to provide social and cultural opportunities within its borders
and for the employment of its residents (Brunn et al. 2008). In Asia, China alone has planned around 100 new
towns in which several have already been constructed (Zhou 2009). While 18 new towns were built and
feasibility studies for 11 more are ongoing in Iran (Zamani and Arefi 2013), five new towns have been
developed around Seoul in South Korea (Lee and Ahn 2005) and two satellite towns have been built in Phnom
Penh, Cambodia (Percival and Waley 2012). Several of these contemporary new towns are also being
established in Latin America (Borsdorf et al. 2007).
In Africa, several new satellite town projects have been proposed or are under construction. They include
Eco Atlantic City in Lagos, located on land reclaimed from Atlantic Ocean, intended to alleviate Lagos’
congestion problems and counteract its decaying infrastructure (Kester 2014). Likewise, the satellite towns of
Appolonia and Hope City located outside of Accra are designed to reduce overcrowding in the city and to
promote entrepreneurship (Moukala 2012). Similarly, 15 new towns have been proposed around Nairobi to
decongest the city and to spur regional economic development and two of these new towns have reached

2. advanced planning stages: Tatu City intended to alleviate Kenya’s housing shortage and Konza Techno City
envisioned as ‘Kenyan Silicon Valley’ (Adewunmi 2011). Other new town projects in Africa include Roma Park
near Lusaka in Zambia, Luanda and Kilamba cities in Angola (Benazeraf and Alves 2014) and Kigamboni City on
the edge of Dares Salaam in Tanzania (Lumumba 2013).
Several explanations can be offered for the re-emergence of new town building in Africa after a long period
in which they were rarely proposed. First, unlike the global North regions that are facing financial crises, global
South has witnessed economic growth within the last two decades that in turn makes Africa the second fastest
growing region in the world and thus very attractive to international property developers. Second, the rapid
urbanization rate of over 3% and booming middle class indicates steadily rising demand for urban projects and
services (Kachipande 2013; Watson 2013). Another important reason is the elite’s frustration with existing
urban conditions and their desire to leapfrog over the overcrowding and the dilapidated condition of housing
and infrastructure in existing large urban centers (UN-Habitat 2014a).
As a result, several new towns were designed largely as satellite towns, by international planning and
architectural consultants, using modernist master planning approach to relieve the population pressures on
some major African cities and escape their urban decay. The promoters of these projects promise some
‘impressive amenities and functioning systems that will enable the urban lifestyle most Western cities provide’
(Lumumba 2013). However, the experiences of postcolonial new towns development in the global South have
created an increasing skepticism about the possible outcome of the new satellite towns (Pieterse 2005).
According to Watson (2013), the current new towns being built in African are not only ‘urban fantasies’ that
are way beyond the reach of the majority of citizens who are extremely poor and live informally, but the
projects often led to eviction and relocation of vulnerable low income and as well as the possibility of
worsening of inequalities and marginalization in the proposed new towns (Kester, 2014; UN-Habitat 2014a).
As such, while these contemporary new town projects are largely in the pipeline and much more are being
planned, there is the need to reflect on the success or otherwise of the older new towns with a view of drawing
some lessons.
Accordingly, this article evaluates the effectiveness of new town planning as an urbanization strategy in
Africa using the examples of new capital cities of Abuja, Dodoma, Gaborone and Lilongwe, and highlights some
lessons for the new satellite towns in the global South. While there are certainly some differences between
these two kinds of new town projects, there are indeed many lessons to learn from these postcolonial new
capital cities. The capital cities were large decentralization points quite far away from major cities, while the
new towns are mostly satellites towns of 50,000 to 250,00 people, located near existing cities (Lumumba
2013). While the capital cities were public-sector driven administrative cities, the new satellite town projects
are largely private-sector led, although there is government support for land acquisition and infrastructure
connections, especially roads, water, and sewerage (Moukala 2012). Also, while the capital cities have been
inspired largely by the symbol of national pride and development, the current new towns are tied far more
closely to 'world class city' thinking (Watson 2013).
Despite these different driving forces, the new satellite towns can benefit from the experience of these
new capital cities because both efforts: (a) are meant to escape urban ills facing major cities (instead of
confronting them) by creating new towns that can offer the elites high-quality housing, urban services and
modern infrastructure; (b) are large scale and expensive utopian schemes based on modernism: low-density
development, western urban form and modern structures that consume substantial part of public resources;
(c) present the image that “Africa has come of age” that has been championed by the military, politicians or
elites, but worsen inequalities and exclusion; (d) entail evicting informal settlements and businesses of
vulnerable poor people, and (e) have little regard to public involvement (Benazeraf and Alves 2014; Lumumba
2013; Moukala 2012; UN-Habitat 2014a; Watson 2013).
As such, analyzing the outcome of postcolonial capital city building in Africa from these perspectives will
indeed benefit the new satellite towns by learning some lessons from the experience of the capital cities. This
paper is organized as follows. Section two reviews the concepts of modernist planning and new town
development, and section three critiques the modernist planning model. In section four, the paper describes
the research methodology and then analyzes the effectiveness of building new capital city as an urbanization

3. strategy in Africa in section five. Section six discuses some lessons for new satellite towns in developing
countries, and the paper concludes in section seven.
2. Urban planning and new town development
Urban planning evolved as a complex set of ideas which guides both planning decision making processes and
urban outcomes, aimed for achieving particular social, political or environmental objectives. It is an activity
that can solve many major urban problems and a significant management tool for dealing with the
unprecedented challenges facing 21st century cities and attaining the goals of sustainable urbanization (UN-
Habitat 2009). Among the key goals of contemporary urban planning is to create inclusive settlements with
affordable housing and basic public services such as piped water, sanitation and garbage collection.
Modern urban planning originated in the West as a very direct response to concerns of rapid urbanization,
unhealthy and polluted living conditions for the poor, disappearing open green space, and threatened political
upheaval in the industrial city (Hobson 1999). In developing countries, urban planning started during
colonialism mainly to improve community health and general sanitary conditions for the agents of colonial
capitalism and since then has been one of the main tools for shaping urban development (Healey 1986).
However, due to rapid urbanization and urban decay, new town planning is seen as a solution to urban
challenges and a “model for a new type of urban society” (Hobson 1999).
Influenced by the Utopian ideals of the Garden City movement begun by Ebenezer Howard, new town
development is an urbanization strategy which arose as a means of improving urban living by establishing
comprehensively planned communities that are neat, orderly and efficient, with residences with open space
“flowing” between them, wide streets, efficient transportation corridors, and land uses separated into “mono-
functional zones” (UN-Habitat 2009: 10; Stowe and Rehfuss 1975). The proponents of new town development
claim as benefits, improved quality of urban life through the provision of adequate housing and basic services,
more efficient transportation systems, and healthier environment (Kafkoula 2009).
New town development in Africa was adopted after independence as part of national planning policies
and formed the basis for establishing post-colonial new capital cities like Abuja, Dodoma, Gaborone, Lilongwe
and Yamoussoukro. These new capital cities were established not only to serve their administrative functions
but also to decongest and wipe away the colonial imprints on the older capitals, provide adequate housing
and basic urban services and to spur regional development (IPA 1979; Kironde 1993; Mosha 1996; Potts 1985).
Vale (2008) argues that the projects of building new capital cities in former colonies symbolized the new found
political power embedded in modernist designs. New town development, based on modernist planning
principles, is recently reemerging in building new satellite towns to decant major metropolitan areas of
developing countries, mainly due to its appeal to elites and its aggressive promotion by developers,
consultants and international agencies (Watson 2009; UN-Habitat 2009). This trend persists despite some
criticism of modernist approach highlighted in the next section.
3. Criticism of modernist planning
Modernist planning is based on rational comprehensive model that emphasizes grand plans and programs
developed by experts and implemented using a top-down approach to planning in order to break with
tradition and initiate social change. According to Hobson (1999), new town development is the “ultimate form
of modernist planning” because vacant sites provide an opportunity to control the size, form and growth of
the settlement without having to deal with the problems of decaying cites. However, even in the West where
the modernist planning originated, its several limitations have been highlighted, including its overreliance on
scientific knowledge over local values and input (Beauregard 1991; Scott 1998). According to Hobson (1999),
because of modernist planning model’s disregard for social values and local context, and its overreliance on
objectivity, it cannot meet such criteria of social justice as eliminating domination and oppression.
Jacobs (1961) also claimed that modernist planning in the USA undermined the vitality of social life and
made cities more susceptible to economic decay, social discontent and cultural stagnation because the model
discourages the diversity of cities and reduces those urban interactions at street level caused by a dense
concentration of people. Beauregard (1991) also considers the model as inappropriate in contemporary

4. pluralistic societies because it is based on master narratives that impose technical and exclusionary
perspectives on individuals that are culturally diverse. Klosterman (1985) argued that solutions ostensibly
promoting a collective public interest, in reality primarily serve the needs of civic and business elites. Scott
(1998) considers centralized and top down solutions imposed on the local level with no regard to consensus
and power dynamics as “tragedy of social engineering”, which in most cases leads to disintegrated and less-
beneficial development (Abram 2000).
4. Methodology
The analysis of the challenges of new town development in Africa is based on the study of relevant literature
and the authors’ extensive experience with cities and planning issues in Africa. To make this assessment, the
authors have reviewed a variety of secondary data, sourced from planning and government documents, text
books, journal articles, technical reports, newspaper articles and various websites. The authors have analyzed
the information by identifying common themes among the various sources and then compared and
synthesized them. The themes were identified from the objectives of establishing the new capitals as stated
in their master plans, and the common challenges they are facing after more than 30 years of urban
development. Due to lack of data and the fact that these capital cities were intended to be mainly
administrative centers, the role of the capital cities in economic growth was not included in the analysis.
The scope of the analysis is limited to Abuja, Dodoma, Gaborone and Lilongwe because they are the four
most prominent new capital cities in Africa, as their master plans have been substantially implemented. Other
new capitals such as Yamoussoukro and Nouakchott were considered but deemed not feasible due to lack of
data. We develop some assessment criteria, discussed in section five, based on the current thinking about the
challenges of modernist planning projects in developing countries. The following is a brief background of each
of the cases. While Abuja and Gaborone are in resource-rich countries of Nigeria and Botswana respectively,
Dodoma in Tanzania and Lilongwe in Malawi are in countries that have limited natural resources.
 Abuja: In 1976, a military decree established Abuja as the federal capital of Nigeria due to overcrowding,
high levels of traffic congestion and teeming slums in Lagos, and the need for a new capital to serve as a symbol
of national development, integration and unity (IPA 1979; Sawyer 2014). A master plan was designed in 1979
for Abuja, construction of the new city started the following year and the federal government relocated to the
city in December 1991 (Figure 1). Since then Abuja has been experiencing population growth at an
unprecedented rate as federal agencies, firms and businesses and international agencies and embassies have
established offices in the city. The 2014 estimated population of the city is 2.3 million people (UN 2014), mainly
caused by immigration of people in search of perceived job opportunities (Abubakar 2014).
 Dodoma: In 1973 a public referendum in Tanzania approved moving the capital from Dares Salaam to
Dodoma (Figure 1). The master plan for Dodoma was prepared in 1976 and revised in 1988 due to country’s
economic downturn (Mosha 2004). The new capital city was established to create significant economic and
social needs of the central region of Tanzania and to relieve the pressure on Dares Salam (Hayuma 1981;
Siebolds and Steinberg 1981). The estimated population of Dodoma in 2014 is 228,000 people (UN 2014).
 Gaborone: Prior to independence, the territory of Bechuanaland (Botswana) was administered extra-
territorially by an administrative office in Mafikeng in South Africa. Towards the end of the British
protectorate, Gaborone village was selected to become the new capital city because of water and land
availability, as well as a railway and highway passing through the village (Best 1970). A Master Plan for the
new city was prepared in 1963 and revised in 1971 (Mosha 1996). About 247,000 people live in the city in 2014
(UN 2014).
 Lilongwe: In 1965 Malawi’s capital was relocated from Zomba to Lilongwe (Figure1) with a new focus for
'national' pride and the need to achieve a more equitable regional spread of development (Englund 2002). A
master plan of the new capital was commissioned in 1967, construction work started in 1969 and the city
officially became the capital in 1975 (Potts 1985). By 1978 the relocation of central administration, all
government ministries and foreign embassies has been virtually completed (Englund 2002). There are about
867,000 people living in the city in 2014 (UN 2014).

5. Figure 1: Location of new in relation to the former capital cities of Nigeria, Tanzania, Botswana and Malawi
5. Effectiveness of new town planning as an urbanization strategy in Africa
This section analyzes the extent to which the new town building in Africa is an effective urban development
strategy using the examples of Abuja, Dodoma, Gaborone and Lilongwe, within the context of bureaucratic
decisions and changing social and economic conditions like rapid urbanization and limited resources. As shown
below, these new capital cities, in addition to their inability to provide adequate housing and basic urban
services, are found to be very expensive schemes, overwhelmed by rapid urbanization, emphasized much on
physical development and modern city image, disrupt informal housing and businesses, exacerbate social
exclusion, and lack public participation and transportation system.
5.1 Expensive nature of the projects
The expense of new town building is so great that most African governments cannot afford them. The
following factors inflated the cost of these projects including: the high cost of infrastructure provision due to
modernist principle of low density, the adoption of expensive western design and housing standards, and the
huge cost of plan preparation and consultation fees. While Nigeria and Botswana financed these projects
mainly from their oil wealth, a great deal of the finance for Lilongwe and Dodoma came from loans and foreign
donors. In Abuja, a Minister recently mentioned that the government has spent ₦1.3 trillion (US$8.125 billion)
on infrastructure development alone (Federal Capital Territory Administration 2013). The cost of establishing
new capital city of Dodoma in 1973 was estimated at US$298.5 million (Hayuma 1981), which caused many
delays in the implementation of Dodoma Master Plan (Mosha 2004; Kironde 1993). The garden city concept
embedded in the Master Plan and the construction of large monuments in Dodoma were considered very
expensive (Callaci 2016; Lupapa and Lupapa (2003).

6. In Botswana, because Gaborone has absorbed a huge share of national resources to the detriment of rural
areas, the city has been described as the single largest beneficiary of the urban bias phenomenon (Selolwane
2006). In Lilongwe too, while the costs of road infrastructure and the need to provide serviced land were
considered huge (McGill 1994; Myers 2003a), the estimated expenditures for implementing the city’s master
plan far exceeded the initial estimates of Kwacha 50-60 million, which necessitated taking a loan of 8 million
Rand from South Africa (Potts 1985). These sheer capital investments that exhaust public resources undermine
the value of modernistic new town development in developing countries.
5.2 Containing rapid urban growth
The speed of urbanization in the postcolonial era nearly overwhelmed these new capital cities, and their long
range, comprehensive modernist plans were too inflexible to accommodate rapid changes. While Abuja
Master Plan envisaged the population of Abuja to reach 1.64 million by 2000 (IPA 1979), the city’s estimated
day-time population is up to seven million people (Iro 2007). In Dodoma, informal settlements accounted for
the vast majority of urban growth, although the city had been specifically designed to avoid that urban trend
(Myers 2011). Although Gaborone’s population was planned to grow to a maximum of 20000, but by 1991
about 50% of Botswana’s population lived within a radius of 100 km of Gaborone and by 2001 the city
population of 185891 accounted for half of the nation’s urban population (Selolwane 2006). However, the
sharp rise of immigration into Gaborone has currently declined as there is a population shift to new residential
locations in surrounding commuter villages. In Lilongwe, the supply of serviced land cannot keep up with the
demand for housing, commerce and industry. In each of these cities the rate of urban growth has undermined
the modernist assumption of providing adequate housing, transportation and urban services in the capital
cities.
5.3 Provision of housing and urban services
One important goal establishing these capital cities and an indicator of a functioning city is to provide citizens
with adequate housing supplied with basic services like tap water, waste collection and sanitation services.
However, higher housing standards and foreign building materials embraced in these modernist projects have
inflated the cost of housing and discouraged the use of local building materials and technology, thereby
making housing unaffordable to the low income people.
In Abuja, the Master plan made affordable housing a priority and proposed equal access to basic services
to all city residents. However, high cost of land and housing and strict planning standards have systematically
excluded poor people from decent housing (Abubakar and Doan 2010). Although the city built 22,000 housing
units in 1980 intended for junior state employees (Ukoha and Beamish 1997), these houses became occupied
by senior civil servants. Ikejiofor (1998) argues that because low and middle-income people are unable to
build, buy or rent affordable housing, they squat on undeveloped land at the periphery or share a dwelling
unit with other families. Myers (2011) also suggests that the disorganized treatment of pre-existing
settlements in Abuja has created an uneven mixture of housing types, even while officials claim that, ‘it is
impossible for slums to develop here’ (Vale 2008). Similarly, in many districts of Abuja there have been episodic
water supply, insufficient facilities for solid waste collection, and frequent sewer blockage and sewage spills
(Abubakar 2014).
In Tanzania, based on the socialist intention to provide quality housing for its citizens, the Department of
Architecture and Housing in Dodoma was mandated to ensure that only high quality housing could be built
(Hayuma 1985). Consequently, self-built and informal houses were to have no place in the city, where
representation and image are the first consideration (Kironde 1993). These stringent development standards
prevented low income residents from building houses in planned areas, and they resorted to building informal
houses such as in Chang’ombe at the city’s periphery (Lupapa and Lupapa 2003; Kombe and Kreibich 2001).
Furthermore, while the Tanzanian government intended to provide the necessary infrastructures and services
as befitting the national capital city, after two decades the city lacks schools, health facilities, and employment
opportunities due to resource limitations (Kironde 1993). Norman and Massoi (2010) also reported that
despite Kizota being one of the oldest wards in Dodoma municipality, it lacks roads, trench and sewage system.
In Gaborone, there was a provision of credit and building materials for housing (Mosha 1996) and site-
and-service programs where about 6000 informal houses on public land had their houses legalized and

7. upgraded with services like electricity, water and sanitation (Selolwane 2006). However, demands for shelter
and basic services is still high and sharp rise in immigration to the city led to a number of problems including
shortage of housing, increased income inequality, and inadequate and over-taxed basic infrastructure and
facilities (Keiner and Cevric 2006). Selolwane (2006) observed that even though private land development
policy has increased the supply of housing in Gaborone, due to ongoing shortages the poor can wait for up to
ten years to get an allocation on the site-and-services areas as there were over 14000 households on the
waiting list. Datta (1995) noted that lack of serviced land and high standards of construction made public
housing unaffordable for even middle to high income public workers and impossible for the poor.
In the case of Lilongwe, the Malawi Housing Corporation developed a sites-and-service scheme in the early
1980s in traditional housing areas that are far from the central city, not served by main roads, and in very
overcrowded locations (Myers 2003a). By 1984 about 10400 plots had been developed with access roads, pit
latrine and piped water within 1000 feet of each plot (Englund 2002). However, the number of site-and-
services plots were considered inadequate and 70% were occupied by more than one household (Potts 1985).
Quite recently, the shortage of serviced plots, inaccessible housing financing due to high interest rate and
collateral requirement has pushed people towards the unplanned periphery where a majority of Lilongwe’s
population now lives in the real “post-colonial city” (Myers 2011). A commendable effort in housing delivery
is the provision of good quality low income housing for the poor via a partnership between the government
and NGOs such as Centre for Community Organization and Development and Habitat for Humanity Malawi
(UN-Habitat 2011). In terms of basic services, only 20.2% of Lilongwe’s residents had access to piped water,
18% had access to electricity (albeit intermittently supplied) and 6% had access to sewerage in 2006 (UN-
Habitat 2014a: 167).
5.4 Informal settlements and businesses
Although the plans for these new capital cities called for western standards of development and housing,
informal settlements and businesses have proliferated in each of these cases. Because these modernist
projects have espoused western planning and design standards and prioritized aesthetic rather than economic
role of cities, formal housing is undersupplied and unaffordable, and formal employment is scarce. Thus,
people resort to informal housing and businesses. In addition, access to land is very centralized and difficult
and mortgage financing is very scarce.
In Abuja and around the city there were 24 informal settlements and markets on un-serviced land covering
2,193 hectares in 2006 (Jibril 2006). Dodoma has also experienced large scale invasion of public lands by
informal settlements like Chang’ombe which was inhabited by 38500 (more than a decade ago) on the land
that the 1976 Master Plan had earmarked for landscaping (Kombe and Kreibich 2001). In Lilongwe also, despite
the initial stated aspirations of city decision-makers, McGill (1994) and Potts (1985) conclude that the
increasing informal sector and housing in the city is not different from other less planned cities in the country.
In order to maintain the modernist image of an orderly and beautiful city, urban policy on informal housing
and economic activities in these cases has focused on eradication rather than upgrading and integration, thus
disrupting the livelihood of people in the sector. In Abuja over 800,000 people were left homeless in the city
and its surroundings through demolishing of informal settlements (SEREC 2006). Street hawking was also
banned by the city and violators were sentenced to whipping and imprisonment (Abubakar 2014). To maintain
a green city, Dodoma municipal authority has demolished unauthorized retail kiosks several times, and seized
cattle herds grazing on landscaped areas (Lupapa and Lupapa 2003).
Similarly, Selolwane (2006) reported that in 2001 the Botswana ministry of housing and lands demolished
several informal settlements on tribal lands around Gaborone. In Lilongwe too, the local authority frowned
upon informal settlements and often tears down 'unsightly sites' (Potts 1985: 192) that conflict with its desire
for a garden city (Myers 2003a). However, shortage of formal housing due to overwhelming population
growth, and lack of finance and political will, this stance no longer pertains as more than 70% of city’s
population lives in informal settlements (UN-Habitat 2011: 18).

8. 5.5 More emphasis on physical development and modern city image
Because African nations desire to be seen as ‘catching up with the west’ (Watson 2009), their leaders project
that image by creating modern cities to symbolize national development and identity (Vale 2008). As such, the
modernist plans of these capital cities emphasized the physical aspects of planning with little consideration
for socioeconomic issues. The plans were context-independent and the garden city concept, order, urban form
and western architecture were given priority over human activities, values, cultures and job creation.
Starting with Abuja, where the city was to serve as the Nigeria’s ‘symbol of greatness’ (IPA 1979: 27),
observations by the authors reveal that the city skyline is dotted with modern architecture, wide roads and
beautifully landscape. Indeed, the Abuja master plan allocated a whopping 32% for open spaces and parks
(IPA 1979). Similarly, the 2006 review of Abuja Master Plan by an international consultant focused on the
review of the city’s land use plans, central area design and the development control (Abubakar 2014).
In the case of Dodoma, because the city was intended to embody the African Socialism of the Arusha
Declaration of 1967, its scale is less monumental (less emphasis on image and modernism) than that of the
other capitals (Callaci 2016; Vale 2008). However, in spite of an attempt to incorporate elements of socialism
and self-reliance, the master plan drew heavily on overseas models and experiences (Mosha 2004). According
to Siebolds and Steinberg (1981), the Dodoma Master Plan recommended a garden and orderly city with a
generous allocation of land for landscaping through a hierarchy of recreational open spaces, and 16% of the
area for transportation. Lupala and Lupala (2003) described this proposed open spaces system as an ‘imposed
western design model’ that is inflexible and inappropriate to the city’s cultural context, in addition cattle
grazing, ‘squatting’ through informal housing, petty trading, and garbage dumping are some of the issues that
are negatively affecting the city’s landscape.
Even though, the Master Plan of Gaborone was not so fixated on image and ‘modernism’ it was
characterized by a low-density form of development based on the ‘Garden City’ model which was considered
a showpiece whose general design pleases the tourist and is ‘functionally acceptable’ to its residents (Best
1970). Even though the Master Plan proposed substantial number of roads, pedestrian walkways and open
spaces, Mosha (1996) argued that its strict emphases on land use zoning and the urban structure that allowed
little space for expansion outside of the original layout were inappropriate to local values.
In Malawi, the government was committed to creating a garden city image in Lilongwe where parks and
low density were prioritized (Potts 1985). Land uses were highly segregated as residential areas were zoned
into high, low and medium density areas, which were further subdivided into 'traditional' site and service areas
and 'permanent' housing (Potts 1985). The city’s residential areas were laid out with distinct curvilinear roads
which separated one area from another and residents were asked to landscape their houses. However,
Lilongwe was described by one of its residents as a ‘boring planned city laid out in a Western way and lived in
an African one’ (Myers 2003b: 347). Further, growing demand for land and housing is also visible in a significant
increase in ‘illegal’ land invasions (Rohregger 2006).
Although physical descriptions of a modern city would include low-density housing, non-traditional high-
rise buildings, and beautiful landscaping, a modern city should also imply a just, inclusive, healthy and
entrepreneurial urban area. Apart from its symbolic value, a modern city should also be sustainable in
environmental, economic, and social terms. These normative issues are covered in details in section six.
5.6 Social exclusion
Because the grand plans for these new capitals emphasized western style of urban designs and orderly
urban development through land use planning and strict zoning, the results have been highly segregated
neighborhoods by class (UN-Habitat 2009; Werna 2000). Except for Gaborone, which was deliberately planned
as an unsegregated city with mixed residential areas, in other capital cities the planned areas are basically at
the center but surrounded by mainly informal settlements. In Abuja, the Abuja Master Plan’s designation of a
prioritized central area close to the seat of the federal government has inevitably led to spatial differentiation
where neighborhoods on the periphery have poorer facilities and services, as well as lower income and
political influence (Abubakar 2016).
Similarly, in Lilongwe what has been termed “apartheid town planning” remains obvious in the clear
spatial differentiation between poor and wealthy areas (Englund 2002). The high-density residential areas

9. were composed of poor and working class Africans, while the low density areas provide housing for White,
Asian, and some Africans with high socio-economic status (Myers 2003a). These corroborate the contention
that the implementation of urban policies guided by modernist principles has created many problems,
including segregation and disruption caused by the eradication of slums and informal settlements (Werna
2000).
5.7 Overreliance on private automobiles
Although public transportation is an issue high on the urban sustainability agenda, most residents of these
new capital cities have to rely on private automobiles due to modernist principles of the Garden City that
promote low density development, strict zoning and overreliance on public transportation system. In Abuja,
because automobiles dominate the city’s transport system, residents spend daily commute of between two
to three hours due to the overcrowded roads (Abubakar 2014). In Gaborone, the dominance of private
automobiles has been implicated in generating increasing carbon emissions (UN-Habitat 2014a). In Lilongwe
too, private cars and minibuses are the most common means of public transport, despite the roads being
inadequate to support the increasing number of vehicles leading to acute traffic congestion, and the lack of
walkways that creates conflict between pedestrians and motorists, resulting to growing number of road
accidents (UN-Habitat 2011).
5.8 Lack of public involvement
Each of these new towns was designed and implemented by foreign consultants with little involvement of the
local community. This is not surprising because the modernist model is top-down, context-independent and
based on scientific but not local knowledge. In Abuja, in addition to designing its master plan by a consortium
of international consultants, about 90% of the respondents in a survey indicated that they were not involved
in the planning or implementing some major development projects executed or ongoing in the city (Benna
Associates 2009). Lupapa and Lupapa (2003) reported that stakeholders were not involved in the overall
planning process in Dodoma because the central authority failed to decentralize its planning functions to local
governments. Similarly, Norman and Massoi (2010) agree that lack of community involvement in the planning
process in Dodoma resulted in ignoring residents’ priorities, while squatter settlements such as Chang’ombe
demonstrate the potential of community participation through self-help to mobilize local and external
resources to provide services such as water and electricity (Kombe and Kreibich 2001). In Gaborone, Mosha
(1996) reported that several people complained that they were not involved in city planning activities.
The above analysis has shown that the postcolonial capital city building boom in Africa recorded little
success as an urbanization strategy because the projects were very expensive and beyond the financial
capability of the governments. Most projects were unable to provide adequate housing and basic urban
services proposed in their master plans, could not address rapid urbanization challenge, and placed too much
emphasis on physical design rather than the economic role of cities and local context. In addition, these efforts
have led to implicit segregation of the poor from the wealthy elites and the disruption of the informal sector.
The next section draws some lessons that could prove invaluable for the new satellite towns in the developing
countries.
6. Lessons for new satellite towns in developing countries
The idea of new towns is reemerging again in developing countries but this time as mostly satellite cities to
decant major metropolitan areas. This section presents some lessons for more effective planning and
development of the new satellite towns and other cities in developing countries. The lessons are based on the
analysis in the previous section and from normative and sustainability points of views.
6.1 Adopt better planning principles
Modernist planning is not a panacea that can guarantee a high quality of life to city residents and these recent
visions for new satellite cities are little more than a ‘modernist dream’ because rapid urbanization, omni-
present informality, and limited resources undermine the applicability of the model (UN-Habitat 2009). In
order to more efficiently contain rapid urban growth and lower development costs, new towns planning
should shift away from the dreams of long-term grand projects and modern city image to an emphasis on a

10. more incremental decision-making process to implement operational, though still relatively general goals
(Pieterse 2008) . Likewise, strategic spatial plans that are connected to infrastructure development are more
practical as they promote more compact forms of urban expansion focused around public transport where
transport–land-use links take precedence followed by water and sanitation network (UN-Habitat 2009).
Similarly, more decentralized planning efforts are proven to be more effective because they incorporate
local content, contain more specific goals that reflect the interests of a pluralistic society, and emphasize
flexible plans that are easier to implement (Smoke 2003). Building local capacity and strengthening institutions
to manage urban development is better than centralized approach and engaging foreign experts that import
expensive planning models, standards and designs into developing countries (UN-Habitat 2009). Harrison
(2006) suggests that postcolonial planning requires a kind of “hybrid governance” that incorporates other
visions and perspectives from outside the strict rationality of modernist planning model.
6.2 Emphasize local values and participation
Instead of emphasizing rationality and objectivity, urban planning should be context-dependent and
incorporate local knowledge and participation. Through public involvement societies, cultures, and practices
emerge from multiple interactions over long periods of time and demonstrate remarkable degrees of
spontaneous creativity and dynamism. Instead of basing all decisions on rigorous positivist aspirations and
scientific methods, urban development plans should place much greater emphasis on context and pursue
practical wisdom and a ‘phronetic’ form of knowledge distinctively suited to the study of human social
phenomena (Flyvbjerg 2001). According to Scott (1998) practical knowledge (Métis) cannot be reduced to
formulaic instructions and may be the “missing link” for a more effective and successful tool of planning in the
rapidly growing and diverse African cities. Myers (2011) also suggests cultivating a more explicitly
“Afropolitan” approach that recognizes the diversity, the informality, and the 'woundedness' of cities instead
of wholesome adoption of inappropriate western models.
Similarly, effective planning requires negotiation informed by moral and local knowledge of the relevant
social and political context of human beings’ everyday life skills, unlike in the modernist model where universal
laws and theories of social life are applied to a world that is changing and diverse in terms of people, places
and situations (Abram 2000; Beauregard 1991). This practical local knowledge emerges in abundance when
people are free to experiment in many ways such as self-help community projects and people’s own initiatives
in starting their own businesses or building their own houses. Scott (1998) argues that it would in fact be
surprising if such a combination of passionate interest, close observation, large numbers of amateur specialists
trying different possibilities, and the time necessary for trial and error did not produce many novel solutions
to practical problems in our cities. Local knowledge and skills need not reside only in city hall, but must come
from the neighborhoods, informal actors and squatter settlements where the majority of urban dwellers are
located. Also, an effective approach to urban policymaking involves political groups and civil society engaging
and interacting at various urban scales and spaces resulting in more practical outcomes and interventions that
are beneficial to even the marginalized citizens. It focuses on ways in which residents can be involved in
decisions affecting their lives including addressing the pressing challenges of poverty and access to housing,
safe drinking water and sanitation rather than city esthetics, modern buildings or low density development
visions of the elites (UN-Habitat 2009).
6.3 Promote social mix and integration
Through strict zoning regulations and high housing standards, the modernist planning model exacerbates
spatial exclusion and social inequality, leading to unequal access to housing and services among city residents
(Watson 2009). Falk (2012) observes that the new satellite towns in East Africa are not only causing severe
loss of economic and human capital in the adjacent old cities, including migration of qualified and skilled
workforces to the satellite towns in search of well-paying jobs, but they also cause further impoverishment
and marginalization of the low income people in the old cities. Similarly, the privatization aspect of the new
satellite towns would erode public realm due to the inevitability of privatized 'public' spaces as the new towns
are likely to be gated, and would lack interconnectedness of socioeconomic and political systems, such as the
relationship between poor workers and elites.

11. As such, it is important and normative for the new satellite towns to be just cities. According to Fainstein
(2005), the values necessary for the just city include diversity, equity and sustainability. Social mix of people
from diverse income strata is one of the strategies for achieving sustainable residential environment as it
provides the basis for healthy social networks, which are the driving force of city life and can reduce social
discrimination (UN-Habitat 2014b). Mixing social groups in the same neighborhood could result in a ‘role-
model effect’, where poor and uneducated youth could improve their lives by imitating the behaviors and
achievements of individuals in higher social group.
Similarly, the new satellite towns should aim to meet the challenges of rapid urbanization, inequality, and
informality. As more people now live in the urban areas of developing countries, it is important that
urbanization is accepted as a positive phenomenon and an effective means for improving access to services,
as well as economic and social opportunities (UN-Habitat 2009). Though most of these new towns have
employment generation among their goals, it is equally important to recognize the positive role played by
urban informal sectors in poverty alleviation and housing delivery and as such policies and regulations must
be revised to facilitate informal-sector activities by embracing alternatives to the forced eviction of squatters
and informal entrepreneurs. Such policies could include regularization and upgrading of informally developed
areas and incorporating them into the new satellite towns as eventually the services of house help, drivers,
servants, security men, cooks will be required by the elites expected to inhabit the new towns. Without explicit
provision for accommodating the providers of such support services, the lesson of Africa’s new capital cities
indicated a likelihood that satellite towns would be invaded by informal houses of these support workers and
informal business when relatives and friends of the residents of the new towns migrate from villages or the
nearby old city to the new towns in search of livelihood.
6.4 Combat sprawl to improve efficiency in infrastructure and services provision, and
sustainability
A compact city with high population density and mixed land uses is one of the UN’s recommended ways of
combatting urban sprawl and climate change, promoting sustainability and improving efficiency in
infrastructure and services provision. Although the master plans of most of these satellite towns have already
been designed, they can still be amended to ensure more compact and mixed development pattern, because
of the benefit of lower per capita cost for providing and maintaining infrastructure and basic urban services
(UN-Habitat 2014b). The high density feature of a compact city also increases energy efficiency and decreases
pollution and supports social interaction, and better access to community services. It also promotes walkability
which creates vibrant street life, brings people into public space and promotes health, reduces car dependency
and creates a sense of identity and an architectural scale that improves esthetical values (UN-Habitat 2014b).
For a city to be sustainable, the UN Habitat (2014b) recommends a minimum density of 150 persons per
hectare. Adopting single-use zoning strategies must be avoided as it often results in serious urban problems,
including car dependency, traffic congestion, increasing sprawl and declining quality and vitality of urban
centers, as seen in the cases of the studied new capital cities. Mixing residential, commercial, office or other
land-use creates local jobs, promotes the local economy, provides closer public services and community
support, and encourages walkability and bicycling, while reducing car dependency and landscape
fragmentation (UN-Habitat 2014b).
Similarly, new towns should aim to meet the challenges posed by climate and environmental change such
as water stress and pollution, through the need to move towards greener development options and
sustainable energy initiatives in order to reduce over dependence on non-renewable energy (UN-Habitat
2014a). Such efforts can include exploring the use of solar energy, and re-use and recycling of waste products
to satisfy urban energy and material needs. Also, according to UN-Habitat (2009), the development of
sustainable transport such as emphasizing public transit and walkability could help reduce the adverse
environmental impacts of dependence on fossil fuel-driven cars.
6.5 Affordable housing as a precondition for state support
There is evidence that several African new satellite towns are not viable without state support. In many of
these expensive projects, the private sector must seek state support in land and loan acquisition,

12. infrastructure development and even through partnership and subsidies. For example, the Eco Atlantic City
project which costs about US$ 6 billion got land, infrastructure support and financing by Nigerian and
international banks through a partnership with Lagos State Government (Ogunlesi, 2012). Similarly, Kilamba
new city which costs US$ 3.5 billion acquired “free land” and state support for financing through a Chinese
bank, and the “Ghost town” only became alive when the Angolan government allocated substantial part of its
housing budget to subsidize housing for the middle class, up to 30% subsidy for the cheapest house (Cain
2014).
This study, therefore, recommends that as a precondition for African states’ involvement in any
partnership in or supporting private development of any new town projects affordable housing must be
included in such projects. The UN-Habitat’s suggestion of 20-50% of residential floor to be allocated to
affordable housing, and that one single tenure type should not exceed 50% of the residential floor area is
highly recommended (UN-Habitat, 2014b). The federal and regional governments should insist that plots in
different sizes and with different regulations are provided to increase the diversity of housing options. Instead
of serving the interest of elites, governments can also work with private developers to invest in public housing
supply and promoting multi-level employment (UN Habitat, 2014). The state should also ensure that design
and building material proposals for affordable housing are not beyond city’s median income and help facilitate
mortgages or loans for the middle income city residents.
Setting preconditions to ensure affordable housing is important because, similar to the case of the four
capital cities, state spending is being skewed towards sustaining these new towns instead of meeting the basic
housing and services needs of the much larger poor urban populations. Cain (2014) raises a vital question
regarding the practicality of the new town development model championed by private developers: “we must
ask if the model is financially sustainable without substantial state guarantees of free land, subsidies and even
bail-outs when all else fails”.
7. Conclusion
The major contribution of this study is highlighting the inadequacies of the new town development as an
urbanization strategy in Africa using the examples on the cases of Abuja, Dodoma, Gaborone and Lilongwe.
The study has shown that these postcolonial capital cities have not been able to provide adequate housing
and basic urban services, but rather places much emphasis on physical design, resulting in implicit segregation
of the poor from the wealthy elites and the disruption of the livelihood of the people in the informal sector.
Furthermore, these very expensive projects are overwhelmed by rapid urbanization and informality. In this
urban context characterized by informality, urban poverty, and cosmopolitanism (Myers 2011), plans based
on grand modernist schemes and the planners who promote them are increasingly marginal to the dynamic
life of the cities evolving around them.
Even though some analysts may reject new town planning altogether and argue for fixing the problems of
existing cities instead, we argue that this trend has become so widespread that it is too late for rejection and
its benefits seem to outweigh the concerns. Given the current challenges of rapid urbanization and limited
public resources in most African countries, there are useful roles for private-sector led investments in new
satellite cities as long as they are better planned and implemented. Great care should be exercised to ensure
that these private investments do not over-burden the public treasury by subsequently demanding
infrastructure and services that are needed desperately in existing areas of the city. In addition, this study
recommends that new town development in developing countries should learn from the lessons discussed in
the previous section.
This analysis of the modernist visions for these African new capitals concludes that the new satellite towns
in developing countries, which are mostly at planning stage, should realize that rapid urbanization is likely to
continue its torrid pace, and as such urban development needs to incorporate some innovative techniques.
Cities in the global South lack the rigid urban form common in the western world and instead are characterized
by flexible informality that requires adaptive planning techniques, not grand plans. Also, modernist planning
principles are insufficient to meet sustainability principles and to provide for the needs of the wider population
where traditional urban spaces are organized around an adaptable and extended family-based form that does
not fit well into Western designs. As private property developers are rarely interested in social housing,

13. national and municipal governments should interact with property developers to get the plans of the new
satellite towns amended to include provision of affordable housing as a condition for government support in
land acquisition and infrastructure development. Lastly, planners seeking to improve the lives of urban
populations must focus more on meeting contemporary challenges such as rapid urbanization, informality,
social exclusion, poverty and unemployment as well as climate and environmental change.
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16. Authors’ Biography
Ismaila Rimi Abubakar has over 15 years of international experience in teaching, research & professional
consultancy. He obtained Master of Science in Computing from The Robert Gordon University, UK, Master of
City and Regional Planning from KFUPM and PhD Urban and Regional Planning from Florida State University.
He previously taught in the department of Urban and Regional Planning, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria,
Nigeria. His main research interests are urban sustainability, new towns development, urban services delivery,
urban growth management, and GIS. He has published several articles in ISI journals and presented at
international conferences.
Petra L. Doan is Professor and Coordinator of the PhD Program in the Department of Urban and Regional
Planning, Florida State University. She obtained both Masters and PhD in City and Regional Planning from
Cornell University. Her main research interests are Planning for Developing Areas, housing and community
development, and planning for non-normative and marginalized populations. She has worked as a Peace Corps
Volunteer in Togo and has done research and consulting work in Cote d'Ivoire, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger,
Botswana, Egypt, and Jordan. She has published numerous articles and book chapters, and she has edited
many books.