Planning of Kampala City 1903-1962: The planning ideas, values, and their physical expression

Abstract

The historical association between the planning of Kampala city and colonialism is unquestioned. The empirical observation indicates that the spatial structure of Kampala is partly a unique product of European colonial planning-their inherent ideas and principles. Scholars and analysts have largely ignored this important aspect in the assessment of planning of Kampala. This article attempts to fill the knowledge gap on the historical planning ideas and how the ideas were implemented in Kampala's urban space. Through a descriptive and exploratory approach, and by review and deduction of archival and documentary resources, this article suggests two major factors including inter alia, the discovery of malaria and the germ theory, the need to reproduce "European type space" in Kampala affected planning and consequently, the urban structure of Kampala city in the first half of the twentieth century. © The Author(s) 2010.