Urbanisation in the Global South

Abstract

This chapter argues that the urban world is increasingly a ‘southern’ urban world. Over the last half-century or more, urbanisation has proceeded far more rapidly in the Global South than the Global North. Analysts of Global South urbanisation critique the frequent use of analytical toolkits developed in the Global North to explain urban processes in the Global South, and therefore this chapter seeks to build from ‘southern’ understandings of Global South urbanisation. While great diversity exists across the Global South, one can nevertheless identify some common themes. This chapter highlights and discusses variations upon five of these themes across the urban Global South, bringing in examples from Asia, Africa and Latin America: legacies of colonialism and imperialism; rapid processes of urbanisation; sprawling urban form; informal economy and settlement; and variability in governance and service delivery. The chapter’s final main segment analyses the implications of the general themes for urban ecologies in the Global South.