Why It Is Difficult to Change Urban Planning Laws in African Countries

Abstract

Planning law reform in African countries is widely acknowledged to be a prerequisite for better urban (and rural) development, both by donor organizations and by African governments. This article highlights the importance of understanding the political, economic and personal dynamics that underpin the operation of a planning system before designing a law reform initiative. Too often, the assumption is that in African countries, it should be a relatively straightforward exercise to draft and implement a new planning law. Instead, it is argued, the context in many African countries is profoundly complex and so warrants a thorough and considered approach to legislative change. This article examines, as an example, the principles guiding law reform in the UK and discusses the potential for these principles to be adapted for planning law reform in African countries. It concludes with a call for a practical methodology that can be adapted to meet the different circumstances of different countries to guide the development of new planning law.