Contrasts in Urban Segregation: A Tale of Two African Cities, Durban and Abidjan

This paper is about the South African port city of Durban but it concerns itself simultaneously with another port city of equivalent or larger size: Abidjan, the main economic and administrative centre in the Ivory Coast. The paper compares these two cities in terms of development and breakdown of racial segregation. The chief features of the historical development of Durban and Abidjan are reviewed first. Abidjan, like Durban, was subjected to colonial policies that emphasized racial segregation in a way that blended with international ideas about the modern city. The actual process that unfolded historically was, however, in some significant respects different and the moulding of segregation less successful. After independence, a conception of functional (but not racial) segregation was dominant in Abidjan but it broke down due to economic and social forces from the 1970s. As a result, Abidjan became a less segregated city, with lessons perhaps for its richer counterpart in South Africa. However, current trends suggest elements of convergence in urban society in Africa. Notes, ref., sum.