African Cities

[You are to blame]

Since most of the world thinks all sub-saharan african outside of South Africa live in mud huts here are 30 cities from across the continent excluding south africa, any suprises or are they as expected


Maputo, Mozambique pop. ~ 1 million - (PART 1 OF 3)








Abidjan, Ivory Coast pop. ~ 3 million - (PART 1 OF 3)










Luanda, Angola pop. ~ 3 million - (PART 1 OF 3)




new towers like these will be going up in the next few years



Windhoek, Namibia pop ~ 200 000 -(PART 1 OF 2)
















Walvis bay, namibia


Libreville, Gabon pop. ~ 400 000 - (PART 1 OF 2)






EDIT: MORE PICS OF THIS CITY ON PAGE 2

Port Louis, Mauritius pop. ~ 1 million - (PART 1 OF 2)



Kampala, Uganda pop. ~ 1.5 million






Harare, Zimbabwe pop. ~1.5 million - (PART 1 OR 2)










Nairobi, Kenya pop. ~ 3 million - (PART 1 OF 4)





EDIT: MORE PICS OF THIS CITY ON PAGE 3

Addis Ababa, Ethopia ~2.5 million
See page 4

Abuja, Nigeria pop.~ 400 000 - (PART 1 OF 2)










Lagos, Nigeria ~ 13 million - (PART 1 OF 2)






Antananarivo, Madagascar pop. ~ 1.7 million







Douala, Cameroon pop. ~ 1.6 million



Yaounde, Cameroon pop. ~ 1.2 million - (PART 1 of 2)




Asmara, Eriteria - (PART 1 OF 2)




Gaborone, Botswana pop. ~ 200 000 - (PART 1 OF 3)






Djibouti, Djibouti pop. ~ 100 000


Dakar, Senegal pop. ~ 2.5 million - (PART 1 OF 3)








planned building for Dakar


EDIT: MORE PICS OF THIS CITY ON PAGE 3

[xzmattzx]

nice pictures. while many buildings don't look too great (old 70's style block architecture), the cities look pretty nice. they sure aren't like american cities, but many of the countries are somewhat poor, so they do what they can. a couple cities look pretty nice by any standards though. i liked the ivory coast city and the angola city.

[LSyd]

really interesting...i like the look of African cities. it is the 70s block architecture...it's good from that style, it sorta looks mechanical. too many buildings with that look in the U.S. just don't have that look anymore.

is it just me, or does anyone else notice an absence of parking lots and decks?

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[xzmattzx]

Originally Posted by LSyd

is it just me, or does anyone else notice an absence of parking lots and decks?

i think it is the abundance of trees. many urban planners use trees to hide things that don't look very pretty, especially parking lots. this has been done moreso in britain and other places than the us (mainly because muggers can hide behind trees better than they can behind bushes or nothing).

[Texan#1]

thanks for the pics. my favorite ones are of Antananrivo, Madagascar

[You are to blame]

^ many more pics and city added from earlier

[pwright1]

Simply beautiful. Africa is breathtaking. I love it.

[IntrepidMan]

I like the pic of Addis Ababa. Makes the place look peaceful.

[bunt_q]

Originally Posted by xzmattzx

i think it is the abundance of trees. many urban planners use trees to hide things that don't look very pretty, especially parking lots. this has been done moreso in britain and other places than the us (mainly because muggers can hide behind trees better than they can behind bushes or nothing).

I think you're both wrong... I think it is the lack of formal planning and regulatory structure in nearly every one of those cities that makes nearly everything, including parking lots (few decks) and landscaping a completely ad hoc process...

There is definitely something unique and charming about the "African city"... Keeping in mind that the pictures you see are already out of date. Africa is not an urban continent... but that changes more and more every day. I recognize stuff from Gaborone that already looks out of date

Anyways, thanks! Good stuff...

[LSyd]

Originally Posted by xzmattzx

i think it is the abundance of trees. many urban planners use trees to hide things that don't look very pretty, especially parking lots. this has been done moreso in britain and other places than the us (mainly because muggers can hide behind trees better than they can behind bushes or nothing).

where are you coming up with that from? easier to hide behind trees? lol...

i live in "tree city USA," so no lack of trees here.

that said, i like bunt_q's theory and think that's a better explanation than an abundance of trees, although that is a lot of nice trees in a lot of those (even more than here.)

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[yournewmayor]

Any pics of Freetown, SL? I heard that they are doing alot of post-war reconstruction out there... I have extended family who are from the town and came to the States by the hundreds to escape the war. Nowadays many are moving back due to the progress that has been made out there... A-F-R-I-C-A Angola Soweto Zimbabwe - Tanzania Gambia Mozambique and botswana so let us speak about the motherlaaaand!... hehe

[You are to blame]

i doubt that i would be able to find any recent pics of freetown. aspecially since it's very hard to find recent pics of more major african cities. I took me a whole lot of time to find those pics above and most are at least 10 years old or more. I know Luanada, angola is another post war city thats building alot and is flush with billions from oil sales. In a few year Luanda will look alot different than the pics above.

[You are to blame]

^ ghana, kampala, maputo are the economy center for 3 countries which are have had a high rate of growth for a while now and they are building newer towers buidings aswell

[SkyscraperStrasbourg]

South Africa and maghred aren't africa?

Windhoek has a pretty good skyline for the population who is about 200 000 inhabitants, and I think there is a project of a tower, a sout african inverstor.

And these are the first pics of Gaborone I ever seen. I would see more african cities pics.

[yournewmayor]

Originally Posted by You are to blame

i doubt that i would be able to find any recent pics of freetown. aspecially since it's very hard to find recent pics of more major african cities. I took me a whole lot of time to find those pics above and most are at least 10 years old or more. I know Luanada, angola is another post war city thats building alot and is flush with billions from oil sales. In a few year Luanda will look alot different than the pics above.

Thats sounds about right, here are some pics(not really that recent) but they are pretty cool.

The cotton Tree is a Famous Landmark in the city, it has been there for centuries. Here are a few pics centered around the cotton tree...

Circa, 1991

Circa, 2002


Circa, A long ass time ago


Thats about it for the cotton tree, here is a shot of the State House...


some residential, pretty effed up... u can thank Foday Sankoh for that...


Thats about it...

[Nick in Atlanta]

Holy Awesomeness!! That was an unbelievable collection of cities. Excellent job on collecting those photos and putting together the thread!! Really good work.

I was very impressed with Windhoek, Namibia, which still has a big German influence. Libreville, Gabon was very nice and quite impressive. Abidjan and Luanda look great too. Also really liked Port Louis, Nairobi, Addis Ababa (I love Ethiopian food), Asmara, Eritrea (I never thought I'd see a pic of that city). Gaborne, Botswana is very modern, but it is almost right on the South African border, so that must affect it. I can't believe you have a pic of Djibouti. I thought that was basically a French military outpost. Accra, Ghana and Dakar look good too.

I had mixed feelings about Harare, Zimbabwe. Looks nice, but Mugabe has almost completely destroyed the country. Lagos is very poor and overcrowded, while all the oil money is spent by the crooked government in Abuja.

Again, awesome thread!!

[bunt_q]

Originally Posted by Nick in Atlanta

Gabarone, Botswana is very modern, but it is almost right on the South African border, so that must affect it.

Who are you kidding?... South Africa wishes they had the wealth, safety, and overall comfort that Botswana enjoys. My absolute favorite time when living in Pretoria, South Africa was taking the bus to Gaborone for the weekend where we could sit outside, relax, no gates with electrified barbed wire... No racial tension... Good times. Oh, and the beer is better too It is a whole different world from South Africa... same diamond money, no apartheid hangover.

[You are to blame]

Originally Posted by Nick in Atlanta

Holy Awesomeness!! That was an unbelievable collection of cities. Excellent job on collecting those photos and putting together the thread!! Really good work.

I was very impressed with Windhoek, Namibia, which still has a big German influence. Libreville, Gabon was very nice and quite impressive. Abidjan and Luanda look great too. Also really liked Port Louis, Nairobi, Addis Ababa (I love Ethiopian food), Asmara, Eritrea (I never thought I'd see a pic of that city). Gaborne, Botswana is very modern, but it is almost right on the South African border, so that must affect it. I can't believe you have a pic of Djibouti. I thought that was basically a French military outpost. Accra, Ghana and Dakar look good too.

I had mixed feelings about Harare, Zimbabwe. Looks nice, but Mugabe has almost completely destroyed the country. Lagos is very poor and overcrowded, while all the oil money is spent by the crooked government in Abuja.

Again, awesome thread!!

I Agree with you about Mugabe, but i disagree with you about the current nigerian government. They are the best government nigeria has had in two decades, they are serious about lessening coruption and have privatizing wasteful state corparations and are slowly are turning around the economy. Nigeria unlike most african countries has a sizable population and the money to restructure there economy, it will take time and effort but the country is on the right track IMHO

[You are to blame]

See Page 2 for part 2 with more cities

[Nick]

What a great thread.Most of those cities I have never seen pictures of.Only names on a map.

Antananarivo looks the most picturesk