The Future of Secondary Cities in (Southern) Africa: Concluding Remarks and Research Agenda

Since colonial times, secondary cities in southern Africa have been in a state of flux yet have been central in promoting and stabilising local governance. They balance and filter centre-local relations differently from capital and metropolitan cities, creating unique spatial and economic efficiencies as well as problems. Their realities, pressures, and opportunities yield different dividends to their immediate communities and transcend national and international development interests. These multiple roles are inadequately understood, yet they remain strong as secondary cities are living open systems acting as laboratories for experimentation and domestication of new urbanism innovations, such as smart cities and sustainable development goals (SDGs). They provide nodes for better advancing new ways of managing rapid urbanisation and the various layers of urban informalities. Reflecting on the past and present of secondary cities’ spatial planning and governance dynamics offers exciting scenario-building opportunities that inform engagement with urban futures linked to models that create resilient cities that are competitive, just, and sustainable. This chapter uses a thematic approach to reflect on the main messages proffered by various chapter contributions to this book. The chapter captures practical ways of negotiating the cracks, curves, and contours of urbanity and the post-colonial spatial identities and economies of African secondary cities. The policy, planning, and decision-making implications of a refreshed understanding of the storyline of secondary cities demonstrate the complementary and catalytic roles they play in allocating and managing socio-economic and spatial growth dividends in rapidly extending southern African urban landscapes.