Originally published in 1978 as part of the Urbanization in Developing
Countries series, this is an interdisciplinary study of rapid urban
growth in West Africa. Gugler and Flanagan first explore the history of
the cities of the early West African empires and they draw on the work
of social anthropologists and sociologists, as well as demographers,
economists, geographers, historians, political scientists and social
psychologists. They then describe the urban explosion that the region
experienced after World War II. They explore the implications of
widespread urban unemployment and underemployment, the housing crisis
and the emergence of metropolitan areas such as Lagos. The literature on
urbanization and social change in Black Africa in general, and West
Africa in particular, expanded at a fast pace in the years preceding
publication. This critical review of the disparate findings filled a gap
in African Studies and threw light on the understanding of Third World
urbanization.