Edinburgh Napier University

  Transportation in African cities takes place in a context where, with the exception of South Africa, the overall context of regional, national, and continental transport provision and connectivity is poor, and these poor levels of infrastructure supply, transport service provision, and low levels of connectivity inhibit the effective functioning of many aspects of African society. The pressures to streamline the traffic flow of urban Africa have resulted in the overlooking of the positive dimensions of these characteristics and a misreading of the route possibilities of larger vehicles within the African city. Alternative institutional patterns would include better auditing of mainstream urban transport circumstance, the automatic inclusion of end users in transport design, and a rethinking of the role of large fleets of small-scale flexible vehicles to penetrate and give access to all areas of the African city.