The reality of Africa's urban transition is no longer in dispute.  The rate of urbanization in Africa is widely recognized as the most rapid in the world.  The proportion of Africans living in urban areas is variously estimated to increase to 46% by 2020 (UN-Habitat, 2001), 52% in 2025 (Njoh, 2003) and 53% by 2030 (African Union, 2006). The World Bank predicts that 46 sub-Saharan cities will have populations exceeding 1 million inhabitants by 2010, and that number is expected to reach 70 with a total population of nearly 200 million in the year 2020 (World Bank, 1995). There is a widespread and growing understanding that for resource driven growth to be sustainable, the continents' cities and local government systems must provide the basic services to sustain growth.  Ministers, mayors, city managers and planners, and citizens throughout the region are askingand often, demandingaccess to knowledge and capacity that will enable equitable management of urban growth.  Despite this demand, many countries remain with post-colonial regulatory regimes or altogether lack systems for sustainable urban management.  The region still has no effective networks of urban management professionals/practitioners with consistent, relevant skill sets and shared knowledge. 

With the above in mind the State of the Cities in Africa (SOCA) Project was initiated to address the demand for information and support from cities and practitioners in order to systematically define urban systems in Africa. The SOCA Project is one attempt to respond to the demand for information by building relationships with universities, local governments, national government and other durable civil society institutions to:

1)      Compile and analyse  data on contemporary African urban systems on a country by country basis

2)      Support capacity building amongst urban practitioners and post graduate students in resource constrained environments by promoting local expertise and use of analysis of local data

3)      Create a knowledge network for urban practitioners and policy makers across the continent in order to promote information dissemination, facilitate knowledge exchange and enhance opportunities for peer learning.

One major outcome of the SOCA Project will be the preparation and development of a series of State of the Cities reports reflecting the dynamics in urban Africa.