Integrating the Green City Concept in Retooling the City in Africa - A Neo-Mercantile Planning and Plant Science Partnership

Since mid-fifteenth century the African city context has altered progressively following concerted effort to install global economic orthodoxies. As the African city context evolved the culture-specific, pre-industrial and pre-capitalist context withdrew gradually and a capitalistindustrialist context grew. The transition from the context of culture to the context of economy is continuing and currently leading to the perception of cities as engines of growth (however growth that delivers neo-liberal economy). Incidentally the golden thread that runs across the transitory period (covering approximately five centuries) is urban productivity decline and increase in environmental vulnerability. Besides environmental challenges arising from climate change, this trend remains resilient due to existing legacies of epistemological foundations and ideologies. At the moment these legacies leverage planning tuition to deliver neo-liberal urbanism meaning urban design for the delivery of neo-liberal economy.