Unplanned Suburbs

In a course I took last year on Canadian Social History, I had the opportunity to read a book by Richard Harris on the development of Toronto’s unplanned suburbs in the early part of the twentieth century. The book, aptly titled “Unplanned Suburbs,” told the story of how working class families would build houses in these regions – often because the lack of amenities made the area affordable and because they could build their houses themselves as they could afford to purchase materials. Civic planning as we know it was rare; there were no rigid grid street plans, public parks, or other semblances of mass civic order.

Fast forward now to twenty-first century Lusaka. One of the things that first hit me when strolling or cycling through the compounds that I frequent was that they were basically “unplanned suburbs” on a massive scale. Houses are built as people can afford the bricks to construct them and are, I think, regularly constructed by the owner and their family, the network of streets and paths appears to be a maze to anyone not familiar with their intricacies, and modern amenities are at a premium. Most places seem to have power (which, however, is regularly out), but fetching water is often a chore that involves walking great distances. Indeed, if there were more services, people could not afford them anyway and would have to move on to another compound.

This observation is not to suggest that Zambia is merely one hundred years behind Canada in terms of development, and so will eventually follow a similar course. I cannot imagine these compounds dying like the unplanned suburbs of Toronto did (the introduction of amenities, and the corresponding taxes and fees, along with improved public transportation made the neighbourhoods to expensive for their original inhabitants). It is interesting, however, merely to imagine the similarities between these historical narratives that might otherwise seem remarkably different, and to recognize that in many ways, large sections of the Canadian working class of 80 to 100 years ago, lived in a “third world” state.