African cities, and particularly urban spaces in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), are pivots of socioeconomic development with ever-increasing potential for tourism development, despite the plethora of challenges these urban spaces experience. Urbanisation is a multifaceted concept (Musavengane et al., 2020); it is not only about population growth in towns and cities, but also the extent to which this growth is accompanied by structural shifts in the economic, employment, social, environmental and political spheres (UN-Habitat, 2016; Awumbila, 2014). Urban areas are settlements with large and high population densities and built infrastructures (Satterthwaite, 2017). They have been experiencing signifcant population and structural changes. According to the United Nations Develop ment Program (UNDP) (2015), the global population in urban areas is expected to double, with an estimated 1 in 3 persons residing in cities and over 3 billion persons living in slums by 2050. In 2014, 880 million urban residents were esti mated to live in slums, an increase of 11% since 2000 (UNDP, 2015). Regionally, SSA urban areas currently contain approximately 472 million people, with the global share of African urban residents projected to grow from 11% in 2010 to 20% by 2050 (Saghir & Santoro, 2018). Similarly, in SSA, nearly 60% of people live in slums (UN-Habitat, 2016). Although urbanisation levels in many large mainland countries have reduced since the 1970s due to Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) impacting urban economies and livelihoods, some countries continued to urbanise fairly rapidly due to the global commodity boom around 2003–2014 (Potts, 2013, 2017). A sharp rise in urban population over the next 30 years is expected in Asia and Africa (Neiderud, 2015).
With this urban transition in mind, the poor and the vulnerable travelling to these urban areas generally settle in lower-income and hazardous areas, as healthy environments are beyond their reach economically and socially. As Agyeman et al. (2003) note, customarily low-income areas become targets for social and environmental injustices. As the poor move into those spaces with little or no pro vision of social services, it also exposes and increases their vulnerability. Poverty is becoming increasingly urbanised, and the urban poor are susceptible to various urban risks, such as societal and health risks (UN Habitat, 2016). Unplanned urban growth can contribute to urban social, political and environmental risks (Asian Development Bank, 2013), and there is a need for effective planning to mitigate (and alleviate) risks that affect tourism development (Fraser et al., 2017), as the sector is not immune to urbanisation challenges.