Africa’s growing cities and towns are drawing more global and local attention, with urbanization increasingly impinging upon existing balances of power, disrupting economic dynamics and intensifying public policy challenges such as inequality, air pollution and high fatalities from crashes and congestion. These trends are occurring amidst growing anxiety about climate change, with cities facing increased risks and vulnerabilities including rising temperatures and sea levels. At the same time, city building is generating stronger demand for infrastructure and services, with African countries being seen as the final frontier for capital investment. A good part of the wealth created in these so-called ‘emerging economies’ is concentrated in cities and towns that continue to draw in rural populations. How these forces play out will no doubt have profound implications for the future of African countries and the world. The politics around critical infrastructures and services in African cities is becoming more intense and contested, and there is a growing interest in urban public transport systems in particular. Transport systems are critical for boosting economic productivity yet they also provide the vast majority of people with the everyday mobility needed to live and survive, and to connect to rural areas and markets. These systems tend to consist of varied semi-formal bus/minibus operations (sometimes called ‘paratransit’ or popular/artisanal transport). Predominantly owned by large numbers of small businesses or cooperatives and a major employer, these indigenous mobility systems face mounting pressures from public transport reform processes. These processes implicate global capital as well as green, climate and public transport advocacy networks, as public transport improvements are a clear way to simultaneously address multiple problems. This context makes critical historically and empirically grounded perspectives on urban transport systems particularly important and timely. Matatu: a history of popular transportation in Nairobi by Kenda Mutongi and Taken for a Ride: grounding neoliberalism, precarious labour, and public transport in an African metropolis by Matteo Rizzo are welcome deep dives into the political, economic and social dynamics of these systems (matatus in Kenya and daladalas in Tanzania). Both books demonstrate how minibus systems emerged as a form of African entrepreneurship in a context of public transport service provision failure. This failure originated in colonial times when African subjects were deliberately marginalized. Following independence, formal public bus companies had a brief flourishing yet were never really able to meet demand. In the 1980s, structural adjustment and poor management aggravated the challenge and matatus/daladalas came to dominate transport provision. Africa 89 (4) 2019: 759–79

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关于东非流行交通工具的新书 - Kenda Mutongi，Matatu：内罗毕流行交通工具的历史。伊利诺伊州芝加哥：芝加哥大学出版社（hb US$90 – 978 0 226 13086 6；pb US$30 – 978 0 226 47139 6）。2017, v + 350 pp. - Matteo Rizzo, Taken for a Ride：在非洲大都市中为新自由主义、不稳定的劳动力和公共交通打下基础。牛津：牛津大学出版社（hb £53 – 978 0 19 879424 0；pb £25 – 978 0 19 883905 7）。2017 年，vi + 215 页。

非洲不断发展的城镇正在吸引更多全球和地方的关注，城市化越来越多地影响现有的权力平衡，扰乱经济动态，加剧公共政策挑战，例如不平等、空气污染以及因撞车和拥堵造成的高死亡率。这些趋势是在人们对气候变化日益焦虑的情况下发生的，城市面临着越来越多的风险和脆弱性，包括气温和海平面上升。与此同时，城市建设正在对基础设施和服务产生更强烈的需求，非洲国家被视为资本投资的最终前沿。这些所谓的“新兴经济体”创造的财富中有很大一部分集中在继续吸引农村人口的城镇。这些力量如何发挥无疑将对非洲国家和世界的未来产生深远的影响。围绕非洲城市关键基础设施和服务的政治变得越来越激烈和有争议，尤其是对城市公共交通系统的兴趣日益浓厚。交通系统对于提高经济生产力至关重要，但它们也为绝大多数人提供生活和生存所需的日常流动性，以及与农村地区和市场的联系。这些系统往往由各种半正式的公共汽车/小巴运营（有时称为“辅助运输”或流行/手工运输）组成。主要由大量小企业或合作社和一个主要雇主所有，这些土著交通系统面临来自公共交通改革进程的越来越大的压力。这些过程涉及全球资本以及绿色、气候和公共交通倡导网络，因为改善公共交通是同时解决多个问题的明确方法。这种背景使得对城市交通系统的批判性的历史和经验为基础的观点特别重要和及时。Matatu：Kenda Mutongi 和 Taken for a Ride 的内罗毕流行交通史：Matteo Rizzo 在非洲大都市中扎根新自由主义、不稳定劳动力和公共交通，欢迎深入探讨这些系统的政治、经济和社会动态（肯尼亚的 matatus 和坦桑尼亚的 daladalas）。这两本书都展示了小巴系统如何在公共交通服务供应失败的情况下成为非洲创业的一种形式。这种失败起源于殖民时代，当时非洲人被故意边缘化。独立后，正式的公共巴士公司短暂繁荣，但从未真正满足需求。1980 年代，结构调整和管理不善加剧了挑战，马塔图斯/达拉达拉斯开始主导运输供应。非洲 89 (4) 2019: 759–79 结构调整和管理不善加剧了挑战，马塔图斯/达拉达拉斯开始主导运输供应。非洲 89 (4) 2019: 759–79 结构调整和管理不善加剧了挑战，马塔图斯/达拉达拉斯开始主导运输供应。非洲 89 (4) 2019: 759–79