NEW NATIONAL CAPITALS
No new town typology is more indicative of the political andeconomic belief in speculative urbanization than the New NationalCapital. At present, no fewer than six new capital cities are beingplanned or constructed on the African continent—in essence 1 outof every 9 countries in Africa is building a new capital city. LikeCanberra, Washington D.C. and Brasília before them, these citiesare intended to project what an individual country aspires to be, asmuch as what it represents today. In this way, the appearance ofthis typology makes clear the perceived correlation between globalpolitical and economic status, and the production of novel or iconicurban form.The correlation between iconic urban form and a projection ofpolitical power is not new. What is unique however, is the inversionof this relationship to the point where the physical construction ofthe constituent components of the “global city” are now believedto be an expedient means to an end, rather than a direct product ofreal, growing economic and political status.
