Marius Pieterse

This academic article has just appeared in the African Journal of International and Comparative Law. It conducts a detailed comparative analysis of SADC cities’ constitutional status; operational, functional and financial autonomy; collaborative and strategic space; and the different accountability structures to which they answer. It further reflects on structural and political challenges to effective urban autonomy in the region and suggests ways in which it may be better enabled, so as to equip cities of SADC for the role they must play in pursuit of targets in the New Urban Agenda and UN Sustainable Development Goal 11.