Book excerpt: Few published studies have thoroughly treated the history of European planning practices in the overseas colonial territories. This is especially true regarding the African continent in general and sub-Saharan Africa in particular. Interest in the indigenous response to the formal organisation of the colonial settlement has only been manifest in the last few decades. In addition, French and British colonial policies and practices in West Africa, particularly with regard to town planning, have rarely been analysed together within the same intellectual framework. This book contains eleven black and white photographs and two color photographs.