Urbanisation, urban densities and material dependency in Zambian mining cities

• Copperbelt mining cities have been planned with low densities. • These low densities are framed as a man-made material dependency. • Low densities remain in the Copperbelt mining cities. • Urbanisation has occurred in non-mining cities and non-Copperbelt mining cities. In many African countries, urbanisation is linked to mining. The Africa Mining Vision emphasises the development benefits that mining should bring. Zambia is a clear example of a country that has attempted to modernise through urbanisation linked to mining. Combining the Global Human Settlements Urban Centres Database and the S&P Global Database on Mines (2021), we demonstrate how mining has led to the development of many cities in Zambia, which were originally planned with very low densities. The low densities remain common despite many changes. We conceptualise the low-density form of planning infrastructure as a “whispering event”, one that goes unacknowledged. It inhibits the link between mining and development and the development of post-mining economies. In Zambia this whispering event has caused a new dependency path, hampering economic diversification.