Africa

Major office and retail projects are adding new life to Cape Town's central business district. Though much investment centers around South Africa's 2010 World Cup, many expect the CBD investments to continue for years.

This three-part series from the BBC looks at bicycles in the modern world -- from Paris to Uganda to India.

Somalian pirates are creating a booming economy of caterers, luxury cars, and high-end chefs in the northern coastal towns of the impoverished country. "The pirates depend on us, and we benefit from them," said one shopkeeper.

High-rise buildings are coming back into vogue in South Africa, and planners are trying to balance iconography with urbanism.

The Skycar is a combination parasail, swamp boat and dune buggy. Sponsored by a British knight and arctic adventurer, the design team is planning an expedition from London to Timbuktu in January of 2009.

Patrick Smith believes that Senegal's ambitious new airport is not only unnecessary, but in light of the country's massive poverty and environmental problems, actually "obscene."

The pace of development in Cape Town, South Africa, is too fast for the city to keep up with infrastructure improvements. Officials are calling for increased gas taxes to generate funding for maintenance of roads and other infrastructure.

That's Buffalo City, South Africa, where public open space along the coast is being rezoned to business and residential, to the dismay of locals worried about beach access.

Luanda, Angola has brushed past Tokyo and London to be the world's most expensive city, and slums cover much of the city's prime real estate.

Delays in construction have cased FIFA officials to remove Port Elizabeth from the list of host cities for the 2009 Confederations Cup, the dress rehearsal tournament before the 2010 World Cup. Concerns remain about the country's readiness.

Posh gated communities are juxtaposed with shanty towns in South Africa, where a constitutional housing guarantee is seen by many as a far-off dream.

Osama bin Laden's brother has announced plans to build the world's longest suspension bridge, connecting Africa and Arabia, and building two state-of-the-art cities at each end -- a project that is expected to cost upwards of $200 billion.

As the country prepares for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, officials in Cape Town, South Africa, are considering plans for a citywide bus rapid transit system. BRT pioneer Enrique Penalosa was recently in town to stump for transit.

Downtown Cairo has undergone a steady decline in recent years, with more slums developing and more beggars filling the streets. This article from Bloomberg says there are many reasons for the decline.

Officials in Africa have approved a plan to plant a "wall of trees" across the continent to prevent the southward spread of the Sahara desert due to winds and drought.

With crippling traffic congestion, the Tanzanian city of Dar es Salaam has pooled $158 million to improve its public transportation system -- adding new service, stations, and walkways.

With the first game of the 2010 World Cup exactly two years away, many in host country South Africa are concerned about rising inflation, increased violence, and skyrocketing costs of stadium construction.

In preparation for two major soccer tournaments -- the 2010 FIFA World Cup and the 2009 Confederations Cup -- South Africa is moving ahead on schedule in constructing major public transit systems in the events' host cities.

Cairo's first new green space in more than 100 years has opened -- on top of a 500-year old garbage dump.

The dam project is being proposed on the Congo river, and could produce more than twice the amount of energy generated by China's Three Gorges Dam, currently the world's largest. If approved the dam could be operating by 2022.