Southern Sudan - the ten southern provinces of Sudan - has attained autonomy and may soon achieve total independence from Sudan. Yet decades of civil war not only prevented development but destroyed the infrastructure left over from the colonial period. While Southern Sudan is fortunate to have oil resources that can finance building up the new nation, the task is enormous - there are no cities, there is no established industrial base, there are no means of transport, agriculture is incipient and cattle raising still follows ancient nomadic traditions. To aggravate the situation, millions of returning refugees and internally displaced persons are returning to their homelands and need to be settled. This paper, by outlining a simple, pragmatic strategy to setup the 10 state capitals, is a response to the effort of the Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS) in solving these issues. The establishment of a basic urban system - even with minimal services and infrastructure - is critical to support the establishment of initial economic activities, provide a base for the provincial administrations, supply basic human needs to the existing population and organize the resettlement effort. This effort would complement the works to recover the national road system and the development of Juba as the national capital and main base of operations of GOSS. After discussing the current issues and conditions, available resources and expected demand, a three phase urban development strategy is suggested to jump start the transformation of the existing settlements into operational urban centres. The development proposal is completed by a brief discussion on urban standards and design recommendations to be adopted.
