By Mohamed Moalimuu - Somali legislator, former spokesperson for the Office of the Prime Minister, and former journalist with BBC and Reuters.
"A city is more than its buildings, roads and markets. Its true character lies in the people who inhabit it—and in their ability to live, work and build a future together." Mohamed Moalimuu
Throughout history, the world’s most dynamic cities have rarely belonged to a single community. They have flourished because people from different ethnic groups, cultures, regions and social backgrounds brought with them new skills, ideas, traditions and commercial connections. Diversity enlarged their markets, enriched civic life and encouraged innovation.
The same pattern was once clearly visible in Somalia. Cities inhabited by people from different clans and regions generally became more commercially active, socially sophisticated and culturally vibrant than settlements dominated by a single community. Interaction across clan and regional boundaries encouraged trade, education, craftsmanship and the exchange of ideas. It also taught residents to build relationships around neighbourhood, employment, marriage, education and shared interests—not merely ancestry.
Diversity alone, however, cannot guarantee progress. For it to become a source of strength, it must be protected by security, justice, inclusive governance, equal opportunity and laws that uphold the rights of every citizen. Without these foundations, differences can be exploited, turning healthy competition into mistrust and social tension. Diversity flourishes only where people feel equally protected and valued.
Before Somalia’s modern cities expanded, much of the population lived in rural areas. Many Somalis were pastoralists whose livelihoods depended on livestock, grazing land and seasonal migration. Others belonged to farming communities, fishing settlements and small coastal trading centres.
Over time, commerce expanded, ports grew busier, and access to education, government employment and public services improved. These developments drew increasing numbers of people from the countryside into towns and cities. Families from different clans and regions settled alongside one another, forming new urban communities connected through business, work, education, marriage and everyday neighbourly relations.
These mixed cities gradually became centres of commerce, knowledge, culture and administration. Their residents encountered customs and ideas beyond those of their immediate clans. Traders entered wider markets, professionals exchanged knowledge and experience, and ordinary citizens learned to cooperate with people whose backgrounds differed from their own.
Mogadishu, Kismayo, Marka, Baidoa, Jowhar, Beledweyne, El Buur and Bosaso were among the Somali cities where communities from different clans and regions lived together for generations. Some were also home to people of non-Somali origin who became part of the social and economic fabric of the city, contributing to commerce, craftsmanship, fishing, agriculture and cultural life.
These cities became gathering places for traders, scholars, civil servants, religious leaders, craftspeople and workers arriving from across the country. Their diversity generated energy. It expanded trade, widened access to knowledge and strengthened their place in national life. Their sophistication was not accidental; it grew from the constant interaction of people with different experiences, abilities and connections.
The experience of major cities around the world reinforces this lesson. People arriving from different countries and communities bring more than labour. They bring languages, knowledge, capital, professional skills, entrepreneurial ambition and international networks.
Research conducted across American cities has identified a positive relationship between cultural diversity and urban economic productivity. The explanation is not difficult to understand: people from different backgrounds often possess complementary skills and approach problems from different perspectives. When they are able to work together, those differences can produce new businesses, technologies and forms of creativity.
New York offers one of the clearest examples. For generations, it has received people from Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin America and almost every other part of the world. Those communities helped build the city’s financial institutions, media organisations, industries, restaurants, artistic movements and technology companies. New York’s power comes not simply from the size of its population, but from the remarkable concentration of languages, skills, cultures and global connections within it.
London presents a similar story. Successive generations of migrants have contributed to its workforce, universities, businesses, literature, cuisine, media and cultural identity. Its diversity has strengthened its position as a global centre of finance, education, diplomacy and the arts. London’s international character is not merely a feature of the city; it is one of the foundations of its influence.
Toronto, widely regarded as one of the world’s most diverse cities, has formally recognised that long-term economic success requires people from every community to participate in employment, enterprise and public life. Its authorities have developed policies intended to reduce barriers facing immigrants, minority communities, workers and entrepreneurs. Toronto’s experience also offers an important warning: diversity may help create prosperity, but deliberate policies are still required to ensure that prosperity is shared fairly.
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Singapore provides another instructive example. Its population includes Chinese, Malay, Indian and other communities. Concerned that residential segregation might deepen ethnic divisions, the government introduced the Ethnic Integration Policy in 1989. The policy sought to prevent public housing estates from becoming exclusive ethnic enclaves. By encouraging families from different backgrounds to live in the same neighbourhoods, use the same public spaces and send their children to nearby schools, Singapore attempted to make everyday interaction a foundation of social cohesion.
None of these examples suggests that every diverse city will inevitably succeed. Rather, they demonstrate that diversity becomes an economic and social asset when accompanied by the rule of law, good governance and equality of opportunity. The OECD has similarly noted that people of migrant origin contribute labour, skills and entrepreneurship to urban economies, but that discrimination, unemployment and exclusion can prevent cities from realising those benefits.
The civil war that erupted in 1991 shattered much of the social fabric that had sustained Somalia’s cities. Violence, forced displacement, clan conflict and the unlawful seizure of property drove families from homes and neighbourhoods in which they had lived for generations.
Many people fled to territories associated with their clans, not necessarily because those places were their homes, but because they believed they might find protection there. This produced profound communal separation. Cities that had once accommodated diverse populations became increasingly dominated by particular clans or armed groups.
Those who were driven out lost far more than houses. They lost businesses, employment, neighbours, professional relationships and social networks built over decades. The cities they left behind also suffered. They lost experienced traders, teachers, doctors, civil servants, craftspeople, investors and workers whose knowledge and enterprise had sustained urban life.
The damage was therefore not merely demographic. It was economic, cultural and psychological. Commerce declined, civic institutions weakened and trust between communities collapsed. Cities that had once held national importance lost part of their vitality and standing. Freedom of movement diminished, commercial partnerships broke down, and fear began to replace cooperation.
When a city loses its diversity, it may also lose part of its memory. Streets once shared by different communities become associated with only one group. Markets that once connected regions become narrower. Children grow up with fewer opportunities to encounter people beyond their own clan. Over time, separation begins to appear normal, even though it is the consequence of conflict rather than the natural condition of Somali society.
The experiences of Somalia and the wider world demonstrate that a city’s strength cannot be measured solely by the height of its buildings, the length of its roads or the size of its population. Its deepest strength lies in the diversity of its residents, the knowledge they exchange, the businesses they establish and the trust they build across social boundaries.
Revitalising Somalia’s cities therefore requires more than physical reconstruction. It demands the restoration of citizenship itself. Every Somali must have the right to live, work, study, conduct business and own property in any city in the country without discrimination based on clan identity or place of origin.
Property unlawfully occupied during the conflict must be addressed through credible and impartial legal processes. Minority communities must be protected, and municipal administrations must represent all residents rather than serve the interests of the locally dominant clan. Public institutions must make every citizen feel that the city belongs to them.
Security is essential, but it is not enough. A city may be free from open warfare and still remain divided by fear, exclusion and unresolved injustice. Genuine urban recovery requires freedom of movement, equal access to services, impartial courts and economic opportunities available to all.
A city monopolised by one group risks becoming intellectually narrower, economically weaker and socially isolated. It loses the skills, commercial networks and human relationships that diversity can provide. An inclusive city, by contrast, gains access to a larger market, a broader range of ideas, a richer pool of talent and a population capable of imagining a shared future.
Somalia can recover the vitality and civic sophistication of its historic cities, but only by rebuilding them as common spaces rather than clan possessions. Mogadishu, Kismayo, Baidoa, Jowhar, Beledweyne, Marka, Bosaso, Burao, Hargeisa, Borama and other cities must once again become places where citizens from every community can belong.
Social diversity is not a threat to be contained. Properly protected and fairly governed, it is one of the greatest sources of urban prosperity, cultural richness and lasting stability. A city becomes truly civilised not when one community controls it, but when many communities can confidently call it home.
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Mohamed Moalimuu is a Somali legislator, former spokesperson for the Office of the Prime Minister, and former journalist with BBC and Reuters.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Dawan Africa.