THE FUTURE AFRICAN CITY

THE OVERALL WINNING ESSAY IN AN INTERNATIONAL ESSAY COMPETITION ENGLISH-SPEAKING AFRICAN PLANNING SCHOOLS IN HONOUR OF PROFESSOR AKIN MABOGUNJES ON THE OCCASION OF HIS 75TH BIRTHDAY
WRITTEN BY

OLUWOLE DARAMOLA
OF

DEPARTMENT OF URBAN AND REGIONAL PLANNING OBAFEMI AWOLOWO UNIVERSITY ILE-IFE JUNE 2006

ABSTRACT This essay discusses the rapid growth of African cities, viz the phenomenal rate of the urbanization on the continent. It gives population proliferation, rural-urban migration and underdevelopment of rural areas as the causal and culpable factors for the outburst of the cities. These are identified as challenges to urban development management and provision of services. The consequential problematic effects of this unprecedented city growth are given in terms of urban economic stagnation, deteriorating services, inadequate shelter, poor transportation conditions and urban environmental stress of sorts. Nevertheless, the essay prioritizes a turnaround for the emerging urban Africa. In view of this, recommendations are made on control of natural population growth and population movement, rural development, improved living standard of urban poor, reformed policy on provision of infrastructural facilities and effective transportation planning and management. Others are recommendations on accord with environmental priority, community participation, sustainable city development, training of qualified personnel for sound urban management and adoption of urban management oriented strategies in governance of African countries. Lastly, the conclusion comes with the optimistic outlook that the future African city can be much better based on the various innovative ideas and undeniable prospects that are contained in the recommendations.

THE FUTURE AFRICAN CITY The rate of worlds urban population growth and the consequential city expansion is in leaps and bounds. And the African continent is not left out in this state of prevailing global demographic and spatial flux. According to the United Nations Population Division, the Africas level of urbanization grew from 19 percent (53 million) in 1960 to 27 percent (129 million) in 1980. By 2000, it had reached 38 percent (297 million) and it is still growing. Consequently, the average rate of urbanization in Africa is expected to reach 55 percent by 2030. The rapid expansion poses a huge challenge to urban development management and provision of urban services. This establishes the view that Africa has the highest urbanization rate with fewest resources to deal with it. And invariably, such phenomenal growth will spell disaster: the number of poor people will soar, more and more people will live in squatter areas, infrastructure will almost disintegrate, and the environment will deteriorate further unless drastic actions are taken soon. The relentless outburst of African cities has been a result of certain factors. In general, the reasons have to do with overall population growth, underdevelopment in rural areas, and the search for better opportunities in terms of paid lucrative employment by rural dwellers- the gratification of which is believed to be in the cities. Although, these factors behind the relentless growth of cities in Africa are distinct in nature, they are also interrelated and have been extensively studied. Their interrelationship lies in one being either the cause or effect of the other. For instance, the underdevelopment of the rural areas in Africa results from the negligence they suffer from the governments of African countries and the opposing focus these governments have on the urban areas. This underdevelopment encourages the massive migration of rural dwellers to the cities in search of better living conditions. And in addition to the natural urban population growth, the unchecked migration contributes to the proliferation in urban population. This, in return, causes unprecedented city expansion, enormous overstretching of infrastructural facilities and high rate of unemployment. As such, it could be said that the problems of African cities revolve around rapid urban population growth. Demographically and spatially, the African urban areas are growing faster than those of any other continent. It is predicted that by 2030, nearly 800 million peopleapproximately the population size of the entire continent todaywill be living in urban areas. For example, in 2000, Cairo and Lagos were the only African cities whose populations surpassed 10 million inhabitants. However by 2020, the urban areas of Nairobi, Johannesburg, and Abidjan will also have reached or surpassed the 10 million mark, while 77 cities or six times more than todaywill have more than 1 million people. There will be nearly 650 townsclose to four times the current figurewith more than 100,000 inhabitants. In addition, the migration of people to cities is changing the overall character of many parts of the continent. In West Africa, for example, only 14 percent of the population lived in urban areas in 1960. By 1997, the urban population was 40 percent, and by 2020, it is believed, the figure will rise to 63 percent. In the horn of Africa, urban populations are expected to double within a decade. And it is predicted that 90 percent of total population growth will take place in towns and cities with significant portion attributable to rural-urban migration. The fact of this, however, is that many who move from rural areas to cities find themselves facing homelessness, unemployment, and worse poverty than before, all in an unfamiliar environment. As a result, shanty towns are developed and the number of slum dwellers increases at a phenomenal rate. The need to control the sky-rocketed process of urbanization stemmed from the prevailing urban crisis being experienced in African cities and which threatens their future. Across the continent, the ever-expanding 2

cities currently face severe problems. These problems are manifested in economic stagnation, deterioration in both quality and distribution of basic services, and a decline in the quality of urban environment. All these problems are interrelated and they adversely affect the quality of life of urban residents- particularly the lowincome group. Most African countries suffer from economic stagnation, high inflation, poor terms of trade, severe debt problems, civil strife, drought, rising unemployment, unstable currencies, and falling incomes for a large portion of their population. However, cities are there as important sources of development, and these cities are the dominant players in terms of investment and formal employment in many countries. Many people are employed in both the public and private sectors of the economy. Hand in hand with this has been the growth of the informal sector of the economy in most African cities which is now claiming an increasing number of urban labourers. Thus, African urban economies might be called engines of growth and, no doubt, the increasingly complex interface between formal and informal sectors of the cities contributes much. Nevertheless, the general fiscal performance of urban areas in terms of support for public administration and infrastructure has been poor. The overall level of funding for local provision of services and infrastructure is generally very limited in African cities and the available resources come predominantly from national rather than local sources. Just as local governments depend on higher levels of government, their limited and unreliable resource base weakens their ability to attract and keep competent personnel. As African cities continue to increase in size, their declining economic situation led to a precipitous decline in the supply of basic infrastructure and urban services. Bottlenecks in transportation, water supply, health, and education have become intolerable; these services are totally inadequate to meet growing demands. A visit to any African city reveals that most refuse is uncollected as piles of decaying waste rot in streets, open spaces, and parks. The poorest areas of any city are generally the worst-served by garbage-collection service with heavy consequences for residents. It is estimated that between 30 and 50 percent of garbage in urban areas of African cities remains uncollected. In Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, only 22 percent of the rubbish is collected. In Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the collection of household waste is undertaken in only a few residential areas. In the rest of the city, household waste is left on the road, tossed in illegal dumps and storm water drains, or buried in open land. Such an unsightly appearance of municipal wastes is also a common phenomenon in Lagos, Nigeria. Sanitation is one of the worst problems facing African cities. According to a report of the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (UNCHS) in 1996, more than half of the African population had no provision for sanitation in 1991. About 20 percent of Africas urban population used simple pit latrines, about 20 percent had homes connected to public sewers, and about 20 percent were connected to septic tank systems. Many cities in AfricaAccra and Lagos, for examplelack drainage systems. Most sewage, human excreta, and wastewater, as well as run-off, end up untreated in rivers, canals, gullies, and ditches. As for the cities with sewers, rarely do they serve more than a small portion of the populationtypically, the richer residential, government, and commercial areas. Also, provision of water for rapidly growing populations in cities is very expensive. The majority of urban households do not have water in their compounds. Industrial development and even housing projects are sometimes hampered by inadequate water supplies. Large numbers of people die every year from drinking contaminated water. The incidence of cholera, dysentery, and other water-borne diseases corresponds inversely to the distribution of safe water. 3

African cities also lack tarred roads and functional public transport systems. Inadequate road networks result in severe congestion as the volume of traffic increases, and many roads are in difficult and dangerous situations during the rainy season because of poor drainage. In most cities in Africa, inadequate and poorly designed transportation corridors make no provision for pedestrian facilities and greatly encourage hectic traffic congestion and parking problems. In several sub-Saharan African cities, public transport systems have disintegrated through overcrowding and lack of investment, and there has been a major decline in the supply of public transport despite growing populations. The fast urbanization rate has also caused problems with shelter. A high number of people live in accommodations that are both insecure and substandard despite government struggles to provide decent housing. Most people live in informal housing, where clean drinking water is a luxury and must be directly purchased from water sellers at a prohibitive cost, if it is to be enjoyed. About half of the urban population lives in very poor housing. In Lusaka, as many as 55 percent of the population lived in squatter settlements in the 1970s; in Dar es Salaam, the figure was 70 percent. The number of people living in poor-quality housing has probably doubled by now, with attendant unhealthy social consequences. The deterioration in the built environment is evident throughout most of urban Africa. As more of the urban population is forced into unplanned settlements, levels of water and air pollution increase. For water pollution, there are several contributing factors: lack of potable water, health services, and sewer systems; improper solid waste disposal and inadequate systems to dispose wastewater; lack of flood control; disposal of untreated industrial liquid wastes into water bodies or on land sites. Air pollution, however, results from factories, open fires, and poorly maintained vehicles and it also plagues cities. As such are many anomalies that African cities experience. These African urban crisis or cities ills are not recent. They have been confronted before and are still being worked on, but without much success. Despite a wide range of policies and strategiessettlement or development planning, development of housing estates, redressing rural/urban inequalities, road network expansion, enactment of urban sanitation laws, and promotion of rural developmentthe results have usually proved disappointing. Money is being poured into the main cities without effect. For such reasons, policy issues in a number of areas need to be redefined. If the experience over the years has taught anything, it is that there is no panacea in urban policy. Each city in each country has its own solutions because of its own peculiarity. There are some general strategies, however, that most countries can adopt for their city development. The population explosion is by far the most significant event in African history. Hence it is essential to come to grips with African demographyby looking at the total population and, above all, at total growth rates and spatial distribution, including migrationif cities are to grow economically. Also, better family planning can help to slow down the rate of natural urban population growth. Besides, since the alarming growth of the urban population is to a considerable extent attributed to mass migration of rural residents, efforts should be made to discourage such migration. This can be achieved only through more balanced and effective development of rural areas, to provide adequate employment opportunities and other amenities for rural populations. Regularization of land ownership claims; land reform; policies facilitating access to credit, new technology, and other needed inputs; and pricing policies geared to the needs of small land holders will be of great help in reducing migration to the cities and achieving rural development goals. Rural development strategies should be coordinated with policies designed to promote the growth of small towns and other secondary urban centres. These intermediate centres should become vigorous points of interaction with rural 4

economic growth by encouraging small-scale industries, marketing facilities for rural products, and agricultural extension services. Employment in the major cities must be improved to raise the standard of living in urban areas. For example, efforts should be made to improve the urban poors access to employment opportunities and social services. There is thus an urgent need to examine the scope and adequacy of policies relating to employment promotion, particularly in the informal sector; promotion of small-scale industry; employment generation through investments in housing and community infrastructure for the poor; and improvements in productivity and working conditions to vulnerable groups, such as women, in the urban labour market. It has been shown that if infrastructural facilities are provided, the people are capable of selfregeneration. Thus, there should be a reformed infrastructural policy that focuses on meeting user demands. This would be a radical departure from the traditional concentration on the supply of services with little attention paid to the user. Consumer dissatisfaction results from not having a demand orientation and should be avoided. The result is wasted investments, lost economic production, and low willingness to pay for services. The most effective way of reducing transport problems is to concentrate homes, workplaces, shops, and schools in such a manner that essential movements are reduced to a minimum. This is achievable through innovative and comprehensive physical planning. Other solutions include effective traffic control and management, improved technical competence in car maintenance, and the establishment of local institutional frameworks to ensure efficient planning, management, and coordination of transport systems. Heavy investments are also needed in pedestrian and motorcycle ways, vehicular roads, parking facilities, and public transport. Another area requiring attention is the prevailing environmental crisis in towns and cities. Urban development must include environmental consideration, and the law should facilitate the integration of environmental policy into development processes. The environment must be seen as a partner to be cherished rather than a captive to be raped. For particular resources and ultimately for whole cities, environmental audits are needed to deal with demand, resource use, and disposal of waste products. There is also a need for the development and implementation of municipal health plans that promote community participation in urban improvement activities, public health education, and strengthening of environmental health capabilities. Sustainable development of African cities must also be ensured. This is to manage the development of cities in a way to satisfy the present social, economic, and environmental goals of cities without compromising the future satisfaction. This helps to overcome the limitations of past human settlement policies and satisfy the growing demand for democratic governance at all levels of society. Today, there is introduction of innovative land development mechanisms that combine social, economic, and environmental goals. These should be duly adopted for effective management of land development. Capacity building and community participation are essential while it is also important to develop strategic approaches to environmental planning that consider management and institutional implications. It has also been discovered that most of Africas urban problems arise from the failure of the government institutions to manage rapid change and to tap the knowledge, resources, and capacities among the population within each city. Succinctly put, there is a fundamental lack of good governance, especially in relation to urban environmental management. If the future of African cities will be shaped by the success of strategies aimed at ameliorating the urban crisis, it is necessary to have an effective urban management that ensures efficiency in resource use. This can be accomplished through a civil service that encourages stakeholders to participate in decision making; develops forms of participatory municipal budgeting and 5

enhanced ownership of programs and projects; promotes the alleviation of urban poverty; develops local judicial, financial, and managerial systems; and improves municipal finance and revenue generation. Governments in Africa need to assume a central role in guiding urban development and also to encourage and support a multiplicity of large and small initiatives, investments, and expenditures by individuals, households, businesses and voluntary agencies. Lastly, adequately trained and qualified personnel for policy making, effective management, and technical operations of running a city must be put on ground. Also, national human resource- development policies and strategies for settlement, management, and development must be prepared. It is unarguable that African cities must be transformed if the continent is to keep pace with the rest of the developing world. Therefore, if all the aforementioned suggestions are considered and ensured, Africas cities can be made to work. Problems that appear insurmountable will become more manageable. The African cities will then become more productive, making a greater contribution to national development and the welfare of their citizens. BIBLIOGRAPHY United Nations Population Division (1999) World Urbanization Prospects http://www.undp.org/popin/dtrends/urbanization.pdf>. Accessed in May, 2006. Stren R. (1991) Sustainable Cities: Urbanisation and Environment in International Perspective. Westview Press, Boulder. Hardoy J.E., Mitlin, D and Satterthwaite, D (1992). Environmental Problems in Third World Cities. Earthscan, London, UK. Mabogunje, A.L. (1981) Development Process: A Spatial Perspective. Holmes and Meier, New York. Awake! (2005) Who Will Feed the Cities? A Bimonthly Journal of The Jehovahs Witness (November 22, 2005). Mosha, A.C. (2001): Africas Future in FORUM for Applied Research and Public Policy. United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (UNCHS) (1996) An Urbanized World. Oxford University Press, Oxford. A.S. Ribiero, A.S. (1992) Employment and Poverty in Third World Megacities. The Courier 131