Submitted by Gemma Todd — Fri, 03/28/2014 – 11:18
Transport and infrastructure remain key components when designing urban space. Urban planners are required to evaluate transport routes, modes, and costs, to ensure the city functions efficiently. Across Tanzania key means of public transportation in, and around, the city includes boda-boda’s, or piki-piki’s, (motorcycles) and daladala’s (small buses). Such means are cheap, frequent, and although carrying capacity is limited, space can be made to squeeze another passenger on. However, with rising concerns over road safety, the costs of congestion, and the need for improved supply, the future of such transportation remains debatable. As the agenda shifts to designing ‘sustainable cities’, whereby urban environments can meet contemporary needs without jeopardizing that of future generations, we need to question what it means in the developing world. The concept of environmental justice is key. Discussions on environmental justice integrate calls for sustainability and recognition of the social, spatial, and economic, inequalities individuals face in relation to the environment . Environmental justice recognises the urban environment as political. Access, externalities, and use-value, of the environment are political. Read more.
Submitted by Gemma Todd — Wed, 03/19/2014 – 13:04
When discussing cities in Africa, and ‘African urbanism’, the focus quickly turns to the state of informality. Such raises the question of how developmental is informality? Who benefits from informality and for how long? Furthermore how can a system whereby the formal-informal are intertwined work? The issue has been a burning topic in Mwanza over the past week. Mwanza is a small city located on the southern coast of Lake Victoria, inhabited by around 635,730 people (Mwanza City Council, 2014). With development continuing, land markets remain a crucial asset. Over the past few weeks the focus has been on land – measuring plots of land, providing individuals with land titles, and bringing all dwellers under the formal land system. Nationally, the Tanzanian government claimed all citizens who do not have a land title should be granted it within 21 days of having their land assessed, measured, and the boundaries drawn. The proposed deadline suggests the end of an invisible population, putting people on the formal map and recognising formal dwellers. However, the achievement requires understanding how the system of informal-formal works. At a local level informal actors are key in determining the right to formality and future of urban planning. Read more.
Submitted by Gemma Todd — Thu, 02/27/2014 – 12:24
One of the key debates that have emerged within development studies is to whom does the responsibility lie? The structuralists among us focus on the ‘state’. It is defined as the state’s duty, and responsibility, to meet people’s needs. Alternatively, perspectives emerge identifying the state as an enabler – the key actors are civil society. The focus on grass-roots action has, however, raised considerable debate. Critics have argued firstly, civil-society is not necessarily positive. The broad category of ‘civil-society’ – whether communities, NGOs, or FBOs – rely on ‘social-capital, defined as the linkages amongst members of society. However, such capital assets by which people are argued to be able to rely, and draw, upon have been shown to have negative components and remain structured within a system of power inequalities. For example not all women joining a micro-finance programme are strategically empowered as the burden of time-poverty remains and not all can have their voice heard. Secondly, the social-capital resources are not indefinite but rather constrained and limited over time through a ‘poverty of resources’ (Gonzalez de la Rocha, 2001). Thirdly, should we be relying on social-capital to meet needs? However, traditionally, within many cultures in Africa, the community has played a major role in creating self-sufficient communities. Therefore do we need to revitalise the focus on social-capital? Read more.
Submitted by Gemma Todd — Fri, 02/07/2014 – 10:42
Data has emerged showcasing the latest trends of our demographic shift – the global population now articulates a ‘youth bulge’. The UN-Population Demographic Profile (2010) show children, and ‘youths’, comprise 1.6bn, and 1.0bn, of the population in less-developed regions. The population is younger; and Sub-Saharan Africa is no exception. Attention is now turning to youths: what young people do, what opportunities they initiate for their families and nations, and what it means to be ‘young’ in the developing world. However, an important caveat requires recognition: the focus has been particularly male-focused. Our understanding of girls, within both public and private spaces, remains limited. Such is the debate in this blog post – if we are now looking at ‘kids’ in the city and development, what are the experiences of girls? What can we learn about the city through an engendered perspective? Fundamentally, who is responsible to grant equal rights? Two models of intervention are discussed be, each using alternative methods to provide rights for girls. However, each acts to reinforce the need to improve our understandings on ‘being’ a girl. Read more.
Submitted by Gemma Todd — Mon, 01/20/2014 – 10:08
Within development studies a shift has been identified. An increasing sense of consciousness has emerged on whose ideas are being used to theorise development practice, whether they are applicable, and offer effective solutions. The post-development school of thought is centred on deconstructing ‘universal’ ideas of development. Novel viewpoints have emerged which are transforming how the ‘developing’ world is understood and what role citizens of the Global South can play. With post-development thought, urban researchers, and planners, are advancing new thinking to plan inclusive cities in the Global South. In a succeeding event on urbanisation at the African Research Institute, the subject matter was how urban planning in Africa is adapting for the future. Read more.
Submitted by Editor — Thu, 12/19/2013 – 15:32
Upon exploring how just and inclusive cities can emerge a key component of analysis is social life — how people act in cities, the complex character of sociability, and the factors designing urban life. Multiple concepts have been raised to define what a city is — and has become, and further, what kind of life materialises within urban spaces. Over time cities have been conceptualised as ‘misanthropic’, expressing disorganisation, violence, and a dense concentration of people whom adopt different mentalities and motives. Such urban personas are expressed through space. Read more.
Submitted by Editor — Mon, 12/02/2013 – 14:18
With urbanisation becoming a rising topic on the research agenda it is interesting to see how new models for urban planning, and laws, are being constructed. Recently, an event by the African Research Institute raised such ideas. The speakers introduced how the contextual diversity across Africa required exploration, and consultants need to focus on adapting a checklist of rule making, rather than make the rules, in planning Africa’s emerging cities. Current African cities were presented as ‘un-planned’, or in need of a re-visioned approach to become inclusive and equitable. Urban planning was the solution — a means of enabling tax reform, effective management, and equal rights to the city. However, urban planning law needed to be re-written to work for ‘African cities’. Read more.
Submitted by Editor — Thu, 11/21/2013 – 11:58 
The food security situation in Accra is a major concern to the government, civil society organisations, and development partners. Food security covers availability, accessibility, ultilisation, production, and affordability of food as classified by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). This article looks specifically at food affordability in Accra, as the price of food poses problems to more than half of the city’s population. Read more or join the discussion.
Many of Accra’s street children are migrants from other parts of Ghana who followed others in the name of greener pastures. Other street children were trafficked to the city centre by older people and were left to fend for themselves. These children find ways to survive by engaging in activities ranging from being porters to selling goods on the street. The boys often earn money by shining shoes, pushing trucks, gathering refuse and carrying it to the dump site. Many also trade sex for money. In reaction to these alarming hardships, a number of important organizations are working to give these street children a voice, using a number of different approaches. Read more or join the discussion.
The issue of mental health stigmatization in Accra is of great concern to individuals, families, civil society groups, and many religious bodies. There is stigmatization about the condition, stigmatization concerning the persons with the condition, and stigma is also attached to the people who work in the area of mental illness. These concerns affect the resources and quality of life of the mentally challenged. In addition, its economic and social impact on the person, the family, and the workers are enormous. Read more or join the discussion.
The toxicity situation in Accra is very challenging to the health conditions of the city’s population. This situation is aggravated by a high level of urbanization and a large population. These chemical substances are from e-waste, industrial and institutional waste-discharge, environmental, and household waste. In the landfills where electronic waste substances are disposed of, children, mostly boys between the ages of 11 and 18, take apart the electronic scrap, often with their bare hands, burn it, and sometime use stones to extract metal parts. These activities pose many health challenges to these young children and others in the city, like itchy eyes, lung and kidney infections. Read more or join the discussion.
Compared to other countries in the Middle East and North Africa, Egypt is much better off with regards to access to freshwater resources, primarily thanks to the Nile. With the majority of the country’s population densely situated along the river basin, government statistics show that 99 percent of the country’s population has access to water, and access in urban areas is 100 percent. However, these statistics drown the many other political, social and economic issues that surround the water sector. Read more or join the discussion.
من الشائع أن تتلقى المرأة المصرية بتعليقات سلبية وألفاظ بذيئة حينما تتجول في شوارع القاهرة, وقد تصاب السيدات بعدة أنواع من التحرش أكثر جلف من هذه التعليقات. يبلغ عدد النساء المصرية التي تعرضت للتحرش الجنسي حوالي٤٤ في المئة من مجموع الاناث في مصر وفقاً لتقرير، و قد ترتفع هذه النسبة بشكل مفاجئ في المناطق المدنية. أظهرت تقارير أيضا أن حالات العنف ضد المرأة ازدادت بشكل واضح منذ ثورة ٢٥ يناير, ويعزى هذا الارتفاع إلى اندثار قوات أمن الدولة التي كانت تقمع الشعب.
In response to the increasing violence that has spread around Egypt in the wake of the second anniversary of the January 25 revolution, President Mohamed Morsi’s latest action has been to implement both a curfew from 9pm to 6am, as well as a state of emergency law in the governorates of Port Said, Suez, and Ismaileya. Political activists and organizations immediately began to organize mass protests and to mobilize residents to take to the streets starting at 9pm. However, the one initiative that received the most media attention, both through social and cable news outlets, was not the “million man march” declared in Port Said; it was the football tournament that was announced via Twitter and Facebook. Read more or join the discussion.
Tendo em conta a situação descrita pela Ministra, uma das principais prioridades do governo brasileiro durante vários anos, tem sido a redução de barreiras de informação e o desenho de produtos financeiros adequados para a população de baixa renda. Um dos principais mecanismos de promoção da inclusão financeira, especialmente para mulheres, tem sido Bolsa Família, o programa de transferências que beneficia a 13 milhões de famílias. O programa transfere mensalmente dinheiro para todas as famílias dependendo de seu nível de pobreza e número de crianças. O 93 por cento dos beneficiários direitos são mulheres, o que contribui no seu posicionamento e influencia dentro do núcleo familiar.
Recently, the State Government has been building pedestrian bridges all over the city, replacing worn-out bridges and constructing bridges in new areas. For instance, the old ones at Ojota, Palmgrove, and Onipanu have all been rebuilt. Similarly, new ones have been built at Gbagada, Lekki Roundabout, Cement bus stop, Ijaiye bus stop, Iddo, Loco, Igbobi, Ile-Epo and Secretariat bus stops. The city of Lagos built footbridges for high-risk areas and expresses ways to safeguard pedestrians against accidents and to further encourage safe city walking.
Great efforts have been put into road signs and zebra pedestrian crossings at heavy traffic areas of the city, such as the Ikeja metropolis. The Arrive Alive Road Safety Initiative is putting on awareness campaigns on road safety and pedestrian safety. The initiative is focused on sensitizing city residents about the importance of road safety, ranging from safety engineering and road improvement, to motorcycle safety and pedestrian safety campaigns. Campaigns targeted towards pedestrians advocate for the appropriate use of safety features such as the zebra crossing, the correction and installation of road signs, and effective navigation of roadways.
في اليوم الثالث عشر من يوليو سنة ٢٠١٠، تم هدم ما يقرب من ١٥ مبنى في منطقتي إسطبل عنتر وعزبة خير الله. بين تقرير منظمة العفو الدولي Amnesty International report 2011 أن العائلات التي كانت تعيش في هذه المساكن أجبرت على إزالة ممتلكاتهم الشخصية ودفع ٢٠٠ جنيها مصريا (حوالي ٣٦ دولار أمريكي) لشحن أمتعتهم إلى الوحدات السكنية البديلة في مدينة ٦ أكتوبر. عندما بدأت عملية الهدم، قامت قوات الأمن بإفراغ هذه الوحدات السكنية، مدعين أن هذه الاسر ليس لها الحق أن تعيش في هذه المباني لأنها حاولت غش عملية التعداد للحصول على السكن المجاني. ثم قيل لهؤلاء السكان أنهم يمكنهم دفع ٥٠٠٠ جنيه (٨٩٠ دولار أمريكي) لتسجيل اسمهم في قائمة التعداد.
Cairo, Egypt
The growth of informal areas in Cairo began under Nasser’s socialist reform policies that changed land ownership titles and rent control laws to provide agricultural land to small farmers. These reforms were designed as a means to protect the interests of the poor in urban areas, and were structured in a way for ownership to pass through three generations, making it virtually impossible for legal changes in land function. However, with almost no new affordable housing units for the poor, it became more profitable for landowners to build informally on these agricultural lands, leading to the growth of informal communities around the city. The government turned a blind eye to these informal communities, as they could not supply enough units to meet the growing demand for affordable housing in Cairo. These illegal settlements built on the agricultural lands were therefore not connected to the city grid, meaning that they lacked access to water, sewage, electricity, gas, and even postal services. Read more or join the discussion.
بدأ نمو المناطق العشوائية في القاهرة في عهد جمال عبد الناصر في ظل اصلاحاته الاشتراكية التي غيرت عناوين ملكية الأراضي وقوانين مراقبة الإيجار لتوفير الأراضي الزراعية للفلاحين. وقد صممت هذه الإصلاحات كوسيلة لحماية مصالح الفقراء في المناطق الحضرية، وسمحت للملاك بتوريث هذه الأراضي لمدة ثلاثة أجيال، مما جعل تغيير قوانين ملكية هذه الأراضي مهمة عسيرة. ومع ذلك، بسبب عدم وجود ما يكفي من الوحدات السكنية الجديدة بأسعار معقولة للفقراء، بدأ ملاك الأراضي ببناء المستوطنات غير الرسمية على هذه الأراضي الزراعية، مما أدى إلى نمو العشوائيات في جميع أنحاء المدينة. ثم قررت الحكومة أن تتجاهل هزه المجتمعات غير الرسمية بسبب عدم تمكنها على تلبية الطلب المتزايد للمساكن في القاهرة ذات سعر معقول . وبالتالي, لم يتم ربط هذه المستوطنات غير القانونية إلى شبكة المدينة الرسمية، مما يعني أن سكان هذه المناطق لا يستطيعون الحصول على المياه والصرف الصحي، أو الكهرباء والغاز، أو حتى الخدمات البريدية.
Cairo is a key node for African and Middle Eastern refugees looking to flee hardships at home and to start a new life elsewhere. The largest groups come as a result of the ongoing crises in Sudan, Mali, and now Syria. These refugees live in the poorer Egyptian neighborhoods, so both refugees and Egyptians face the same issues of lack of housing space, sanitation, electricity, clean water, schools, medical facilities, and employment. However, because of differences in appearances and of cultural norms, refugees are marginalized, and have become viewed as a threat to Egyptians as they compete for the same scarce resources. Many non-profit and community-based organizations target exclusively either the Egyptian or the refugee community, exacerbating the problem even further. Tensions have even resulted in violence; the most notable example being the 2005 brutal police clashes in front of the UNHCR regional office. Read more or join the discussion.
القاهرة من إحدى المدن الرئيسية للاجئين من أفريقيا و بلاد الشرق الأوسط الذين يريدون الفرار من المصاعب التي يواجهونها في وطنهم، و بداية حياة جديدة في مكان آخر. تأتي أكبر مجموعات اللاجئين نتيجة عن الأزمات الجارية في السودان، و مالي، و سوريا في الآونة الأخيرة . تعيش هذه المجموعات في الأحياء المصرية الفقيرة ،و لذلك يتعرض اللاجئين إلى نفس المشاكل التي يتعرض لها كثير من المصريين مثل عدم وجود مساحات كافية للسكن، وعدم توفر المياه النظيفة، والكهرباء، والمدارس، و المنشآت الطبية، و فرص العمل. ومع ذلك، نظرا للاختلافات في المظاهر والمعايير الثقافية، يتم تهميش اللاجئين، حيث أنهم يتنافسون مع السكان المحليين للحصول على نفس الموارد الشحيحة. و معظم المنظمات غير الربحية و المجتمعية لا تساعد كلا الطرفين، بل تستهدف إما المصريين فقط، أو مجتمع اللاجئين، مما يؤدي إلى تفاقم هذه المشكلة. وقد أدى إزدياد التوتر بين الجانبين إلى اشتباكات عنيفة في بعض الأحوال مثل اشتباكات الشرطة الوحشية أمام مكتب مفوضية الأمم المتحدة لشئون اللاجئين في عام ٢٠٠٥.
أثبت التمويل الأصغر المعروف ب’microfinance’ أنه من الأدوات الأكثر فعالية لتشجيع الفقراء على النمو الاقتصادي. من إحدى أهداف ما بعد الثورة في مصر هو النمو الذي يشمل جميع فقات الشعب، و قد يخلق التمويل الأصغر النمو الشامل الذي يؤدي إلى زيادة فرص العمل وإنتشار العدالة الإجتماعية. هناك حاليا أكثر من ٤٠٠ مؤسسة للتمويل الصغير في مصر، مما يجعل التمويل الأصغر من الخدمات الرئيسية التي تساعد الفقراء.
Microfinance has proven to be one of the most effective, targeted tools to promote pro-poor economic growth. Inclusive growth is one of post-revolutionary Egypt’s goals, and microfinance is indeed effective in creating growth that focuses on increasing social justice, closing the income gap, and creating new job opportunities. There are over 400 micro-finance institutions (MFIs) currently operate in Egypt, positioning microfinance services as key tools for impacting the poor. Read more or join the discussion.
Before the revolution, the urban poor in Cairo were largely ignored. They were looked at as a part of life that others knew existed, yet could easily overlook. However, the recent political and social upheaval has changed this: the revolution was built on three main goals of “bread, freedom, social justice,” and now includes “human dignity” as a fourth pillar. In these protests everyone is equal, everyone is Egyptian, and everyone is part of the collective voice. Read more or join the discussion.
Poverty is one of the most serious challenges facing the world today, with more than 30 percent of the world’s population estimated to be living in multidimensional poverty (UNDP, 2013). In developing countries poverty has been highly associated with rural areas and hence young economically active people have moved to urban areas in the hope of getting better lives for themselves and their families. This view, especially in Zimbabwe, has changed over the last two decades as poverty has become widespread in both urban and rural areas of Zimbabwe, with poverty in urban areas increasing at a faster rate than in rural areas. Results from the Poverty Income Consumption Expenditure Survey (PICES) of 2011/12 carried out by the National Statistics Agency (ZIMSTAT) indicate that 38 per cent per cent of urban households, and almost 47 per cent of people living in urban areas in Zimbabwe were classified as poor. Unlike rural households, urban households almost always require cash to access social services such as health and education and hence greater need for households to have secure and consistent income to meet these costs. The urban dwellers usually face costly accommodation rentals, out-of-pocket payments for health, education, water and power supplies. Urban areas are highly associated with high levels of social fragmentation resulting in declining social cohesion and increased social exclusion especially for the poor women and children. Read more.
The urban data revolution is here. From Abidjan to Mumbai to New York, we are beginning to learn about real-time trends: in traffic, land use, even in illegal cooking oil dumping in cities. City data is almost in surplus, and mayors are bombarded with new information on goods and resources every day. Yet little of this data shows us how a city’s most important resource — its people — are living. Read more.
I’ve written a fair bit about the housing problem in Lagos. A city of anything between 15 and 18 million persons, with a 48.6% poverty rate (2012), and an acute shortage of low-cost housing. There’s of course no shortage of luxury housing. Victoria Island and Ikoyi are home to hundreds of empty luxury apartments; priced out of reach of all but the insanely wealthy. IT entrepreneur Jason Njoku has got an interesting post on the economics of housing prices in Lagos. Two years ago I wrote extensively on the Eko Atlantic City project being spearheaded by the state government, adding 9 square kilometers of reclaimed luxury territory (“the Manhattan of West Africa”) to Lagos’ Victoria Island. Any news of progress in terms of access to (relatively) low-cost housing is therefore much welcome. Which leads me to the focus of today’s post. Read more.
I recently attended the launch of an exhibition at the Goethe Institute’s Lagos office, on the “Post-Oil City”, drawing on efforts from all around the world to create cities that have tamed the traditional hunger for fossil fuels. Some of them are brand new cities (like Masdar in Abu Dhabi), others are existing cities trying to make changes (Curitiba, Brazil, which in 1974 launched the world’s first BRT system). Read more.
Lagos is on the cusp of a radical change in the way the city is organised. Not only is the first light rail being built in the city, thirty years after the idea was first mooted; the government has also recently announced that construction will soon start on the 4th Mainland Bridge, long overdue by many standards. A few years ago I listened to a talk by the designers of that bridge, and was fascinated by how they envisioned it to not only work as a conventional bridge but also a direct stimulant/supporter of economic activity. The design is of a two-level bridge, the upper one for vehicular movement, the lower one for a combination of a tram line, rows of shops and goods vendors, and a pedestrian lane; that idea informed by the realization that modernizing Lagos does not have to happen at the expense of the trademark hustle-and-bustle that gives the city its peculiar character and feel; the things that make Lagos Lagos. Read more.
“Welcome to Lagos” was a 2010 BBC documentary that introduced Vocal Slender to the world. Vocal – real name Eric Obuh – was a rapper by night, and a scavenger, at the Olusosun rubbish dump, by day. Read more.
Every year, hundreds of workers die from toxic waste-related diseases as the working conditions are extremely bad and safety measures are barely existant. The shipping industry sends 800 to 900 end-of-life ships to yards where they are recycled, mainly by hand, to recover steel. Most of the time, workers use blowtorches and hammers without wearing protective gloves. Many of the ships contain toxic materials, sometimes hidden in pipers that workers cut with their torches. These include asbestos, PCBs, arsenic-laced paint, and tons of oil and grease, most of which are identified as hazardous waste under the Basel Convention. Workers constantly being exposed to a deadly cocktail of toxic fumes, asbestos, and dust can face serious injury or death. According to the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) and Greenpeace, on average, one ship worker gets injured every day, and one dies each week.
A local non-profit organization, Young Power in Social Action (YPSA), has significantly contributed to gathering information about the injuries and accidents of ship dismantling workers since 1997. Today, YPSA is working to improve social policies at the national level, which have a direct influence on 50,000 ship dismantling workers. YPSA organizes social campaigns and does advocacy to raise public awareness regarding workers’ rights. The organization is also working to minimize the impact on caused by the pollution generated from the unsafe and uncontrolled ship dismantling practices.