URBAN STAKES AND CHALLENGES IN AFRIC A Dr HATCHEU Emil TCHAWÉ Senior Lecturer Department of Geography and environment University of Dschang (Cameroon)

URBAN STAKES AND CHALLENGES IN AFRICA

Dr HATCHEU Emil TCHAWÉSenior Lecturer

Department of Geography and environment University of Dschang (Cameroon)Coordinator of JCAD-international

PLAN OF PRESENTATION • Introduction

• I- TWO TYPES URBAN GROWTH a) Gentrification b) Sprawl

• II- NEW MODELS OF URBAN PLANNING IN AFRICAa)university as urban actor

b) New towns in new oil producers countries

III- FROM CITY GOVERNMENT TO URBAN GOVERNANCE • STAKES OF URBAN GOVERNANCE

• Conclusion BETWEEN GLOBAL AND WORLDING CITY

INTRODUCTION

During the twentieth century, global urban population increased from 220 million to 2.8 billion people. Projections suggest that this population growth will be accompanied by a rapid rate of urbanization based on a number of megacities. The epicenter of this massive demographic shift has moved towards developing countries Then Megalopolis and metropolis (process) are the major characteristics of the African cities in the early 21st century. .

In the South who know a certain thrill economic post-adjustment (Cameroon) or for the benefit of the exploitation of recent oil reserves (Angola Equatorial Guinea, Chad, for example), densification of the old inner city rivals the rapid occupation of peripheral areas. In the current context of globalization restructuring and rehabilitation of inner city is characterized by gentrification. The challenge of urban planning in Africa is to reconcile the densification of inners centres and sprawling areas

The renewal of urban management is then presented as advance local development. Among economic, cultural and political the most significant shape is the quest for wider political reforms around which struggles continue to crystallize experiences in decentralization, devolution and local government that directly affect the content, structure and quality of urban governance.

Urban governance implies that citizenship is now mobilized across the city. It is be based on a real citizen participation in all stages of the urban development:

diagnosis,

problem formulation,

development strategy,

objectives definition,

resources allocation,

project implementation

and evaluation. T

GOALS AND OBJECTIVESThe final goal of this document is to:

Allow student to have a global vision of the urban and urbanization issues in Africa

Identify models of urban planning in Africa Analyze stakes of urban governance in Africa

Carry out a critical analysis of urban planning and development models in Africa.

Upon the class The student will have the skills to make a comparative analysis of urbanization patterns in Africa in north America and southern Asia.

I- TWO TYPES URBAN GROWTH

GENTRIFICATION

Old buildings and housing from the colonial era give way to new buildings and equipment and infrastructure that respond to the requirements of modern societies.

• Gentrification can result of factors such as– revalorization of the centers city, – incentive measures taken to attract comfortable taxpayers, – dynamism of the real estate market,

– industrial or polluting activity disappearance.

Three theses explain gentrification:

- The sociological thesis,

- The economic thesis

- The cultural thesis.

URBAN SPRAWL …

Urban or suburban sprawl is centered around the expansion of low-density development. Another key characteristic is its low-density land

Yaoundé (Cameroon), extends 25 km from north to south and 10 km from west to east. It has conquered new spaces at its periphery and progressively incorporate satellite cities This extension took place outside the control of policymakers. Human activities are deployed in ignorance of the laws governing urban planning.

• Brazzaville (Republic of Congo) concentrates 59% of the urban population and 37% of the total population in 2007. Its area increased from 1,800 hectares in 1950 to 20,900 hectares in 2007, representing an annual growth rate of 2%.

Urban sprawl causes loss of rurality, Many environmental problems changing growing soil (roads, larger family houses), farmland, forestry, pastoral or natural areas disappear.

Sprawling urban areas requires an increased use of vehicles and two-wheel, hence energy supply and inevitably imposes the development of infrastructure, mainly transport, and use of larger surfaces.

These changes increases emissions of greenhouse gases -which promotes climate change- and leads to increased air and noise pollution.

II- NEW MODELS OF URBAN PLANNING IN AFRICA

KONZA TECHNOLOGY CITY IN KENYA

Kenya’s Vision 2030 Designed to be a beacon of excellence not only for Kenya but all of Africa, the Silicon Savannah represents an ambitious vision of a modern, inclusive and sustainable Kenya.

Konza Techno City will feature:• Central Business District (CBD): • University campus: • Residential community:

occupying almost 920 ha, providing almost 37000 homes and accommodating a resident population of 185,000 people.

• Parks and wildlife to develops and improves the environment.

NEW TWONS IN OIL PRODUCER COUNTRIES

Some of African countries oil producers invest in ex nihilo creation of new towns . This is the case of Kilamba Angola or Oyala in Equatorial Guinea.

New towns” have become a priority development strategies of cities and metropolitan regions implemented to absorb urban growth and create areas of economic activities. It must also be a harmonious and attractive living place.

Constructed by by a Chinese state company - International Trust and Investment Corporation (Citic) - for almost 3,5 billions of dollars paid in oil by the Angolan state

Not far from Luanda, the nation capital, Cidade nova of Kilamba is made of 750 buildings of eight floors, twelve schools and more than hundred shops.

But Nova Cidade didn't always succeed in attracting inhabitants, and has became the first flaming ghost city in Africa.

CIDADE NUEVA KILAMBA: ANGOLA

OYALA : EQUATORIAL GUINEE

Oyala is one of the few African cities whose design has been entrusted to engineers, planners, architects and even landscapers.

Oyala will spread on over 32,000 ha and house about 65,000 inhabitants.

The new town will have a threefold purpose:

academic, The university campus will feature fourteen faculties and welcome 10,000 students.

industrial The southern host habitat areas, a technology park and an industrial zone and the international complex is dedicated to business tourism, conference and recrea and tourism.

Neighborhoods located north shelter the government and other public buildings, staff accommodation .

There’s a lot of debate around the future of new towns or planned cities in Africa Such as Gaborone, Botswana’s Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast’s official capital, and Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city Theses new cities joins Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates and Shenzhen City in China

Question of these new Cities ’s ecological sustainability has been raised. it is often a socio-economic and environmental waste. As seen in China, a proliferation of planned cities has left what has been called “forests of skyscrapers” where there are no buyers for empty housing units.

Ghana, second world producer of cocoa and big producer of gold entered the club of oil producers countries; how to ensure that Ghanaian decision makers will not reproduce the failures and abuses of Kilamba in their new urban development policies ?

FROM CITY GOVERNMENT TO URBAN GOVERNANCE

Poor control of the spatial growth of cities by states , malfunctioning of equipment , poor tax collection fees, financial bankruptcies and debt service of public operators require The renewal of City management

Koloba market in Dakar Senegal

As in Yaoundé, Cameroon, access to drinking water is a crucial issue in African cities

Transport and trafic In Douala (Cameroun)

City government involves different types of organizations: local authorities, large private companies , representatives of private groups semi-public agencies and public representatives from various segments of the state, consultants, research organizations.

Urban governance implies a greater diversity in the way of organizing services, greater flexibility, a variety of actors, even a transformation that can take forms of local democracy. The municipal authority, as the state becomes major actor admittedly, but one actor among others.

Urban governance cover fields such as the distribution of drinking water, wastewater treatment, the use of collective urban transport networks or energy, trash collection, management of facilities such as markets, cars stations. How to establish relationship between public, private and civil society organizations about the mobilization and allocation of resources? How to reconcile the logic of the politicians associative and business leaders?

CONCLUSION

Urban studies are marked by an ingrained tendency to consider cities in Western Europe and north America as the leading edge of global urban change.

African planners and managers may also pay attention to ways in which cities in Asia are experimenting, with ways of been global which do not necessary refer back to antecedents in the north Atlantic world.

urban phenomenon in Africa is both massive and irreversible, with excessive urban growth. This is a challenge for the future.