Lecture

African Urban Development

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Description

This lecture delves into the spatial development characteristics of African cities, analyzing factors such as low GDP per capita urbanization rates, high living costs, housing market dysfunctions, and urban fragmentation. It explores the challenges faced by African cities in terms of infrastructure planning, housing accessibility, and economic opportunities, emphasizing the need for comprehensive interventions to address these issues. The discussion also highlights the potential for economic growth through urbanization, the importance of balancing centralization and decentralization in city management, and the lessons that African cities can offer in terms of innovative technologies, participatory planning, and professionalized governance. The lecture concludes by examining the replicability of successful urban models like Kigali in larger African cities and the strategies needed to tackle complex urban challenges effectively.

In MOOC

African Cities III, urban planning and management

"African Cities" offers a course on urban management and planning. After a review of the major urban themes (climate change, infrastructure and services, energy, the right to the city, land, housing, the informal economy), we will take a critical look at the tools currently used in urban management and planning. We will then look at how to manage and plan a more inclusive, productive, resilient and resource-efficient city that respects the environment. Finally, we will look successively at the issues of ci

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Related concepts (16)

Urban planning

Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, and the infrastructure passing into and out of urban areas, such as transportation, communications, and distribution networks and their accessibility.

Urban sprawl

Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city". Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted growth in many urban areas of housing, commercial development, and roads over large expanses of land, with little concern for urban planning. In addition to describing a special form of urbanization, the term also relates to the social and environmental consequences associated with this development.

Urbanization

Urbanization (or urbanisation) is the population shift from rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. It can also mean population growth in urban areas instead of rural ones. It is predominantly the process by which towns and cities are formed and become larger as more people begin living and working in central areas. Urbanization is often responsible for the myriad of modern problems facing humanity.

Spatial planning

Spatial planning mediates between the respective claims on space of the state, market, and community. In so doing, three different mechanisms of involving stakeholders, integrating sectoral policies and promoting development projects mark the three schools of transformative strategy formulation, innovation action and performance in spatial planning Spatial planning systems refer to the methods and approaches used by the public and private sector to influence the distribution of people and activities in spaces of various scales.

Sustainable urbanism

Sustainable urbanism is both the study of cities and the practices to build them (urbanism), that focuses on promoting their long term viability by reducing consumption, waste and harmful impacts on people and place while enhancing the overall well-being of both people and place. Well-being includes the physical, ecological, economic, social, health and equity factors, among others, that comprise cities and their populations.

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