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DEVELOPING URBAN FUTURES
CONTENTS FOREWORD
3 FOREWORD DATA URBAN AGE The Urban Age turns its ‘reflexive lens’ to Africa after a series of
Ricky Burdett and Anna Herrhausen
25 DYNAMICS OF URBAN GROWTH
DEVELOPING URBAN FUTURES CONFERENCE international conferences that have allowed us to assess selected
4 DEVELOPING URBAN FUTURES ADDIS ABABA cities in hotspots of urban growth and change across the world.
26 WHERE PEOPLE LIVE
Peter Griffiths 29 – 30 NOVEMBER 2018 For 15 years, the Urban Age project has conducted a worldwide
30 FLIGHT PATTERNS
32 COMPARING CITIES ORGANISED BY LSE CITIES AT THE investigation into the future of cities, holding conferences, generating
PERSPECTIVES ON AFRICA 34 RESIDENTIAL DENSITY LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS research, curating exhibitions, publishing books (most recently
6 AFRICA’S URBAN TRANSFORMATION 36 URBAN EXPANSION AND THE ALFRED HERRHAUSEN GESELLSCHAFT Shaping Cities in an Urban Age) and producing newspapers like this
Vera Songwe
37 BUILT FORM one to explore the relationship between the design of cities – how
URBANAGE.LSECITIES.NET we live, move and work – and how they can be better governed and
7 PARADOXES OF AFRICAN URBANISM 38 MASS TRANSIT
Edward Glaeser
39 POPULAR TRANSIT managed to tackle the challenges of, for example, uncontrolled sprawl,
8 PRODUCTIVITY AND URBAN FORM EDITORS inequality and climate change.
40 HOW PEOPLE MOVE
J. Vernon Henderson, Sebastian Kriticos Ricky Burdett, Director, LSE Cities
and Tanner Regan 42 LIVING IN THE CITY Philipp Rode, Executive Director, LSE Cities The final leap towards an ‘urban age’ requires urgent exploration.
9 DELIVERING EQUITY LOCALLY 44 GOVERNANCE STRUCTURES Peter Griffiths, Managing Editor, LSE Cities 2.5 billion more people will be living in cities by 2050, the vast majority
Mpho Parks Tau
48 AFRICAN URBAN DYNAMICS in Africa and Asia.Yet, much of the infrastructure to support this urban
12 PLACE-MAKING IN DISSONANT TIMES SPECIAL THANKS expansion is yet to be built.To contribute to the exploration, the Urban
Edgar Pieterse British Academy Cities and Infrastructure Programme
British Council, Ethiopia Age has carried out new research on African cities in the build-up to the
13 MAKING INCLUSION MORE INCLUSIVE AFRICAN CITIES Ethiopian Embassy, London Addis Ababa conference on Developing Urban Futures.The dynamics
Kate Meagher Mathewos Asfaw Bekele, Addis Ababa City Plan Commission
51 CAPTURING URBAN LIVES Getachew Betru, CEO, Ethiopia Railways Corporation (2007-17) of growth and change of ‘young’ sub-Saharan African cities – their size,
14 VISUALISING POPULAR TRANSPORT
Jacqueline M. Klopp Lealem Berhanu Desta, Addis Ababa City Plan Commission population, density and social and economic profiles – are presented
Fasil Giorghis, EiABC, Addis Ababa University
16 ETHIOPIA’S RAILWAY REVOLUTION Astrid Haas, IGC alongside those of emerging cities in Asia and more mature urban
LEARNING FROM ADDIS ABABA
Philipp Rode Khaled Hussein, UNECA centres of developed nations.The aim is not to create a ranking of
59 STEERING GROWTH Taibat Lawanson, University of Lagos
Mathewos Asfaw Bekele Susanna Moorehead, British Ambassador to Ethiopia urban performance or ‘success’ but to better inform the decisions that
GLOBAL CHALLENGES Sue Parnell, University of Bristol and University of Cape Town are taken today that will shape urban lives for generations to come.
59 A CITY IN FLUX Vera Songwe, UNECA
Fasil Giorghis Henry Telli, IGC The risks associated with steep and unmanaged urban growth are
19 URBANISATION TRENDS
Eduardo López Moreno 60 GATED ADDIS high.The essays in this publication provide context and perspective
19 LOCKING-IN CITIES
Yeraswork Admassie Photography on the challenges faced by developing cities: from fragmented
Nicholas Stern and Dimitri Zenghelis 61 TAKING THE CITY TO THE COUNTRYSIDE Charlie Rosser (Addis Ababa); Mudondo Evaline (Kampala);
Emeka Okereke (Lagos); Yann Arthus-Bertrand (Lagos);
urbanisation and economic inefficiency, to environmental damage
Zegeye Cherenet
20 NEW URBAN PERIPHERIES Robert Harding (Cape Town); Daniel Hayduk (Dar es Salaam);
Tony Karumba (Nairobi); Daniel Koßmann (Nairobi).
and limited democratic accountability. As the location for the 17th
Shlomo Angel 61 THE NEW FLOWER
Rahel Shawl Cover: Urban development near Bole Arabsa on the edges of
Urban Age conference, Addis Ababa, with its distinctive model of
21 AGENCY OF INFORMALITY
David Satterthwaite
Addis Ababa. ©Charlie Rosser urban transformation in Africa, is explored in greater detail as a basis
62 REQUIEM FOR ARAT KILO
Marco Di Nunzio Back cover: Addis Ababa’s Chinese-built light rail transit is the to frame questions around our shared urban future.
22 ON HOLD IN JAKARTA first in sub-Saharan Africa. ©Charlie Rosser
AbdouMaliq Simone 62 INFORMAL LOGICS With the help of over 60 experts and policymakers from 26 cities
Elias Yitbarek Alemayehu in Africa, Asia, Europe, South and North America, the Urban Age
conference in Addis Ababa is designed to create common ground
to take the debate about Developing Urban Futures further. It is the
continuation of a conversation that since 2005 has investigated over
40 cities globally, engaged more than 6,000 people and given voice
to 500 urban experts, scholars, practitioners and policymakers.
We welcome you to the 2018 Urban Age.
Ricky Burdett Anna Herrhausen
Director, Urban Age and Executive Director,
LSE Cities, London School of Alfred Herrhausen Gesellschaft
Economics and Political Science
MAYOR’S OFFICE
2 3
DEVELOPING
URBAN FUTURES PERSPECTIVES
Peter Griffiths
ON AFRICA
In 1950, roughly half the world’s urban areas like bandages, highlighting a scale An Urban Age perspective production, and a tendency to simplify the
population lived in Europe and North of change occurring in many cities across The data and essays in this Urban Age African story given limited and inaccessible
America. A few decades on, Asia eclipsed the continent (see page 24). The plethora newspaper present key aspects of African locally produced content, has increased the
Europe and is today home to half the world’s of experiments across Africa’s divergent urbanisation in a global context. Shlomo challenge of comparing African cities to
city dwellers. As Europe enters deeper into cities suggests that perhaps Africa may Angel’s work shows that, globally, it isn’t each other and to global examples. Almost
an ageing society, Africa will soon overtake give birth to new forms of city-making necessarily rapid population growth (while a half of all cities in Africa do not have a
it for second position behind Asia. Today, and find bold ways of responding to rapid significant contributor) that is driving urban recent census and accessing data at sufficient
42 per cent of Africans are urban dwellers, growth, environmental sustainability and expansion, but sprawl, with cities taking up quality for study required substantial
about 500 million people. In the next few reconfiguring cities to be spatially more more space per person than ever before, a resources except in a few examples.
decades this number will swell to over 1.4 inclusive in a context of urbanisation condition known to make cities less produc- Many of the African cities investigated
billion, with twelve million young people without industrialisation. tive, less sustainable and less inclusive. Since by the Urban Age simply cannot be known
entering the labour market every year. A potential benefit of the continent’s 1990, a basket of 200 cities has expanded at the same level of detail as more developed
current phase of urbanisation is that five times, but their populations have only cities. With knowledge production about
‘...experiments across development models have already been doubled. This, and Nicholas Stern’s caution cities still concentrated in the Global North,
tested sufficiently across the globe. Those that the next few decades are a once-in- the risk is that Africa’s urban success stories
Africa’s divergent developing Africa’s urban futures can history opportunity to build sustainable remain hidden. But there are exceptions.
learn from what worked and, perhaps more cities, frames the challenge of develop- Cape Town, for instance, encourages the use
cities suggests that important, what didn’t. But the evidence on ing new urban futures that are resilient of city data by universities, entrepreneurs
perhaps Africa may the ground is, at best, mixed. Congestion,
sprawl and inadequate infrastructure prevail
to technological, economic and climate
change, and inclusive.
and the general public to drive innova-
tion. There is considerable work to be done,
give birth to new as city leaders attempt to modernise and
retrofit overstressed urban systems.
Even so, all the research into understand-
ing Africa’s existing popular transport
though, to satisfy Michael Bloomberg’s
tongue-in-cheek exhortation to city mayors:
forms of city-making.’ Policymakers, investors and entrepre-
neurs are operating in a context where the
networks, the challenge of connecting
people and opportunities and how best to
‘In God we trust. Everyone else bring data.’
In an effort to understand the local story,
The rapidly growing urban areas in informal economy accounts for 50–80 per govern urban informality also suggests that we commissioned a series of commentar-
Africa and Asia may soon set the global cent of the continent’s GDP, 60–80 per cent at least some of what might need to be built ies on cities across Africa. Some came
urban agenda on everything from climate of employment and 90 per cent of new jobs. in Africa has already been built. Lagos and back overwhelmingly negative. The more
change and social inclusion to productiv- The prevailing form of growth in many Cairo already have populations as large objective comparative data collected by LSE
ity and transport innovation, given the African cities of varying size is ad-hoc as some of the world’s largest mega-cities: Cities (see pages 24–49) shows that African
relatively larger populations and significant and incremental. New York City, Shanghai and Mexico City. cities do not necessarily perform worst-
need for constructing spaces, connecting As a continent, Africa’s infrastruc- of-the-worst. In many instances African
people and supporting livelihoods. Nigeria’s
cities alone will accommodate 189 million
ture patterns have historically focused
on connecting resources and commodi-
‘Perhaps the biggest cities – for now – perform far better than
cities elsewhere, particularly in resource use.
more people by 2050. Ethiopia is fast moving
from being a predominantly rural economy
ties to global markets, rather than people
and ideas. This process has become more
challenge facing This can offer some reason to hope. It is also
clear that African countries with the highest
to an urban one, with Addis Ababa growing complex in the twenty-first century, with Africa’s urban future human development are also the most
at an annual rate of about 4 per cent – twice China playing a critical – and controver- urbanised (see page 24), mirroring a trend
the rate of Beijing or Jakarta. In the rush to sial – role in creating a new generation of is not the magnitude found across the world. As Africa urbanises,
deliver cities, critical infrastructure needs infrastructure with potentially transforma- it seems likely that measures of education,
may be overwhelming. According to the tive impact. Among other forms of invest- of problems, but health and wellbeing will increase, as will
African Development Bank, two-thirds of
the investments in urban infrastructure
ment, the growing superpower is replacing
and extending some of the railways built the urgency of democratic accountability.
The Urban Age has investigated models
needed between now and 2050 have yet to be
made, and extensive informal housing will
by British, French and Portuguese colonial
governments to connect places in Nigeria,
implementing of sustainable development in other parts
of the world where urbanisation is largely
require some form of upgrading. But can the
grace of an incremental growth narrative be
Kenya and Ethiopia. This infrastructure
may allow cities in the world’s most unified
solutions.’ complete. Will Africa produce new models,
rendering them more inclusive, productive
afforded to African cities? London grew its regional union (the African Union covers In the quest to have a story that is more and liveable? The evidence, in part, suggests
metro rail network over 150 years; Shanghai the entire continent) to link not just to the connected to a modern and global narrative, this is possible. Greater connectivity and
built the world’s longest metro in little over outside world, but also internally. Fasil Giorghis warns of the importance trade between cities, which could soon be
15 years. In a more technologically advanced Intra-regional trade in Africa is only of retaining a past, not only in symbolic part of the largest free trade area in terms of
world than Victorian England, the question 18 per cent of total exports versus 59 per architecture, but also in the texture of participating countries since the formation
of how to design and plan cities may never cent and 69 per cent for Asia and Europe. connection on the streets. These are qualities of the World Trade Organization2, may
have been so important. As African cities connect to each other that, once lost, can never be designed back also result in a far less fragmented urban
Since the start of the millennium there and share ideas, opportunities to negotiate in. Edgar Pieterse’s provocation is that landscape. Perhaps the biggest challenge
has been renewed interest in building more favourable trade terms increase. citizen participation experiments, like in facing Africa’s urban future is not the
tall in cities as diverse as Cairo, Maputo, Africa’s changing flight patterns (see page Nigeria’s Port Harcourt, could be part of the magnitude of problems, but the urgency of
Abuja, Kampala, Cape Town, Durban, 30) illustrate this: growth has not only been solution to retrofitting existing pieces of city implementing solutions.
Addis Ababa, Dar es Salaam, Luanda and directed at China and India – flights within instead of rebuilding them from scratch.
1. Anderson, David and Richard Rathbone. Africa’s Urban Past. 2000.
Port Louis. A building in Johannesburg’s Africa have also doubled in the last 15 years. An extensive community mapping project 2. Crabtree, Justina. 2018. ‘Africa is on the verge of forming the
financial district has just become the new Trade figures over a similar period mirror plugged a gap in available data, enabling the largest free trade area since the World Trade Organization’ in
CNBC, 20 March 2018.
tallest building in Africa after 45 years, this trend, with export and import growth possibility of delivering urban infrastruc-
highlighting a growing optimism in between Africa and China and India almost tures in informally planned areas.
Africa’s cities. Plans for even taller towers in doubling. And, as China taught the English A significant challenge in understand- Peter Griffiths is the Managing Editor of
Casablanca, Nairobi, Accra and Abuja are on to drink tea, Ethiopia is taking coffee to ing Africa’s urban conditions is its vast LSE Cities.
the drawing board. China, with one entrepreneur betting on complexity. While some areas are among
The state-led development model an empire of 100 cafes by 2022, highlighting the least urbanised globally (see page 26),
in Addis Ababa is perhaps atypical of how culture continues to flow from others can trace urban histories back further Street vendor, Kampala: Africa’s cities, like all
the African story. Green and yellow African shores. than much of Europe1. Language barriers in others, thrive by maximising opportunities
corrugated-iron sheets enclose demolished Anglo-, Franco- and Lusophone knowledge for transaction.
©Mudondo Evaline
4 5
AFRICA’S URBAN
encourage construction industries to form, Diverse and connected system disputes12. The programme improved gender The way forward industrial productivity. At the same time, 3. World Bank. 2015. Stocktaking of the Housing Sector in Sub-Saharan
Africa: Challenges and opportunities.
including basic industries such as cement of cities equity through regulations and education, African cities present common opportunities secondary cities and well-located SEZs with 4. Dasgupta, B., S. Lall and N. Lozano-Gracia. 2014. ‘Urbanization and
and steel. With the expanding housing and African countries are often characterised resulting in the inclusion of married to expand industries to meet urban domestic the right infrastructure can balance the Housing Investment.’ Policy Research Working Paper. Washington,
D.C.: World Bank.
construction sector and sophistication of the by unbalanced national urban systems with women’s names on plots and enhanced and regional demand while generating jobs needs of sectors for access to inputs, labour, 5. Ncube, M., C. Lufumpa and S. Kayizzi-Mugerwa. 2011. ‘The Middle
TRANSFORMATION
real estate market, there are good prospects a very large primary city and less competi- gender parity in inheritance rights13. and supporting development outcomes, markets and knowledge. of The Pyramid: Dynamics of the Middle Class in Africa.’ Market Brief.
Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire: African Development Bank.
to develop industry further by upgrading tive smaller cities. Urban systems tend to Agglomeration economies are also including agro-processing, urban housing Further, despite the importance of cities 6. Lozano-Garcia, N., and C. Young. 2014. ‘Housing Consumption and
skills and developing design, contracting be top heavy with expensive and crowded undercut by weak connectivity and poor construction and urban infrastructure for industrial development and vice versa, Urbanization’. Washington, DC: World Bank.
7. Gutman, J., A. Sy and S. Chattopadhyay. 2015. Financing African
and consulting capacities. primary cities, and secondary cities that urban mobility. The inability of people to construction. Across the continent, national, the planning processes and institutional Infrastructure: Can the World Deliver? Washington, D.C.: Brookings
African per capita spending on urban are too small to be viable alternatives for move easily through cities shrinks opportu- regional and city-level policymakers can frameworks are disjointed. Policies are often Institution.
8.Gebreeyesus, M. 2016. ‘Industrial policy and development in Ethiopia.’
Vera Songwe housing is consistently higher than in rural
areas, pointing to growing opportunities.
competitive industries. In response, some
African countries have put in place policies
nities for labour pooling and knowledge
sharing, both critical to increased firm
make the most of these opportunities, but
only if they take into account the following
formulated and implemented in ‘silos,’ with
little analysis of the impact of urban trends
In C. Newman, J. Page, J. Rand, A. Shimeles, M. Söderbom, and F. Tarp
(eds.), Manufacturing Transformation: Comparative studies of industrial
development in Africa and emerging Asia (pp. 27–49). Helsinki:
However, the sector is struggling in many to rebalance urban systems, which risks productivity. One study has revealed that interconnected issues that will enable cities and economic geography on industrialisa- UNU-WIDER.
countries as institutional problems account wasting resources. there is a higher productivity gap within to deliver sustainable change. tion in national development plans. 9.Foster, V., and Morella, E. 2010. Ethiopia’s Infrastructure: A
Continental Perspective.
Africa, along with Asia, is the epicentre Using urban demand to drive industrial for an inefficient supply chain and expensive Ethiopia’s urban policies focus on Kenya’s industrial sector than in India or To leverage the opportunities created 10. Ministry of Infrastructure. 2015. Habitat III: Rwanda Report. Kigali:
of global urbanisation. This transition development housing units, highlighting the need to promoting planned secondary city develop- China, with the productivity differential Implementing policies: Administrative by urban demand, a host of strategic Government of Rwanda.
11. DAI. n.d.. Support for Land Tenure Regularisation. Retrieved from
will undoubtedly result in considerable Industrial targets tied to urbanisation can remove regulatory barriers. Housing is ment in advance of urbanisation, largely between firms at the 80th and 20th percen- arrangements and budgetary support actions should support activities at all DAI.com.
challenges including demand for employ- tap into Africa’s rapid urban growth to 55 per cent more expensive in urban Africa as industrial enterprises are relatively tile three times more than in India and over should mirror a coordinated structure stages of targeted value chains in agricul- 12. Gillingham, P., and Buckle, F. 2014. Rwanda Land Tenure
Regularisation Case Study. London: Evidence on Demand.
ment, services and infrastructure. At the develop domestic and regional markets for than in other developing countries’ urban clustered. In 2009/10, Addis Ababa had four times more than in China. for urban and industrial development ture, manufacturing and services, such as 13. Ali, D. A., Deininger, K., and Goldstein, M. 2013. ‘Environmental and
same time, it presents significant opportuni- domestic industrial products, including areas4. Typical house-price-to-income ratio 11 times the number of manufacturing Insufficient, poorly planned and discon- policies. Disconnects between these building skills, improving infrastructure, gender impacts of land tenure regularization in Africa: Pilot evidence
from Rwanda.’ Journal of Development Economics, 110, 262–275.
ties to enable structural transformation, if through leveraging the recently agreed globally ranges between 3:1 and 5:1, but often enterprises of the second city on this nected road space alongside increasing elements are often the cause of failures expanding access to business services and 14. UNECA. 1962. Workshop on Urbanization in Africa. Addis Ababa.
well planned and managed. African Continental Free Trade Area. in Africa, even for public service employees metric (Awassa)8. motorisation has led to choking levels of in implementation. promoting spatial development policies.
Urbanisation in many African countries Africa’s urbanisation is in many places whose average income is higher than the Road and railway linkages connecting congestion in many cities. Road investments Vera Songwe is Executive Secretary of the
has not been driven by improving product- accompanied by a growing consumer class majority’s, the ratio goes above 10:1. The secondary cities to each other and to their are often skewed towards highways and Institutional capacity: Implementing urban 1. Lemprecht, N. 2016. South Africa Automotive Export Manual.
Pretoria, South Africa: Automotive Industry Export Council.
United Nations Economic Commission for
ivity. Indeed, most countries are urbanis- with more purchasing power and prefer- cheapest formally built housing, too, is much surrounding rural areas form a central ring roads rather than a more fine-grained and industrial policies in a coordinated 2. Oxford Business Group. 2016. Egypt’s domestic automotive industry Africa.
shows promise.
ing rapidly amid declining or stagnant ences for manufactured goods. Changing higher in Africa on this ratio than in other plank for developing regional growth poles. scale of urban connectivity, leading to manner requires a sound institutional
industrial output and low agricultural consumption patterns have already created developing regions. During the first decade of this century, only temporary relief as excess road space framework matching the structure of the
productivity. One useful way to group opportunities for domestic industry, The level and growth of per capita GDP Ethiopia allocated 3 per cent of GDP to is quickly filled up by more drivers and as policies. Many African countries still face
PARADOXES
African countries in terms of urbanisa- especially in the automotive, food, housing will be major contributors to upgrading investment in roads, bringing the quality cities de-densify in response to new periph- institutional constraints for coordinating
tion is to consider their position in natural and the infrastructure sectors. urban housing supplies. Middle-class of the trunk network up to the level of eral connections. However, five quantita- the two strands – urban and industrial.
resource exports and economic diversifica- Automobile consumption in Africa households tend to own their own homes other low-income countries in Africa9. tive studies on industrial clusters in Africa
tion. Countries fall into four basic groups is associated with rising incomes and and reside in bigger and more permanent Current and planned railway mega-projects, suggest that agglomeration economies are Finding the financing: Empowering urban
with similar development challenges: continued urbanisation. With the sector’s housing, equipped with modern durable including the Addis Ababa–Djibouti railway at work, confirming that urban areas hold local authorities with financial capacity
OF AFRICAN
pre-transition countries, transition potential to meet the growing demand goods. In Algeria, Morocco, South Africa project (see page 16) and road and railway benefits for firms in Africa. to better plan and manage cities is crucial
countries, diversified economies and natural of the urban middle class for vehicles and Tunisia more than 60 per cent of connections to agricultural hinterlands, are if cities are to better support industrial
resource exporters (see page 48). Pre-transi- domestically, or regionally, policies can households own their homes, in part a designed to facilitate trade, agro-processing Harnessing urbanisation for development. The Addis Ababa Action
tion countries (for example, Ethiopia), target the sector to foster industrialisation reflection of the rise of the middle class5. and industrial development. industrialisation: policy priorities Agenda, for instance, recognised the role
URBANISM
have an opportunity to set a trajectory and generate learning for later entry The quality of their housing also tends to be In Egypt, crowding in urban centres, Today’s policy decisions for urban design of subnational actors in financing for
for well-planned development of cities, to global value chains. better, with more solidly built roofs, walls particularly Greater Cairo and Alexandria, and infrastructure will have a long-term development. But decentralisation without
balanced development of urban systems South Africa – the continent’s leading and floors, and less overcrowding6. as well as urban expansion onto precious lock-in effect and thus shape the develop- financing, and weak local capacities for
and diversified, labour-rich industrial target producer – illustrates the industry’s There is need for governments to actively agricultural land, led the government to ment path of Africa’s cities. But to be more financial management and revenue genera-
sectors. They also face challenges of limited potential. Largely reflecting policies since address the persistent formal housing gap for develop a New Cities programme from productive and tap into urban advantages tion, challenge many African cities.
public resources, low capacities (particularly 1995, it domestically produced 588,000 families who will not enter the middle class 1977. Twenty-two new cities have been for industrial development, policies need to Edward Glaeser
outside primary cities) and low levels of vehicles and exported 329,053 in 2017. in the coming decades. Such programmes established, which fall into the following be more integrated in the following areas: Knowledge: A critical challenge in harmon-
infrastructure. The automotive industry, which has 150 can be directly tied to industrialisation categories: primarily residential satellite ising urban and industrial development is
Transition countries (Cameroon, component companies, contributed 6.9 policies, as has been done in Ethiopia. centres around Cairo; twin cities intended to Centrality of national development planning: the paucity of knowledge and evidence. In Africa’s past is rural. Africa’s future is urban. The lessons of the wealthy world’s past
Mozambique and Rwanda) tend to be per cent of GDP in 2017. Gauteng, though Similarly, the investment in housing that have an economic base but connected to an Policymakers need to leverage urban drivers particular, spatial economic data, especially The growth of Africa’s cities offers tremen- are particularly important today, but so
early in the urbanisation process, but geographically the smallest province in North African countries like Morocco existing smaller city; and independent cities, such as increase in aggregate demand at subnational level, are lacking, which dous economic, social and political upsides. are the lessons that come from the more
already experiencing some of the urban South Africa, is the most populous with and Tunisia have made since the 1990s is with their own industrial base. and consumption by maximising urban constrains progress. Closer cooperation is Urban agglomerations have generated recent urbanisation of Latin America. Just
diseconomies. They can still channel an estimated population of 14.7 million. It reflected in impressive changes in housing productivity enablers and addressing thus needed between urban agencies and industrialisation, cultural breakthroughs like Africa today, many Latin American
emerging growth to invest in key infrastruc- also has the most automotive suppliers, as conditions. In Morocco the share of the Better-functioning cities barriers through a coherent set of sound national statistical offices. and democratisation, but there are also countries urbanised before they industri-
ture and create well placed and serviced it offers investors business opportunities, urban population living in slums fell from 37 The power of agglomeration economies gives urban development policies, planning downsides of urbanisation. alised. São Paulo and Mexico have dealt with
industrial locations, linking industry to including a well-developed infrastructure. per cent in 1990 to 13 per cent in 2005. large cities a major productive advantage. and investments aligned to industrial Conclusion Rural life in poor countries offers much crime and traffic congestion for decades.
rural resources. Diversified economies The Gauteng Growth and Development Africa’s urban housing deficit is Firms in cities have better access to labour, development goals and priorities. Many Africa is undergoing a rapid urban transi- less chance for change than urbanisation. They lacked resources, just like many
(Mauritius and South Africa) must manage Agency, the Automotive Industry Develop- accompanied by a huge infrastructure markets, inputs and knowledge sharing. African states have recently re-recognised tion with considerable implications for Despite the challenges of Africa’s cities, the African cities, and often responded with
the challenges of urban growth to maximise ment Centre and the Automotive Supplier deficit. The continent lags behind the rest However, many large cities in Africa are the need for national development plans, industrialisation, a key imperative for right response is to fight for improvements in creative solutions.
the benefits of agglomeration economies and Park provide support to the industry and of the world in access to electricity, internet underperforming, with the potential of including long-term visions and the means inclusive structural transformation. the quality of urban government. For when The scope of the challenge of African
the continued dynamism of their cities. They are charged with promoting its trade and penetration and access to improved water, agglomeration economies undercut by of achieving them. South Africa’s 2030 Urbanisation and industrialisation are density is managed well, cities can be places cities generates a temptation to just give up
face crucial trade-offs between investing investment and implementing projects. and has large road-maintenance needs. poorly functioning land and property National Development Plan, for example, closely linked elsewhere, but in Africa of remarkable pleasure and productivity. on urbanisation, but there is little future in
limited resources, primarily in established An additional enabling factor is South West Africa has lower road density and markets, inadequate mobility options and considers urban growth an opportunity. these links are weak. Where they exist, the Singapore, for example, manages to be clean, rural poverty. Cities can provide a pathway
and growing cities and industries, or Africa’s position as a major supplier of road quality than other regions; North disconnected and sprawling urban form urbanisation-industrialisation nexus has healthy and relatively uncongested. Without out of poverty into prosperity, and they are
attempting to balance development and platinum and other platinum-group metals Africa has a higher prevalence of paved including residential segregation. Industrial policies should enable sector often developed organically rather than proper management, density can diminish the best hope for political improvement.
industrialise lagging regions. Natural required by the automotive industry. South roads and better access to electricity; East Poorly functioning land markets lead to targeting: Investments and public resources through deliberate policy responses, even quality of life. Improving the quality of life in developing-
resource exporters (Republic of Congo and Africa meets 12 per cent of the demand for and Southern Africa do best on internet disconnect between the productive potential will have more impact if they lift certain though the importance of coordinating Cities are the absence of physical space world cities brings the hope that those cities
Gabon) face some of the toughest challenges. catalytic converters and has 70 per cent of servers. The annual financing requirement of a city and the cost of land. For instance, industrial subsectors and their value chains industrial and urban development was between human beings. That closeness can enrich their countries and bring more
Large, export-driven consumption cities the world’s chromium, used in producing for infrastructure investment in Africa the cost of non-residential land is not to achieve the development goals in the recognised by African policymakers as far enables the flow of goods and ideas, and freedom and political accountability. The
tend to have high informality and inequal- modern auto exhausts1. excluding North Africa is estimated at necessarily correlated with GDP per capita national development plan. Targeting back as the 1960s14. The challenge for Africa the use of shared urban joys, including quest for better cities in the developing world
ity, and job-poor sectors can crowd out Similarly, in Morocco industrial policies $93 billion7, but this covers rural and urban in Africa’s cities. Tunis and Nouakchott, specific subsectors for industrialisation and is thus to transform its economic growth museums, parks and restaurants. But just is one of the most important battles of the
industries that generate more jobs and more have fostered a large and fast-expand- areas. With rapid urbanisation and growing for example, have lower rents while Lusaka managing the trade-offs between investment into sustained and inclusive development as urban proximity makes it easier to share twenty-first century.
balanced development. However, these ing automotive industry, including a cities, countries will need to simultaneously and Dakar have higher rents relative to per strategies should consider the comparative by harnessing urbanisation to promote a laugh or an insight, it also makes it easier
exporters also have huge opportunities to Renault factory in the economic free zone catch up with the backlog, invest for the capita GDP. advantages of these subsectors. economic diversification, with a special to share a virus. Density enables harmful The race against time
use financial resources for infrastructure municipality of Melloussa, near Tangiers. growing population and spend on mainte- Rwanda has proven that large-scale focus on industrialisation that creates involuntary transactions, like robberies, just Europe urbanised over centuries. Africa is
investments, leverage industrial linkages The industry is now the country’s largest nance. In the last two decades the region land regularisation is financially and Spatial considerations in industrial policies: jobs, reduces inequality and poverty, and as it enables benign voluntary transactions. urbanising over decades. Communities, like
to successful export sectors and harness export sector, dethroning phosphate has seen significant growth in infrastruc- administratively feasible. As part of its Successful industrial policies should be enhances access to basic services. The downsides of density can readily spiral Kibera in Nairobi or Dunoon outside Cape
the power of consumption as a driver of exports. Automobile production is also on ture investment, with an increasing share land reform policies, the Land Tenure tailored to the spatial needs of targeted Domestic and regional markets are out of control, unless they are managed by Town, emerge in a startlingly short period of
industrial development. the rise in Algeria, Egypt has 15 car assembly of private sector finance relative to official Regularisation Programme identified and subsectors and firms, and different types expanding, creating opportunities for effective local government. time. Whereas European cities grew because
African leaders have already affirmed the plants targeting the domestic market2 and development assistance, including growing registered 8.4 million plots, with a trial of cities should be developed to match African industries to meet growing, and Many of the wealthy cities of the Global of massive demand for industrial labour in
need to harness the potential of urbanisa- Kenya and Ethiopia have emerging vehicle investment by China. Still, 65 per cent of period in 2008–10 and full scaling-up different industry needs. Spatial targeting of shifting, demand. Strategic and expanding North dealt with these by-products of urban cities like Manchester in the UK and Lille
tion for structural transformation through assembly sectors. the total comes from public budgets. This in 2010–1310. The programme employed investments and developing a functionally sectors, supported by domestic policy, are in crowding so long ago that they may have in France, in many cases, urban growth in
the Common African Position on the New In the area of construction, growth, might be lower than the 5–6 per cent of GDP 110,000 Rwandans, with 99 per cent working complementary system of cities and towns a position to leverage this demand to boost forgotten how difficult it was to make Paris Africa reflects a flight from conflict, agricul-
Urban Agenda that emerged from Habitat III particularly for housing and urban advocated by development practitioners, in their own communities, while keeping must be embedded in industrial and urban industrial development. Still, policies that or New York liveable. Only massive invest- tural desperation, or high fertility.
as the global urban development framework infrastructure, reflects rising urban but countries such as Angola, Cabo Verde the cost per title at approximately $7, which policies. Special economic zones (SEZs) are well targeted can create viable industrial ments in infrastructure and incentives Consequently, African cities face the
for the next two decades, underscoring the demand. Housing is a major source of wealth and Lesotho are investing more than is extremely low for such programmes11. offer one option for spatially connecting locations that meet the needs of industry turned London from a place of early death dual challenge of enhancing quality of life
role of cities in structural transformation creation and savings, with investments 8 per cent of GDP7. As of 2014, 81 per cent of identified plots industry with the benefits of agglomeration without impinging on the economic power to a city of long life. Even as recently as and economic viability. East Asian urbanis-
and sustainable development. accounting for 6 per cent of GDP, and for had been approved for titling (freehold and economies in pockets of well-serviced land. of large cities. Supporting the role of large 1992, murder continued to haunt New York. ers such as China and Japan also followed
each house built, five jobs can be created3. leasehold), with only 0.1 per cent remaining cities to be centres of knowledge and innova- Yet today that city is remarkably safe. This the path of industrialisation, but will this
Housing, through backward linkages, can unregistered parcels with unresolved tion can help leverage their potential for change didn’t happen easily. path be open to Africa?
6 7
In a sense, African cities are in a race In many cases, implementing local Consequently, there is a particularly strong agenda, but that institutional reform must their urban areas. In Ethiopia, for instance, done by private means; occasionally by car, is also difficult, which makes it extremely while making reforms to physical planning
against time. Some cities are gradually property taxes requires a number of difficult need to provide incentives that complement be sensitive to local conditions. Ideally that 90 per cent of the workforce is in agricul- motorbike or bicycle, but most often on foot. challenging for a developer to assemble plots schemes to involve further public participa-
improving their transportation infrastruc- institutional reforms, including the consti- sewerage infrastructure. reform will lead to the ability of current ture, as is close to 15 per cent of the urban In major cities like Nairobi, Lagos and Addis to pursue large-scale developments. The tion. In Dar es Salaam, the government has
ture and experiencing capital-deepening, tutional ability to tax, establish land records, slum dwellers to upgrade their residences population. For other African countries Ababa, 30–45 per cent of trips are made on result is two very different-looking cities. made efforts to establish universal access
but at the same time, industry is continu- create tools for property value assessment Property and ownership and increase the number of people who – including Mali, Cameroon, Tanzania, foot, and as many as 70 per cent of trips in In Dar 89 per cent of buildings are four to formalised tenure security but has faced
ing to mechanise. If global automation is and, in many places, the replacement of In much of urban Africa, property rights are can thrive within the city. Yet it is also Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya – the propor- Kampala are made by walking (see page 40). metres high or less (meaning one storey), prohibitively high survey costs. Like Kigali,
sufficiently fast, then African industry will informal land occupancy by formal land murky at best. One major agenda for Africa possible that reform will lead to land-taking tion of primary sector activity in urban This limits households to small distances while in Nairobi it is only 38 per cent. Of the Dar has experimented with new forms
find it difficult to compete despite relatively ownership. In India, Mumbai’s ability to act is to regularise ownership of urban land in a and expropriation of the poor. Improving areas ranges from 12 to 40 per cent, as around their residencies and impedes their taller structures, 8 per cent of buildings in of derivative right tenure using satellite-
low wages. is restricted because the city is controlled way that is both fair and efficient. institutions in an equitable fashion must be a compared to countries like India where access to jobs. Another striking feature of Nairobi are over 16 metres, or five storeys, image-based surveying methods. Another
In the West, cities have moved from by the state government of Maharashtra. Westerners often act as if the nature big part of making African cities the share is closer to 7 per cent. Services African cities is that motorised transporta- while for Dar it is 2 per cent. approach that has seen particular success
manufacturing to services. Yet to be success- Property records are often murky, and local of land ownership is somehow obvious. It more liveable. employment is another key issue. Although tion is primarily informal – with matatus, in peri-urban areas of Dar that are yet to be
ful, these service-oriented cities must real estate expertise is often limited. Most is not. Western conceptions of property There is much magic in developing world it comprises more than half of GDP, Africa tuk-tuks and boda bodas being the standard Average building height intensely developed, such as the Kigamboni
still have a viable export base, such as the importantly, vast swathes of the urban world ownership actually combine a wide range cities. Rural–urban migrants come to these has had limited development of high-value examples. Planted on congested streets with 100
district, was to encourage private companies
financial sector of London or technology in lack formal land titling, which prevents the of property rights and obligations. For places because they are hoping to find a industries like financial and business slow speeds and uncertain commute times, Nairobi to supply surveyed land data to the
San Francisco. Today, many African cities owners from using their property to finance example, ownership is related to the right to better future. They are not fools and they services. Among the largest cities in Africa, they are not enough to transform mobility 80
Dar es Salaam
municipal offices. It is important that such
also specialise in services, and rely on the entrepreneurship and prevents the city be free from expropriation both by the state are not misled. For all of Rio de Janeiro’s typically less than 12 per cent of employment in cities. efforts are able to keep ahead of intensive
export of natural resources. Will this be from imposing civic obligations, like taxes, and private actors, the right to sell land, the problems, it offers much more than the is in tradable services, and under 10 per cent The question is whether the building development, as evidence from Tanzania
60
enough in the middle twenty-first century? on the owners. right to mortgage land, and the right to build impoverished rural north-east of Brazil. in manufacturing. of modern transit systems in developing shows that pre-emptive action in planning
I remain optimistic because cities have When local expertise is lacking and on that land. Typically, the poorer residents Yet these new urbanites do face risks Nevertheless, recent evidence suggests countries, such as the roll-out of the Bus and surveying before settlement can lead to
40
long innovated their way to prosperity. vulnerability to local corruption is consider- of African cities can occupy their land with from disease and crime. They will spend that there are large income gains to be made Rapid Transit system in Dar es Salaam, much more efficient urban development
I expect the same for the cities of Africa. able, property tax assessment can be central- little fear of expropriation, but they often far too much time crowded into jitneys or by living in Africa’s denser areas, and that could have a similar impact on employment
Built area (%)
20
Entrepreneurship is abundant in Lagos, ised and essentially automated. Simple lack the other rights that are associated with minibus taxis sitting in traffic. Living in these gains exist across multiple industry clusters and centralisation as rail did in Conclusion
Nairobi, Addis Ababa and Johannesburg. statistical models can evaluate land values property ownership in the west. Typically, dense, poorly managed cities will increase sectors. On average, based on data from London historically. Bogotá’s TransMilenio Being a competitive city has many
0
Yet for these cities to survive, they must based on plot size and distance from the city well-meaning western attempts to promote stress in their lives. five African countries, households in the BRT system suggests it can. Commuting under 4 4-8 8-16 16-28 28+ dimensions; for instance, better human
attract and retain talented job creators. centre. Structures can be evaluated by using property ownership focus on land registra- Developing-world cities can be top 25th percentile of cities by population distances have risen, employment has Height (m) capital through investments in education
Quality of life is important, not only for images, which can either come from Google tion, not on the set of rights that may or may improved. Simple management tools can size earn double the income of their rural clustered into productive locations and city and training; better provision of support-
its own sake, but also because cities attract Street View or be taken by local governments not come with registered ownership. improve policing. Singapore instituted counterparts. Perhaps even more salient in-migration and employment have both The highest buildings are in the city ing legal and financial institutions; and
talent by being pleasant. themselves. By combining these images Expanding the number of rights associ- congestion pricing using paper permits, are the returns to urban density, noting that increased – leading to substantial welfare centres, but outside the centre, Dar is mostly improved integration and coordination
The poverty of African cities tends to with a database on property sales, machine ated with property ownership in African not high-tech wizardry. Even water and households benefit from both the overall gains due to the BRT. Challenges still one-storey buildings while Nairobi has across multiple levels of government. These
push local governments to focus on service learning can provide a reasonably accurate cities and townships is important, but far sewerage improvements are possible. These urban density of the city they live in and the remain; in particular, zoning restrictions on much more height and intensity of land use. areas for policy reform, which we have not
delivery for the poor, and this is largely model for assessing the values of every home from straightforward. For example, the right changes may often be difficult, but they are local neighbourhood around them. Within building height have limited the extent of It appears that property rights in Nairobi been able to focus on here, are not only
appropriate. But if cities are going to be in a city. Nationwide property value assess- to build is challenged by building codes. also necessary. These cities are the best hope a set of 115 larger cities in these countries, economic clustering, thus inhibiting the full have facilitated intensive investment, while critical but also highly complementary. But
successful economically, they must also ment can also limit abuse of compulsory Poorer residents may want to build higher- for the poorer parts of the planet. a household moving from the tenth to 90th benefits of the TransMilenio. weaker rights in Dar have not. Of course, there should be no doubt that if African
be appealing to their wealthier residents. purchase or eminent domain at the local density homes, but they may be unable percentile of average city density across The Colombian example highlights the there are other differences. Tanzania is cities hope to succeed and accommodate the
One useful framework is to think of city level by providing external estimates of the to build safely enough to satisfy existing Edward L. Glaeser is the Fred and Eleanor cities increases income by 290 per cent, and fact that installing transport infrastructure poorer with a different culture and Dar’s needs of their rapidly expanding popula-
governments as having a pair of tasks, which value of appropriated land. building codes. The right answer is not Glimp Professor of Economics in the in moving from the tenth to 90th percentile in isolation can mean limited success climate is much warmer. tions, they will need to get transport and
require radically different approaches. Providing infrastructure requires a obvious, since both density and safety are Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard of neighbourhood density within cities by 89 for truly tackling mobility challenges. Land institutions and their impact on land use policy right.
The first task is wealth creation through source of financing, but it also requires worthy objectives. University. A version of this essay appears per cent. Moving people out of low-density Accessibility for an everyday citizen must urban density are essential considerations
the management of urban real estate. institutional design. Should the infrastruc- Institutional reform around property in Shaping Cities in an Urban Age. settlements and into high-density living has be considered in terms of three factors for national, municipal and local govern- J. Vernon Henderson is the School
Essentially, governments can think of ture provider be public or private? If rights must be part of the African urban huge impacts on income. – distance, time and cost – that all relate ments in Africa. Particularly because many Professor of Economic Geography at the
themselves as operating an incredibly public, should it be part of the city govern- These relative gains from increased closely to the proximity of citizens to jobs countries are currently undergoing major LSE, Sebastian Kriticos is a development
large and complex for-profit real estate ment or an independent agency? There is density are important, but they obscure the and other urban services. This is why any reforms to streamline land administration economist working on urbanisation policy
development company. This company no easy answer. Private companies can fact that absolute productivity in Africa is successful transport policy has to be closely and registration, as well as to update overall with the IGC Cities that Work initiative and
PRODUCTIVITY
will only succeed if it enables the for-profit save costs, but they can also corrupt local low compared to the rest of the develop- coordinated with land use planning in order standards and spatial planning principles. Tanner Regan is a PhD student in Economic
sector of the economy to thrive, and if it government. Independent authorities may ing world. The issue is that much of the to facilitate the intensive, high-density Kigali, for instance, has used satellite Geography at the LSE.
entices talented entrepreneurs to locate become centres of excellence, or they may continent is urbanising while poor, with land use needed to make publicly provided technology to register all plots at a low cost
within the city. become bloated parastatals that provide an a poorly educated population, indeed, transport efficient and cost-effective.
But the purpose of this profit-making unaccountable patronage source. Paradoxi- strikingly poorer than continents like
AND URBAN FORM
entity is to provide funds that will pay cally, weak public capacity can be a reason Asia and Latin America were historically Land use
DELIVERING
for the second, more important task of to manage the project in-house instead at similar levels of urbanisation. This low Strong institutions for land and property
city government: poverty alleviation. In of outsourcing it to a private enterprise, base of taxable urbanites contributes to seem essential to urban development for
a sense, cities should see themselves as because placing sewers can be a less difficult deficiencies in institutional capacity that several reasons. Marketable, enforced
having a for-profit real estate company that task than avoiding subversion by a profit- limit economic density and the agglom- property rights facilitate contracts and
is owned and operated in the interest of a making enterprise. J. Vernon Henderson, Sebastian Kriticos and Tanner Regan eration benefits that come from higher the transfer of land to its most productive
EQUITY LOCALLY
non-profit poverty reduction organisation. The final challenge in water and sewerage densities. Some of these limitations are users. These users will invest in intensive
Clearly dividing the two tasks of govern- provision is ensuring adoption. A ‘last-mile’ based on transport deficiencies and weak development through high-rise building
ment is important so that African cities can problem often exists in developing-world Sub-Saharan Africa has experienced industrialisation. As countries urbanise, land market institutions. near the city centre and durable buildings
accurately assess the trade-offs when allocat- cities where sewer mains are built, often massive urban population growth over the labour shifts from unproductive ‘traditional’ throughout the city. Without such rights,
ing urban space. with external aid, but poorer citizens past half century, dramatically reshaping sector employment (subsistence farming Transport the risk of expropriation, the uncertainty of
The African challenge is particularly are unwilling to pay for services. It is not the spatial and social profile of the region. or petty trade) towards modern capital- Reducing commuting costs is the key to trade and the inability to obtain financing Mpho Parks Tau
difficult because successful poverty allevia- surprising that families in countries with Simultaneously, the process has challenged ist activities (manufacturing and business allowing jobs to cluster and centralise. and insurance would limit investments
tion will only lead to continued rural–urban a per capita GDP of less than US$2,000 the conventional view that urbanisation and services). Such activities cluster in cities, With very high commuting costs people in property and intensity of development.
migration. That inexorable flow means that are not willing to pay US$1,000 for a economic transformation go hand in hand, with density at the heart of this urban live very close to where they work, limiting Well-defined rights systems also support The commitments made at the United The UN is legitimately concerned to
African cities should never view poverty as water connection. as the sub-continent has experienced far less transformation. access to job opportunities and constraining legal enforceability, allowing governments Nations’ High-level Political Forum (HLPF) capacitate and empower cities since there is
failure. They will attract more poor people In some cases, poorer citizens are even of the economic gains alongside urbanisa- As individuals and activities cluster firms to remain local in scope. The reason to impose obligations on land owners on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a mutually reinforcing relationship between
if they succeed. Success and failure should unwilling to take free services. In Manila, tion than in Latin America and Asia. This in cities, scale and specialisation manifest why London became a manufacturing and for the public good such as taxation, in July this year, marked a watershed local government and sustainable develop-
be judged based on whether the city is the water and sewerage companies often challenges the very notion of why people themselves and generate efficiencies. services powerhouse in the early 1900s is enforcements that allow the coordination moment for recognition of the indispens- ment1, and meeting the needs of citizens
transforming poor people into rich people. offer free desludging for the thousands of move to cities and how they contribute Firms enjoy closer connections between because firms could access the labour force of public services and restrictions on land able role of local government in implement- and communities hinges on the quality
As long as the city is an upward ladder then it septic tanks that are the primary waste to economic development. Since most of buyers and suppliers, lowering input and and their customers with reliable transport use that mitigate negative externalities like ing the 2030 Global Agenda. For the first of governance. The degree to which cities
is doing its job. repositories in that metropolitan area. Africa’s urbanisation is yet to come, it poses transport costs. Workers and employers services. The construction of the rail and industrial pollution and overconsumption time there was unequivocal acceptance of and local municipalities are able to deliver
Homeowners do not want the service, a significant challenge to policymakers: what experience better job-related matching underground system was at the heart of this of public space. local and regional governments to deliver, ever-expanding public goods depends
Land and money however, because their septic tanks lie policies will help future urbanisation be a opportunities, reducing search and hiring through its role in centralising employment The contrast of the state of institutional effectively and sustainably, on the SDGs, the on meeting the challenges of urbanisa-
As Henry George argued in Progress and under their kitchens and living rooms and catalyst for productivity growth, rather than costs. Meanwhile, close proximity allows (see page 38). development to the intensity of land use New Urban Agenda and the Paris Climate tion, infrastructure, migration, dwindling
Poverty more than a century ago, the desludging is disruptive. The result of not an extension of rural poverty. Improving individuals and firms to learn from each Between 1831 and 1921, employment across different African cities is revelatory Change Accord. finances and climate change. These cannot
most natural source of subsidy for urban desludging is that waste spills out into the mobility within cities and land use are two other, generating knowledge sharing. From rose four-fold in the City of London while in this regard. In Nairobi, for instance, This recognition was underlined in the be solved in isolation. Rather, since their
infrastructure is local property and land streets and their neighbours’ space, and policy instruments at the core of Africa’s a governance perspective, it’s also much the city lost population. The new infrastruc- around 90 per cent of all non-government words of the UN Deputy Secretary-General impact cuts across societies and regions they
taxation. Property values can be easier to the cost of clearing up is not borne by the urbanisation challenges, fundamentally cheaper to provide essential public goods – ture allowed people longer commutes – building land is under private ownership Ms Amina Mohammed that closer collabo- require interlinked governance models.
assess than income. Land cannot relocate household itself. driving the productive potential, efficiency like infrastructure and basic services – when rising from a typical one to two kilometres of and effectively well titled. This has played a ration is required ‘to ensure that this twenty- In the memorable words of the late UN
in response to a local tax. Taxes based on The adoption problem is generally more and liveability of cities. populations are large and clustered together. walking to five to six kilometres – contribut- large role in fuelling the city’s construction first-century United Nations system includes Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, these are
the value of land, rather than structure, difficult for sewerage than for water. In the The question is whether urban density ing to a massive spatial spread of residential boom over the last decade. In contrast a new and innovative strategy to support meta-problems that show scant regard for
do not even deter new building. Better case of clean water, most of the benefits Economic density is as productive in Africa. One major locations into the peripheries, and an intense Dar es Salaam is still moving from and build the capacity of local governments.’ borders or ideologies, travelling autono-
property taxation provides a means for accrue to the household and consequently The notion that productivity gains should concern is that urbanisation is occurring clustering of economic activity within the customary rights to private property rights. This highlights that cities are now located at mously without passports.
cities to pay for their own infrastructure there is usually some willingness to pay. In be closely linked to urbanisation stems in the region despite low productivity gains City of London. Government registry data suggests that the centre of a changing and complex world If local government and cities are best
in a way that does relatively little damage the case of sewerage, most of the benefits from the seminal work of Saint Lucian and in agriculture and limited industrialisa- In most African cities, economic efficien- only 20–25 per cent of residential plots have and, furthermore, that cities have a seat placed to deliver effectively most common
to the overall economy. accrue to the wider community that is Nobel-prize-winning economist Arthur tion. Most countries still have extremely cy is undermined by limited infrastructure full title through a certificate for right of at the global table as equal participants to goods, it calls for policy interventions
saved from the costs of rampant waste. Lewis on structural transformation and high agricultural employment, even in and weak public transport. Most travel is occupancy. Transferring rights across uses shape and drive the future of humanity. and concerted action to capacitate cities,
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