Urbanisation provides an opportunity to address many of these challenges. An opportunity to use urbanisation to promote prosperity in some of the Commonwealth’s poorest countries: 13 of the 16 Commonwealth countries which are urbanising most rapidly are classified as either ‘Low’ or ‘Low-middle’ income countries by the World Bank14. Several of the countries with the highest rates of urbanisation are home to Commonwealth cities which score poorly on the UN’s City Prosperity Index(CPI)15, namely Accra (44/100), Cape Town (45/100), Johannesburg (36/100), Lagos (36/100) and Nairobi (59/100. For comparison purposes Melbourne scores 75/100. A need to improve the business environment in country’s experiencing rapid urbanisation: 22 Commonwealth countries score below 50 on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index16, 7 score below 30 with Mozambique and Cameroon scoring 25. All 7 are rapidly urbanising with 6 of these 7 countries urbanising at rates greater than 3%. An opportunity to use urbanisation to improve the quality of life for some of the poorest people in the Commonwealth: The five Commonwealth countries with the lowest Human Development Index (HDI)17 are Mozambique (0.418), Sierra Leone (0.420), Malawi (0.476), Uganda (0.493) and Lesotho (0.497), all of which are in Africa. All are classed as Low or Low-middle income, and all are urbanising at 2.72% per annum or more. An opportunity to engage young people in the creation of their future cities: More than 60% of the population of the Commonwealth are under 30 years of age, most of whom live in cities. The Commonwealth sees young people aged 15-29 as assets to a country’s development who should be empowered to realise their potential. Young people have a proven capability to lead change and are a vital and valuable investment for the future. A need to strengthen the resilience of cities, especially in those parts of the Commonwealth which are most vulnerable to climate change impacts: High rates of urbanisation are anticipated in parts of the Commonwealth which are most vulnerable to climate change impacts. The five Commonwealth countries with the most vulnerable Climate Risk Indexes (CRI)18 are: Bangladesh (25), Pakistan (30.5), India (37.5), Grenada (40.33) and Dominica (42). The five Commonwealth countries with the biggest financial losses attributable to Climate Risk are: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Australia and the United Kingdom. Three of these countries are rapidly urbanising. The Commonwealth Association of Architects believes that only by working collaboratively and in partnership will we be able to avoid the risks and capture the potential social, economic and environmental benefits created by the growth of cities. Tomorrow’s cities are being planned today and only by addressing these issues now will we be able to realise the potential of urbanisation to create prosperity, stability and a truly sustainable future.
14 http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GNP.PCAP.PP.CD?year_ high_desc=true 15 http://cpi.unhabitat.org/ 16 https://www.transparency.org/news/feature/corruption_ perceptions_index_2017 17 http://hdr.undp.org/en/composite/HDI 18 https://germanwatch.org/en/download/16411.pdf
14
Planning for Rapid Urbanisation