New flyer Africapolis

Built-up area 2015-20 changes Ibadan, Nigeria

2020 868 km2 4.4 million 2 807 inahb/km2

2015 552 km2 3.1 million

NIGERIA

0

15 km

Axum 11 000 Bahir Dar <10 000

ETHIOPIA

100 000

Population size from 1950 2020

420 000

Addis Ababa 360 000 3.7 million 200 km

Agglomerations Expansive city clusters

Regional integration West Africa cluster (Greater Ibadan-Lagos-Accra)

32 100 km2 89 million urban inhabitants

0

500 km

Urbanisation dynamics

Seychelles

Africapolis provides unique information on small and medium sized agglomerations starting from 10 000 inhabitants. With new mapping of the urban growth that has taken place since 2015, it captures phenomena including urban expansion, cross-border clusters and the emergence of new urban agglomerations in previously rural areas.

Mauritius

0

1000 km

Cities are alive Governments define the legal boundaries of a city according to

Africapolis detects key features of urbanisation dynamics: the

the real physical city often surpasses these legal definitions,

expansion of cross-border agglomerations, and the emergence of

administrative, governance and political needs and objectives. But evolving and developing with the aspirations of their residents.

Africapolis looks beyond administrative boundaries by mapping

the physical extent of the city. Users can compare cities across countries and regions and visualise growth over time. Capturing

expansion of built-up areas, the importance of secondary cities, hundreds of new human settlements. Africapolis’ methodology is based on combining demographic sources, satellite and aerial imagery, and other cartographic sources, generating data that is independent, transparent, comparable, and verifiable.

the real city is key to measuring, understanding, and managing the future of urbanisation in Africa.

Who is Africapolis for?

Africa’s urban transition offers tremendous opportunities, but also

Africapolis data is also used by experts and researchers who

generated by Africapolis improve policy makers’ and urban and

spatial analysis in areas ranging from public health to education,

brings with it enormous challenges. The new data and analyses development professionals’ capacity to support a successful urban transition. Africapolis data informs evidence-based policy making.

operate at the scale of urban spatial geography. Africapolis enables the environment and gender issues.

WWW.AFRICAPOLIS.ORG

Informing policies for Africa’s urban future Africa is projected to have the fastest urban growth rate in the world for the

next three decades—by 2050, Africa’s cities will be home to 950 million more people. Policy makers must understand the drivers, dynamics and impacts of urbanisation to design targeted, inclusive and forward-looking policies for

urban planning and management. Africapolis data and evidence supports cities and governments at the local, national and continental levels to make urban growth more productive and sustainable.

A unique database on cities and urbanisation in Africa Produced by the OECD Sahel and West Africa Club (SWAC), Africapolis.org is the only comprehensive and standardised geospatial database on cities and

urbanisation dynamics in Africa. Covering SWAC, UEMOA and ECOWAS countries

as well as the rest of Africa, it maps over (TBC) agglomerations with 10 000 people

or more in 54 countries. Africapolis.org includes historical demographic data from 1950 to 2020 and spatial boundaries for every agglomeration in 2015 and 2020.

Africapolis captures the complete urban system in Africa to enable comparative and long-term analyses of urban dynamics.

Explore, compare and download Africapolis@oecd.org @AfricapolisSWAC @SWAC_OECD

Africapolis.org allows users to explore, visualise and map over 300 000 data points.

Detailed country notes tell the story of urbanisation, providing important context for understanding urbanisation dynamics in Africa. Users can download the full dataset to explore it in more detail and apply it to their own work.

You can contribute to the platform and boost the visibility of your work by sharing your data and stories in the research section.

2023 EDITION WWW.AFRICAPOLIS.ORG

Start visualising now www.africapolis.org