in return for protection against eviction. In areas where water infrastructure is deficient, informal providers make handsome profits selling water - often untreated - at inflated prices. Deficiencies in public transport systems have given rise to a multibillion-dollar informal transport industry, often controlled by politicians. In other words, informality and inadequate infrastructures allow powerful groups to benefit from the status quo. Effective urban governance can also be corrupted by international influences. The globalized nature of food, energy and financial markets renders cities vulnerable to politically destabilizing economic shocks. Organized criminal and terrorist networks depend upon the logistics, finance and communications infrastructure that cities provide. Where law and order is weak, these organizations can gain a foothold and influence policy, investments and regulations to their advantage and at the expense of citizen welfare. This has become a particular concern in West Africa and the Sahel, where a combination of chronic poverty, fragile political institutions and proximity to European markets has given rise to organized crime in recent years.105 There is, however, a more subtle but highly significant international influence that has contributed to apathy and neglect in the face of rapid urban population growth: the discourse of international development.
The Need for a New Urban Development Paradigm
THE STATE OF AFRICAN CITIES 2014
Up to the 1960s, urbanization was largely associated with human progress and “modernization”, with urban and regional planning at the heart of development strategies and development aid. However, in the late 1970s there was a profound shift in the ideas of development scholars and aid agencies. Cities were increasingly portrayed as parasitic islands of privilege, and urbanization in many developing regions - particularly Africa - came to be seen as socially destructive and an obstacle to economic development.106 As a result, international support for urban development initiatives waned in the 1980s and 1990s, while governments increasingly adopted policies to restrict rural-urban migration (Table 1.2). In many cases, increased investment in rural areas was justified on the grounds that it would reduce urban poverty by encouraging people to stay in the countryside. These strategies have had little discernible impact on urbanization in the region because they were based on flawed theories of urbanization and development.107 The anti-urban turn in development theory coincided with the emergence of a neoliberal paradigm in the international development community that emphasized the primacy of markets (as opposed to states) in stimulating and sustaining economic development. Across the global South, governments were actively encouraged - and in many cases coerced through structural adjustment programmes - to cut public expenditure, privatize state assets and services, and scale back public regulation. In this atmosphere, urban and regional planning was generally sidelined despite the
unprecedented growth rates of Africa’s urban population. Africa and the world community need to rethink what constitutes a “city” since the Western concept is no longer the sole legitimate template for its application in Africa. There is need to “re-imagine the African city” by creating new paradigms for modern African urbanism. Urban economic growth in Africa has, so far, been mirrored by varying and increasing levels of urban poverty, inequality, inefficiency and concomitant impacts on vital renewable and non-renewable natural resources. Planning and financing for sustainable urban growth are therefore priorities that can generate opportunities towards higher employment elasticity, secure ecosystem services and affordable public services. African cities may have a competitive advantage because their development could leapfrog conventional urban development paths to greener urban economies. All approaches to “Greener Cities” and the “Green Urban Economy” should focus on climate change adaptation opportunities through understanding the value of ecosystem services and improving energy- and material flows and loops. Caution is required, however, to avoid the often unintended consequences of the application of “expensive green technofixes”, as there are concerns that budgets are being diverted from needful communities to provide elite green enclaves that entrench inequalities.108 There exists a real opportunity to cultivate an inclusive vision through identifying and embracing a new suite of paradigms that is appropriate to address the present day and future needs of African cities. These may incorporate aspects of “Western models” of engaging the challenges of increasing poverty and the urban poor. Since urban poverty is not a passing phase, alternative growth paths and scenarios need to be identified, analysed and interpreted to improve resilience and adaptation of African urban populations within the narrative of sustainable development. Numerous programmes and models exist for assisting the initiation and implementation of such visions. These programmes include those of Cities Alliance, Slum/Shack Dwellers International and the Urban Poor Fund International, as well as opportunities to review and renew governance through locally appropriate adoption and adaptation of the Lagos Model and the Kigali Plan of Action (and Kigali Declaration). Planning theory in past African urban studies had been focused on removing informal development rather than identifying, and rectifying, existing segregatory practices. The rate and scale of urbanization in Africa requires a balance between embracing informality while planning for sustainable services delivery. The systemic drivers of dysfunctionality need to be rectified, which requires focus on urban reform, accountability and effective data analysis. Sustainable urban planning is necessary to eliminate the causes of segregation and exclusion. Urban planning needs to review how investment is made in African cities to enable adaptive planning and management that is risk averse, propoor and sustainable.
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