Box 1.8: Mobility
Formal and informal transportation in Africa is often fragmented, disorganized, unsafe and irregular, offering urban residents few options. Private motor vehicle ownership is desirable because it absolves urban residents of the need to engage with low-quality public transportation. However, urban congestion can be debilitating to local economic production, efficiency and competitiveness. In cities such as Cairo, Lagos and Nairobi congestion has become a fact of life. There is immense potential for the revision of African urban transportation systems. Yet there is a fundamental contention between formal and informal transport providers, as the latter are not subject to taxation and effective regulation. Negotiating changes in transport systems in African cities is complicated by existing informal and private service providers who are understandably reluctant to relinquish their market shares. However, improved transport systems between cities can offer significant
opportunities for corridor development along inter-linking city routes through road and rail. This may include local and trans-local city linkages, as well as international connections between cities along regional corridors. In the long term, the development of these corridors offers the opportunity to leverage the functions of secondary cities and towns, to open up spatial development and link rural hinterlands more closely to large metropolitan areas as well as linking to secondary and smaller cities. The United Nations Environment Programme’s Transport Unit prescribes an “avoid, shift and improve” strategy. This consists of reducing demand for transport and emissions through improved urban planning and transport systems design; shifting modes of transport and fuel use towards mass public transit systems - and biodiesel and cleaner energy, respectively; and, improving vehicles and fuel that are used in cities for transport. Negotiating the large informal transport
sectors in African cities presents a critical challenge to “avoiding, shifting and improving”. Hence, negotiating the socioeconomic dimension is paramount, and inclusive participatory-based processes are necessary to achieve socially sustainable transitions towards improved transport systems in African cities. Lagos and Johannesburg have adopted Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems and Lagos has already identified that light rail systems will be required to meet demand in the city. Yet many questions exist about the eventual affordability of these systems, and private vehicle owners often contest the allocation of BRT-only lanes on which they are prohibited to drive. It remains critically important that Lagos is thinking about how to improve transportation within the city, as improvements in public transport help bring about improvements in competitiveness in service provision, efficiency and the cost of goods.
Source: Peter, C. and Swilling, M. (2012).158
water recycling and reuse (e.g. grey water recycling), as well as biotechnologies for processing wastewater at the neighbourhood and municipal scales can play a key role in improving African urban water and wastewater resilience. At the same time, pathogen-free nutrient-rich outputs can be harnessed for improving soil fertility and extending urban agriculture to improve food security and household budgets, especially among the poor. Such technologies are available and further innovation is likely, but the key challenge is to engage urban communities in the technological transition. Simply deploying these technologies without adequate consultation and engagement can defeat the purpose by reinforcing the perception that inferior service provision is being forced upon the poor (see also Box 1.9). Waste African urban wastes provide many recycling and reuse opportunities and are a key area for development. Informal waste recycling already exists but jobs are often unsafe, poorly paid and taken up by the most marginalized among the urban poor. Waste removal and processing policies and other supportive instruments (e.g. regulations and strategies) for moving waste recycling towards safer, more profitable and socially valued occupations are needed. Biomass and organic wastes, which comprise the bulk of solid waste from African cities, can produce compost, biogas and biodiesel. Linkages between waste and energy sectors offer opportunities for
THE STATE OF AFRICAN CITIES 2014
of rivers, such as Alexandria in Egypt, require continued freshwater flows to mitigate saline intrusion into groundwater and aquifers. Centralized wastewater systems need to be reviewed as an option for urban sanitation development. In an energyand resource-scarce future, large centralized sewage and wastewater abstraction systems using potable water to transport sewage to treatment plants far away are likely to be crippling in the future as water and energy costs rise. Whereas developed countries are locked into high energy and water costs, African cities have the opportunity to avoid these, ironically as a result of its current large infrastructure deficits. However, changing values, beliefs and norms is the most critical factor in enabling a transition towards greater decentralized water resilience in African cities. Closing wastewater loops at micro-scales amongst the middle class would be an important step. However, common perceptions that human dry waste facilities are inferior to flush toilet systems need to be eradicated. In vastly unequal African cities, perceptions of social status play a critical role in fostering identity and belonging. Therefore, mediating against such perceptions is required and can be achieved through participatory processes that work closely with society and communities. The technologies for improving local scale water and wastewater adaptation for resilience are numerous. Rainwater collection, water efficiency systems and technologies,
49