Box 1.10: African Cities and the Millennium Development Goals post- 2015
Since 2000, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have served as a shared framework for global action and cooperation on development. Deliberation has begun on how to advance the global development agenda beyond 2015, the target date for achieving the MDGs. The United Nations Secretary-General has established a System Task Team on the Post2015 United Nations Development Agenda to coordinate system-wide preparations and to propose a unified vision of the future global development framework that will succeed the MDGs. The post-2015 process is running alongside that of the Sustainable Development Goals, which is meant to envision a more holistic and integrated agenda achieving universal human development while respecting the Earth’s ecosystems and critical life support systems. Both processes are a follow-up to the Rio+20 Conference and aim to lead to a single set of goals. In 2013, African countries convened in a series of regional and sub-regional consultations, initiated by the United
Nations Economic Commission for Africa, to develop a common understanding and identify an African position on the post2015 development agenda. Agreement was reached that this agenda should focus on three broad development outcomes as priorities: structural economic transformation and inclusive growth, innovation and technology transfer, and human development. The last of these also aims to strengthen capacity to implement disaster risk reduction and climate adaption initiatives. UN-Habitat has joined forces with various United Nations agencies engaging in the post-2015 process to promote cities that are “environmentally safe, socially inclusive, economically productive and resilient”, acknowledging that urbanization can be a driver for sustainable development as the future of mankind is one that is urban and cities consume more than half of the Earth’s resources. Targets that could be considered by African countries and cities to promote these goals include:
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increasing the number of countries implementing inclusive national urban policies reducing the proportion of people living in slums increasing the proportion of towns and cities using participatory approaches in public affairs reducing the rate of urban violent crime increasing the number of cities implementing inclusive policies to facilitate urban job creation reducing the average time and expenditure of urban dwellers on travel within urban areas increasing the share of renewable energy sources in cities improving access to safe drinking water supply and adequate sanitation in cities increasing the number of cities implementing policies or plans that integrate comprehensive and multisectoral measures to strengthen resilience.
Sources: Rippin (2012); UN-Habitat (2012).167
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in these cities. Improved liveability, skills development, employment creation and innovation are also critical in order to ensure that broad-level urban sustainability can be achieved across multiple dimensions, from the material to the social, economic and ecological. Other considerations can be taken into account in respect of green economic and sustainable development in African cities, including clustering and partnerships.
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Clustering Diversification can be achieved through clustering, which facilitates information exchange and shared resource use. Clustering seeks collective efficiency and cooperation. It improves supplier and market access as well as increasing niche specialization and output.170 Green economic clustering can also increase competition171 and clustering172 can help improve urban adaptive capacity at local scales through harnessing diverse but complementary interdependencies in the urban sociocultural and economic fabric. It may potentially play a role in bringing about “bioregional economic diversification” and decoupling.173 Working with nature,174 leveraging density175 and also optimizing infrastructure176 are critical for the future sustainability of African and global cities.
Partnerships for Growth Infrastructure choices that African cities make will determine whether this kind of sustainability is achieved, not least because they determine how functional specialization unfolds across the city. This is especially the case where large-scale infrastructure and development choices are made, especially bulk infrastructures, which are often deployed in the name of boosting economic competitiveness of cities and focus on areas where private sector and government activities are highest. Slums and informal settlements are neglected as a result. Infrastructure choices need to be sensitively formulated in partnership with all stakeholders. Community-level partnerships and forums can also help to catalyse democratic participation and build local political constituency in cities. Broader engagement across different sectors is required between governance, business, civil society and institutions of higher learning. In addition, networks of actors, operating in niches, are critical to producing local, context sensitive innovations which can boost local capacity for sustainable development. Partnerships with local communities and engagement at the city level hold potential for envisioning and negotiating