“Africa has the opportunity to get urbanism right”
Africa’s urban population is set to double within the next 25 years. Cities’ populations are growing while the urban landscape is sprawling and manufacturing markets are not keep up to the employment supply. But there is opportunity to learn.
On the global stage, Africa is one of the youngest and most rapidly urbanizing continents. This provides the opportunity to reflect and compare from previous cases in other regions. Despite this opportunity, there are issues with urban sprawl, simultaneous industrial growth to support employment rates, and adequate transportation systems. Making Urbanism Work for Africa examines cities by their through formal/ informal residential and industrial/ commercial land use patterns, and the importance of transportation efficiently to link these different areas to facilitate successful development. The video emphasizes that industrial and commercial growth must keep up with residential growth, and that each must be close proximity to each other.
Source: World Bank via YouTube
Read more about development in Africa :
- Can transport talk to development?
- How cities in developing countries are becoming more resilient
- Five reasons Africa needs to reinvent the city