Abstract
Cities in sub-Saharan Africa are currently confronted with a multitude, and hitherto unexperienced, magnitude of transformative phenomena such as rising inequality, exclusion, poverty and increased residency in informal settlements. These stressors are posing challenges to cities in terms of housing, infrastructure and provision of basic services as well as climate change adaptation. Despite the high dynamics and novel characteristics of city transformation, this urban transition seems to take place rather ‘quietly’ and has, so far, obviously hardly been understood or appreciated by researchers and governments. Subsequently, the multifaceted and extremely challenging problems associated with the process of urbanisation cannot be adequately addressed. Green infrastructure (GI) is currently emerging as a concept for cost-effective urban sustainability and livelihood security. Preservation and provision of accessible urban green spaces is increasingly recognised as an essential part of the liveability of cities. Extensive literature review revealed that the systematic integration of GI concepts in urban planning is seen by an increasing number of researchers as an essential approach to tackle major current and future challenges. Based on the literature review, we suggest that broadening the concept of urban GI by linking it to governance and rights-based conceptualisations will have the potential to unlock more resourceful paths for sustainable, green, and inclusive urban development of cities in Southern and Eastern Africa.
Highlights
The majority of the African population is still living in rural areas, there is an indication of a gradual but significant demographic shift toward an increasingly urban population on the continent [1]
This paper reviews what we have learned from the literature on urbanisation in sub-Saharan Africa, and in Southern and Eastern Africa, and on sustainable and resilient cities and the concept of Green infrastructure (GI)
As the world becomes more urbanised, sustainable development increasingly depends on successfully managing urban growth, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, where the pace of urbanisation has been, and still is, higher than in many other less and more developed regions [1]
Summary
The majority of the African population is still living in rural areas, there is an indication of a gradual but significant demographic shift toward an increasingly urban population on the continent [1]. The highest demographic pressure can be expected in Dar es Salaam/Tanzania, presently Eastern Africa’s largest city, where a projected annual average of 226,000 new urban dwellers [2] In view of the increasing urban population, sub-Saharan African cities are confronted with a multitude of challenges such as growing poverty, increased residence in informal settlements and unplanned expansion of the settlement area [8]. Other phenomena such as air and water pollution, water scarcity and chronic traffic chaos are intensifying rapidly [9,10,11]. Growing levels of urbanisation in sub-Saharan Africa, and in Southern and Eastern Africa in particular, seem unstoppable and must be grasped by both scientists and urban planners [3,12]
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