Urban Service Delivery Research Articles

Fuzzy Logic Analysis of the Build, Capacity Build and Transfer (B-CB-T) Modality for Urban Water Supply Service Delivery in Ethiopia

Rapid urbanization in Ethiopia is resulting in the need for alternative sustainable service models for urban water supply. Contractual arrangements to improve the functionality of urban water services in Ethiopia have included build, operate and transfer (BOT), design, build and operate (DBO), performance-based contracts (PBC) and utility development. UNICEF undertook a review of these modalities and concluded that a modified version of the BOT modality was required to both incentivize private sector engagement in urban water supply and to enhance public sector utilities. This paper describes the contractual modality developed to achieve this aim, namely an Ethiopian build, capacity build and transfer (B-CB-T) modality. This paper tests the applicability of the B-CB-T model using fuzzy logic statistical analysis and concludes that of the four tested variables (internal accountability, external accountability, operation and maintenance and financial management), the most statistically significant was the clear mandate to address complaints and maintain a positive relationship with the clients (users). This paper concludes that the B-CB-T is an effective contracting modality that should be accompanied by appropriate behavior change and social mobilization outreach to maximize tariff, billing, extension and performance of the infrastructure that is administered within the B-CB-T arrangement.

A comparative analysis of accessibility measures by the two-step floating catchment area (2SFCA) method

ABSTRACTThe recent decade has witnessed a new wave of development in the place-based accessibility theory, revolving around the two-step floating catchment area (2SFCA) method. The 2SFCA method, initially serving to evaluate the spatial inequity of health care services, has been further applied to other urban planning and facility access issues. Among these applications, different distance decay functions have been incorporated in the thread of model development, but their applicability and limitations have not been thoroughly examined. To this end, the paper has employed a place-based accessibility framework to compare the performance of twenty-four 2SFCA models in a comprehensive manner. Two important conclusions are drawn from this analysis: on a small analysis scale (e.g., community level), the catchment size is the most critical model component; on a large analysis scale (e.g., statewide), the distance decay function is of elevated importance. In sum, this comparative analysis provides the theoretical support necessary to the choice of the catchment size and the distance decay function in the 2SFCA method. Justification of model parameters through empirical evidence (e.g., field surveys about local travel activities) and model validation through sensitivity analysis are needed in future 2SFCA applications for various urban planning, service delivery, and spatial equity scenarios.

The Rural Immigration Effects on Urban Service Delivery in South Africa (SA)

The current socio-economic and political problems of South Africa are rooted in the colonial apartheid era as scholars and researchers suggest through extensive research. However, there have been high levels of service delivery protests related to the government performance on the issues of service delivery to the local communities’ countrywide. Governments departments appear to be lacking much required knowledge and understanding of external factors associated with rural to urban migration such social-economic factors and other various relevant challenges, hence, local authorities are struggling to meet up with demands caused by the ever-increasing number of urban populations, which affects services delivery performance. The study was quantitative approach and used 5 Likert scale questionnaires which were distributed in the selected areas of eThekwini city. A total of 100 with 25 respondents per area, chosen areas include emhlabeni, emalandeni, ezimeleni and silver city. Whereas, qualitative aspects of the study were secondary data through extensive literature review, the study has found that indeed rural to urban migration has a negative impact on service delivery the study argue that service delivery, rural to urban migration, public participation need to be part of the government agenda holistically to improve service delivery and capacity of local authorities. This study recommends proactive urban planning and community involvement through public participation channels. The generalization of the findings of this study should be done with care.

The Rural Immigration Effects on Urban Service Delivery in South Africa (SA)

The current socio-economic and political problems of South Africa are rooted in the colonial apartheid era as scholars and researchers suggest through extensive research. However, there have been high levels of service delivery protests related to the government performance on the issues of service delivery to the local communities’ countrywide. Governments departments appear to be lacking much required knowledge and understanding of external factors associated with rural to urban migration such social-economic factors and other various relevant challenges, hence, local authorities are struggling to meet up with demands caused by the ever-increasing number of urban populations, which affects services delivery performance. The study was quantitative approach and used 5 Likert scale questionnaires which were distributed in the selected areas of eThekwini city. A total of 100 with 25 respondents per area, chosen areas include emhlabeni, emalandeni, ezimeleni and silver city. Whereas, qualitative aspects of the study were secondary data through extensive literature review, the study has found that indeed rural to urban migration has a negative impact on service delivery the study argue that service delivery, rural to urban migration, public participation need to be part of the government agenda holistically to improve service delivery and capacity of local authorities. This study recommends proactive urban planning and community involvement through public participation channels. The generalization of the findings of this study should be done with care.

Governance of metropolitan areas for delivery of public services in Latin America

One of the key issues at metropolitan level is the provision of public services and this paper highlights the importance of understanding the governance of public services in the context of increasing urbanization and decentralization. This paper provides a comparative analysis on metropolitan governance in Latin America by analysing specific case studies. The objective is to identify how the governance setting in metropolitan areas shapes the process anthe results of providing public services to wider population. We examine metropolitan governance by employing a 3x3x3 model as a framework for addressing key issues about urban services delivery. Bogota, Lima and Mexico City are the metropolitan areas selected. Secondly, we focus on three sectors: transport, solid waste collection and water. Finally, the analysis focuses in three aspects of governance: coordination, financial sustainability and coverage and quality. The data collection process involved field research in Bogota, Lima and Mexico City.

Assemblages of altruism in urban service delivery: Seamful designs and cities

ABSTRACTLack of access to services is one of the chief difficulties faced by marginalized urban communities. The proximity of digital technologies and data promises to remove a key constraint to greater access: the unequal distribution of information. However, issues of digital literacy and affordability and the local specificity of services make opportunities for achieving well-being both a technical and ethical concern. We discuss 2 community-based projects—one in Western Sydney, Australia, and the other in Dhaka, Bangladesh—that sought to unpack this interface through prototyping a combination of offline and online service directories. Through these, we explore what we have termed altruistic assemblages—circulations of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), researchers, local communities, service providers, hackathons, co-design events, and technology devices. The contributed time, resources, hopes and care of these assemblages do not presuppose a finite solution to urban service delivery but rather offer a prefigurative politics for the more equitable cities to come.

Geospatial Visualization of Mobile Stroke Unit Dispatches: A Method to Optimize Service Performance

Background: Timely treatment of acute ischemic stroke is crucial to optimize outcomes. Mobile stroke units (MSU) have demonstrated ultrafast treatment compared to standard emergency care. Geospatial analysis of the distribution of MSU cases to optimize service delivery has not been reported. Methods: We aggregated all first-year MSU dispatch occurrences and all cases classified by clinical teams as true stroke by zip code and calculated dispatch and true stroke incidence rates. We mapped dispatch and stroke cases and symbolized incidence rates by standard deviation. We confirmed visual impressions of clusters from map inspection by local Moran’s I, boxplot inspection, and t test. We calculated service areas using drive times to meet dispatch and true stroke need. Results: A significant cluster of high dispatch incident rate was confirmed around our MSU base in urban Memphis within a 5-min driving area supporting the initial placement of the MSU based on 911 activation. A significant cluster of high true stroke rate was confirmed to the east of our MSU base in suburban Memphis within a 10-min driving area. Mean incident longitude of cases of true stroke versus disregarded status was significantly eastward (p = 0.001785). Conclusion: Our findings will facilitate determination of socio-spatial antecedents of neighborhood overutilization of 911 and MSU services in our urban neighborhoods and service delivery optimization to reach neighborhoods with true stroke burden.

Urban Service Delivery in West Bengal: Current Scenario and New Challenges

Size class-wise analysis of state’s urban services in West Bengal reveals that, in spite of improvement in provision of urban services in 2011 over 2001, service deficits and inter-category variations did persist. Service coverage increased systematically with the size class of the urban local bodies (ULBs), and intra-category disparities were higher for smaller ULBs. Mainly, the larger ULBs exhibited positive relationships between financial performances and urban service delivery. Therefore, this article argues for higher fund allocation for basic services and concerted development of smaller cities, through financial empowerment and institutional strengthening, as the key strategies for ensuring sustainable urbanisation. JEL Classification: H41, R53

Co-designing Urban Living Solutions to Improve Older People\u2019s Mobility and Well-Being

Mobility is a key aspect of active ageing enabling participation and autonomy into later life. Remaining active brings multiple physical but also social benefits leading to higher levels of well-being. With globally increasing levels of urbanisation alongside demographic shifts meaning in many parts of the world this urban population will be older people, the challenge is how cities should evolve to enable so-called active ageing. This paper reports on a co-design study with 117 participants investigating the interaction of existing urban spaces and infrastructure on mobility and well-being for older residents (aged 55 + years) in three cities. A mixed method approach was trialled to identify locations beneficial to subjective well-being and participant-led solutions to urban mobility challenges. Spatial analysis was used to identify key underlying factors in locations and infrastructure that promoted or compromised mobility and well-being for participants. Co-designed solutions were assessed for acceptability or co-benefits amongst a wider cross-section of urban residents (n = 233) using online and face-to-face surveys in each conurbation. Our analysis identified three critical intersecting and interacting thematic problems for urban mobility amongst older people: The quality of physical infrastructure; issues around the delivery, governance and quality of urban systems and services; and the attitudes and behaviors of individuals that older people encounter. This identified complexity reinforces the need for policy responses that may not necessarily involve design or retrofit measures, but instead might challenge perceptions and behaviors of use and access to urban space. Our co-design results further highlight that solutions need to move beyond the generic and placeless, instead embedding specific locally relevant solutions in inherently geographical spaces, populations and processes to ensure they relate to the intricacies of place.

Citizen-centered big data analysis-driven governance intelligence framework for smart cities

Sensors and systems within rapidly expanding smart cities produce citizen-centered big data which have potential value to support citizen-centered urban governance decision-making. There exists a wealth of extant conceptual studies, however, further operational studies are needed to establish a specific path towards implementation of such data to governance decision-making with analytical algorithms that are appropriate for each step of the path. This paper proposes a framework for the use of citizen-centered big data analysis to drive governance intelligence in smart cities from two perspectives: urban governance issues and data-analysis algorithms. The framework consists of three layers: 1) A data-merging layer, which builds a citizen-centered panoramic data set for each citizen by merging citizen-related big data from multiple sources in collaborative urban governance via similarity calculation and conflict resolution; 2) a knowledge-discovery layer, which plots the citizen profile and citizen persona at both individual and group levels in terms of urban public service delivery and citizen participation via simple statistical analysis techniques, machine learning, and econometrics methods; and 3) a decision-making layer, which uses ontology models to standardize urban governance-related attributes, personas, and associations to support governance decision-making via data mining and Bayesian Net techniques. Finally, the proposed framework is validated in a case study on blood donation governance in China. This research highlights the value of citizen-centered big data, pushes data-to-decision research from conceptual to operational, synthesizes previously published frameworks for citizen-centered big data analysis in smart cities, and enhances the mutual supplement cross multiple disciplinaries.

African dreams: locating urban infrastructure in the 2030 sustainable developmental agenda

ABSTRACTThis paper examines African urban infrastructure and service delivery as an entry point for connecting African aspirations with the harsh developmental imperatives of urban management, creating a dialogue between scholarly knowledge and sustainable development policy aspirations. We note a shift to multi-nodal urban governance and highlight the significance of the synthesis of social, economic and ecological values in a normative vision of what an African metropolis might aspire to by 2030. The sustainable development vision provides a useful stimulus for Africa’s urban poly-crisis, demanding fresh interdisciplinary and normatively explicit thinking, grounded in a practical and realistic understanding of Africa’s infrastructure and governance challenges.

State-Movement Partnership in Uganda: Co-Producing an Enabling Environment for Urban Poverty Reduction?

An increasing body of knowledge is emerging about the ways in which the co-production of basic services can open up space for inclusive development and enhance state effectiveness in the global South. Limited evidence exists, however, about the particular forms of political relationship and programmes that are most likely to generate pro-poor outcomes and more enabling conditions for inclusive urban development. Through the lens of 12 months’ qualitative research into the Transforming Settlements of the Urban Poor in Uganda (TSUPU) programme, this paper examines what has shaped state vision, commitment and capacity for the co-production of urban poverty reduction in a low-income and neo-patrimonial regime. The discussion concludes that TSUPU (and successor programme partnerships) represents a pocket of effectiveness which has opened up spaces of political opportunity for moving towards more inclusive urban development planning and service delivery approaches. The constraints on this political opportunity being exploited to its full potential are significant and will require substantial regulatory and institutional change, in addition to sustained investment in movement building, to contribute to reducing urban poverty at scale.

Urban Agglomeration Effects in India: Evidence from Town-Level Data

Combining multiple data sets for India, we estimate the elasticity of wages with respect to town population and density between 1% and 2%, which is smaller than estimates in the literature based on district-level analysis. We also find that the employment share of firms with 10 or more workers—which typically describes firms that operate in the formal sector—is positively associated with city population and negatively associated with city density. Town characteristics such as infrastructure availability, geographic location, educational services, and industrial structure also play a role in explaining city productivity and the presence of relatively large firms. Overall, we interpret our results to suggest that there is scope to realize more fully urbanization's potential by addressing issues related to urban planning, infrastructure, and public service delivery, as has been emphasized previously by observers of Indian urbanization.

Framing the Role of and Defining Criteria for Usefulness of Citizen Satisfaction Surveys in Local Urban Environmental Management

The delivery of urban environmental services is among the functions devolved to local governments. As public services, they are routinely evaluated typically using ‘hard’ performance measures. The current trend of local governance incorporates citizens’ perspectives in assessing service performance. In this study, the importance and ‘usefulness’ of citizen satisfaction surveys in local urban environmental management are explored using the case of the local government of unit (LGU) of Quezon City, Philippines and its experience with the Citizen Satisfaction Index System (CSIS). For Quezon City, citizen satisfaction ratings are an important indication of city performance. For the Environmental Protection and Waste Management Department (EPWMD), data and information is considered ‘useful’ if it is (1) able to help craft the future directions of the Department, (2) able to help identify the services that can be removed, (3) able to reflect actionable community feedback, (4) presented in the form of disaggregated data and evidence and (5) easy to interpret by the users. In applying the criteria to evaluate the data and information generated from the CSIS 2014 and 2016, the study demonstrates the merits of using ‘soft’ performance measures in appraising and improving local urban environmental services.

Urban metabolism: A review with reference to Cape Town

Improved sustainability of cities requires equitably distributed and ecologically safe, if not restorative, infrastructure systems, as well as reduced reliance on resources from beyond urban boundaries. To shape infrastructure systems in a sustainable and equitable manner, knowledge about the sources and demands of the resources they convey is necessary, as well as the technologies which ensure their efficient use and safe return to the environment. This paper undertakes a basic urban metabolism assessment to examine resource consumption in the City of Cape Town. It examines the type and quantity of resources which fuel the city and its people, in order to highlight prospects for the sustainability of Cape Town. Key findings from resource profiles of Cape Town show that annual energy and water consumption, which are feared to be approaching system limits, have actually shown decline in consumption since 2007 and 2011 respectively. The key intervention to reduce energy consumption and resultant carbon emissions lies in reducing low-occupancy private car usage, while the key limitations to reducing raw water abstraction through wastewater reuse is the limited ability to store and redistribute it. Comparing maps of resource access to maps of material stocks shows that while the city periphery experiences low resource access, resource stocks are potentially quite dense. The spatial location of resource stock, flow and consumption represents a useful tool for detailed urban planning and service delivery, and is a gap in need of researching. Although flows of food are difficult to track, estimates suggest that 11.6% of the food processed in Cape Town is grown within municipal boundaries and interventions for keeping nutrients in the system should be explored. Examining the flow of people between suburbs over time shows that migration dynamics are entrenching poverty in already high poverty suburbs, as people with economic means are more likely to move to better serviced suburbs than invest in their current ones. This presents a need for the city to invest in these underserviced areas, so as to retain personal investment. Key recommendations for urban and resource planning are the integrated analysis of resource nexuses using system dynamics modelling, as well as integrating departments within the municipality, to enable more holistic intervention strategies. To aid this, research into a baseline examination of differential spatial and temporal flows of resources at suburb level is currently underway.

Exploring government and civil society workers’ perceptions of urban health as a governance priority in the Lagos metropolis

While cities may have compelling agendas for urban health, it is necessary for that vision to be translated into the work of their ministries and local governments. We qualitatively explored how workers in the urban service delivery sectors understood their priorities and the place of health in their agenda. Based on the interviews, we propose the following priorities for research and investments in urban development in Lagos: (1) low cost, climate friendly, health friendly, scalable solutions to the pressing problems of housing, pollution, land, waste management and health (2) legal, financial and political pressure to ensure that public private partnerships are framed around health, equity and the environment (3) critique international donor agendas to see if they are centred in the Sustainable Development Goal principles of equity, particularly for the urban poor (4) test behavioural tools for changing public attitudes to environmental health (5) integrated knowledge translation initiatives around the integration of public health concerns in urban policy (6) train decision-makers to see urban development issues through a human rights, equity and health lens. While every city is different, we hope these lessons will inspire similar research efforts across other African cities.

Plurality of urban governance in Nigeria and its implications on delivery of environmental services

This paper discussed plurality in urban governance in Nigeria and its implication on delivery of urban environmental services, with a focus on water supply, sanitation and solid waste disposal. Conceptually, it explained urban governance as the sum total of the ways of achieving an inclusive city and expressed the urban governance system of Nigeria based the legal framework set for them. The paper explored the environmental implications of urban governance in Nigeria. It concluded that urban governance has several implications on delivery of urban environmental services in Nigeria. The dualism in urban governance is a factor contributing towards inefficient delivery of environmental services such as water supply, sanitation and solid waste management in Nigeria. The paper recommended, among others, a constitutional reform that will guarantee efficient urban governance and delivery of environmental services in Nigeria.

Household Response to Inadequate Sewerage and Garbage Collection Services in Abuja, Nigeria.

Provision of sanitation and garbage collection services is an important and yet challenging issue in the rapidly growing cities of developing countries, with significant human health and environmental sustainability implications. Although a growing number of studies have investigated the consequences of inadequate delivery of basic urban services in developing countries, few studies have examined how households cope with the problems. Using the Exit, Voice, Loyalty, and Neglect (EVLN) model, this article explores how households respond to inadequate sewerage and garbage collection services in Abuja, Nigeria. Based on a qualitative study, data were gathered from in-depth interviews with sixty households, complemented with personal observation. The findings from grounded analysis indicated that majority (62%) and about half (55%) of the respondents have utilized the informal sector for sewerage services and garbage collection, respectively, to supplement the services provided by the city. While 68% of the respondents reported investing their personal resources to improve the delivery of existing sewerage services, half (53%) have collectively complained to the utility agency and few (22%) have neglected the problems. The paper concludes by discussing the public health and environmental sustainability implications of the findings.

A ‘PNG’ Study into Racial Difference In Contemporary Service Delivery Practices

The people of Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Australia have established linkages through a history of colonisation, Christianity, corporate capitalism and development. This creates an intricate and complex environment within PNG which social relations and interactions occur, between, expatriates, especially Australians, and PNG people. A nuanced understanding of these interactions as they relate to perceived differences in service delivery is likely to generate insights into contemporary understandings of racial differences, colonial legacies and how PNG can ‘develop’ in to a modern society. At issue for PNG people delivering and receiving service, is how differences in service delivery can sometimes translate into debilitating or inequitable interactions.<br />As part of my honours thesis, I am undertaking a study based on the narrative accounts of PNG people in Cairns (Australia), Port Moresby and Lae (PNG) about their experience of PNG-expatriate interactions within the context of contemporary urban service delivery and business operations. Through the study, specific accounts will highlight the perceptions of the narrators and their remembered actions. At issue will be perceptions that Australian and other expatriates receive better or different service then the PNG narrator.<br />Undertaking this research as a Papua New Guinean, working specifically with PNG participants will have specific implications on the research process, and on my role as dually, a PNG person and researcher. This research will involve understanding perceptions of PNG people as told to a PNG researcher. I want to explore (i) how being an identified Papua New Guinean impacts research process; (ii) how being an identified researcher documenting the accounts of a known cohort, impacts participant narrative and story-telling; and (iii) the ways being an identified PNG researcher can contribute to the discussion/debate surrounding indigenous research methodologies and the implications of this for PNG specific research. Academics and institutions recognise indigenous methods in undertaking indigenous specific research. PNG people have an identity that is not easily defined as an indigenous identity, given PNG’s unique colonial and post colonial recognition of land ownership and associated forms of local power. Through this paper, I wish to discuss the implications of this in understanding what it means to be PNG, in undertaking PNG specific research.

Characterising urban growth in Tamale, Ghana: An analysis of urban governance response in infrastructure and service provision

This study sought to characterise urban growth dynamics of Tamale, Ghana, and to analyse urban governance response to the growth dynamics regarding urban infrastructure and service delivery. Analysing satellite imagery, qualitative and secondary data sources, we found that the city expanded spatially by 78% between 2001 and 2014 at an annual rate of 4.4%. Increasing human and vehicular populations added complexities to the growth experiences of the city, and collectively exact a high demand for basic infrastructure and services. The metropolis’ population had better access to water and electricity but there is a huge access gap in relation to sanitary facilities, a situation that exposes the inefficiencies of the decentralised urban governance system of the city. The article argues that the state of affairs is a recipe for poor development outcomes such as low economic performance and negative public health issues. It is recommended that urban governance systems in the metropolis devise and implement innovative measures through inclusive and participatory approaches to promote sustainable urban development.