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Living for the city
African cities are forecast to urbanize at a rate of 3.65% annually adding nearly 350 million new city-dwellers by 2030, according to Brookings Institution. A billion more people are expected to be living in African cities by 2063.
Urbanization is the engine of population growth for the continent, with most of the expansion in the urban populations coming from natural growth, not rural-to-urban migration, as we often assume. Large cities like Lagos and Kinshasa are growing rapidly and with that growth come many challenges.
The difficulty is that most of Africa’s worst problems are most evident and visceral in our cities. The sheer numbers of people, the teeming unemployed, the endless traffic jams, the bad road networks, the absence of meaningful infrastructure—it goes on.
There are three recurring difficulties with Africa’s rapid urbanization, according to a World Bank report (pdf) out this month. Firstly, the cities are crowded. That might seem obvious to a visitor. But this specifically refers to how commercial, industrial and housing infrastructure investment has been unable to keep up with the rise in urban population. In other words, congestion and the associated costs overwhelm any expected benefits of urban concentration.
Then there’s the fragmented, disconnected nature of these cities. Residents are unable to easily move from one part of the city to the other due to unreliable and inefficient transport networks made up of minibuses, matatus and danfos which traverse these cities. The lack of good networks that can move hundreds or thousands of people at a time contributes to limiting job opportunities for firms to reap scale and agglomeration benefits.
Finally, it’s expensive to live, invest or run a business in an African city. The World Bank says African cities are 29% more expensive than cities in countries at similar income levels. Families in African cities have to spend 55% more on housing than other regions. The high transport, housing and food costs make labor more expensive.
Fixing these challenges will help free Africa from what the report’s authors call a “low-development trap”. The goal in cities should be to achieve physical and economic density, the kind of density of opportunity, talent and infrastructure that brings efficiency and economies of scale.
Formalizing land markets, clarifying property rights and effective urban planning alongside early and coordinated infrastructure investments should be prioritized strategies in helping Africa’s cities work. That’s how we’ll reap the benefits of urbanization and build safe and inclusive cities.
Yinka Adegoke, Quartz Africa editor
Stories from this week
#BringBackOurPresident. Nigeria’s president Muhammadu Buhari extended his leave in the UK this week to complete some medical tests. But for Nigerians, the announcement revived memories of the secrecy around the illness of president Umaru Musa Yar’adua, who later died office and set off a constitutional crisis.
The Ugandan saloon treating hair as science and art. Black hair is a fraught issue not only in Africa, but in many parts across the world. But Salooni, a pop-up salon and art installation, hopes to highlight the practicalities of black hair, and what it tells about the history of African women through the ages, writes Lily Kuo.
Foreign passport holders make a splash in Somalia’s elections. Somalia’s incoming president Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo, who was elected last week, is also a US citizen. But so were a third of the 329 lawmakers who voted him in, and 16 of the 24 candidates who ran against him.
Air pollution is an underestimated problem in Africa. Dirty air has led to the premature death of more Africans than the toll of malnutrition or unsafe water or sanitation. But as Lynsey Chutel found out, even scientists are at a loss on the exact scope of air pollution across the continent.
Beat illiteracy and terrorism by turning mosques into schools. The terrorist group Boko Haram has often exploited young uneducated people to join its ranks in northeast Nigeria. To fight illiteracy, Sanusi Lamido, the Emir of Kano, one of the country’s foremost Islamic leaders, wants to turn mosques into schools, writes Yomi Kazeem.
The online bookstores pushing for Kenyans to read African authors. Local bookshops in Kenya mostly supply textbooks and the standard international bestsellers. But as Abdi Latif Dahir reports, a growing number of online bookstores hope to get more Kenyans to not only just read—but also read Kenyan and African authors.
CHART OF THE WEEK
Why Africa’s young voters keep electing old men into office. African leaders are generally much older than their country’s median age. Chude Jideonwo, who ran communications for the most recent winning presidential campaigns in Nigeria and Ghana, says a mixture of pragmatism and cynicism leads Africa’s youth to often turn to the older generation for change.
Other Things We Liked
Do dope-smugglers also peddle ivory? Poaching is a menace not just to Kenya’s dwindling elephant population, but also to all of Africa’s. But as The Economist reports ($), the recent arrest of drug kingpins besides DNA tracking of ivory seizures show that there is an emerging link between these two illicit trades.
Nigeria’s Lebanese describe their connection to the West African nation. Whether they are descendants of 19th century immigrants or new arrivals, multiple generations of Lebanese have made Nigeria their home. For Al Jazeera English, Ijeoma Ndukwe profiles some of those currently living and working across the country.
Keep an eye on
Watch for national inflation data. Numbers are expected from Zimbabwe and Angola on Feb. 13, while Botswana will release data on Feb. 14. They’ll be followed by Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana and Namibia on Feb. 15.
Annual international Casablanca Book Fair. The 23rd edition of the Casablanca International Book Fair runs to Feb. 19 and will be featuring more than 700 publishers from 24 countries.
Burundi peace talks to resume (Feb. 16-18). The stalled Burundi peace talks are set to resume in Arusha, Tanzania. Benjamin Mkapa, a former president of Tanzania, is set to oversee the talks, whose freezing has forced hundreds to flee the country every day, according to the United Nations.
Our best wishes for a productive and thought-filled week ahead. Please send any news, comments, president Buhari sightings and Kenyan-authored books to africa@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter at @qzafrica for updates throughout the day.
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