Describe extensively the concept of sustainable urban development
Urban management refers to the efforts for coordinating and integrating public as well as private actions to tackle the major problems inhabitants of cities are facing in an integrated way, to make a more competitive, equitable and sustainable city (Dijk, 2006).
Major Challenges of Urban Planning and management
The Urbanization Process and Fringe Areas
Fringe areas are inadequately incorporated into overall urban planning have to do primarily with the urbanization process itself and in particular with respect to the rapid pace of urbanization and urban governance and planning.
The rapid pace of urbanization places an enormous burden on the planning process, planning for new development while simultaneously planning for the improvement and upgrading of the existing urban environment. As a result, in most urban centers the existing planning capacity is inadequate to an ever increasing task.
Urban governance and planning, fringe areas generally fall outside the jurisdictional boundaries of the governing bodies of the urban area. Therefore the local governments of the fringe areas and those of the urban area are often acting separately in terms of overall planning. Compounding the problems that the local governments of the fringe areas often have only limited urban planning rules, planning capacity. As a result, their existing urban planning is at best incomplete and at worst non-existent. Similarly, the vastness and diversity of fringe areas and the piece-meal nature of development makes it almost impossible for local government to monitor and manage.
Climate Change and urban environment
The impact of climate change and the associated risks to populations in urban areas is complex, dynamic and dependent on a wide and diverse set of global, national and local urban factors. Both climate change and the urban environment itself dramatically increase urban risk individually and collectively and these interactions must be integrated into urban planning. The diverse effects of climatic change like occurrence of floods hamper the urban planning and management process for example in provision of public services such as education, health, water and infrastructures including roads and railways since environmental change can influence future displacement, as well as migration. Therefore due to the interactions of climatic change and urban environment it becomes very cumbersome to integrate into urban planning and management.
Migration and Global Environmental Change
Migration as a challenge of urban planning and management has two implications to the policy makers in the whole process planning and management. The first implication, migration posing operational challenges and future environmental change, in combination with other factors, could significantly alter existing volumes and patterns of migration. For example, the number of African urban poor is expected to exceed 400 million by 2015, compared with 240 million in 1990. If, as predicted, rural–urban migration increases, whilst environmental conditions worsen, this trend will represent a significant operational and technical challenge for city planners in terms of sustainable urban growth, pressure on water and transport, increased pollution in large cities and waste creation. Secondly migration posing geopolitical challenges unplanned, unpredictable and concentrated movements of people are more likely in scenarios of the future characterized by high global growth, but fragmented social, political and economic governance (Adamo, 2010). Cities require much more strategic decision making about long-term location and protection for the growing population resulting from migration.
Unplanned and Unregulated Physical Growth and Expansion of the Cities
The dominant feature and a fundamental challenge to most Sub-Saharan African countries urban landscape today is that of haphazardly growing shanty-towns and of slum and squatter developments. Many sections of the cities of Sub Saharan African Countries including Mombasa and Kisumu cities in Kenya, in Lagos and Onitsha cities in Nigeria are a build-up of unregulated, congested, ramshackle housing, surrounded by almost indescribable filth. Nearly three-quarters of Africa’s urban residents reside in slums, often unrecognized and un-serviced by their local governments (Cities Alliance, 2006:2). The prevalence of unplanned and unregulated physical growth and expansion of cities result in poor infrastructure facilities and deteriorating public utilities such as poor drainage and inadequate sanitation, constrained mobility as a result of outdated physical layouts, flourishing street trading, inadequate transport systems and deteriorated road facilities resulting in overcrowding and congestion. Prevalence of low levels of social discipline and civic responsibility is a challenge to city planners and administrators in the sub-region. The magnitude of these phenomena naturally overwhelms the efforts of city planners, city administrators, health and building inspectors whose effectiveness are further undermined by current and continuing advocacy of interventions by disparate. It has been noted that the majority (between 40% and 80%) of urban population in African towns and cities now lives in slums (AFDB, 2005:25)
Weakness of Urban Planning and Management Institutions
The most fundamental and critical challenge faced by urban areas in most developing countries, particularly in Sub-Saharan African countries is the crippling weakness of institutions of urban development planning and management. Municipal authorities are usually too short of sufficient funds to meet their responsibilities. The institutional base and infrastructure for effective urban planning and urban development management is still largely weak and in a state of flux urban local governments with weak and unviable revenue base, with inadequate technical and administrative skills and as yet limited political will and commitment on the part of the central and other higher level governments to let the local institutions and their instruments function. The fact remains however that the impact of programs aimed at urban services and infrastructure depends upon the quality of the institutions responsible for planning and implementing these projects.
Most central and state governments in Anglophone Africa are yet to allow this institutional strengthening at the local level, and this is a fundamental challenge to effective urban development planning and management. The other challenge facing urban planning and management is poor governance that is characterized by corruption and less accountability and transparency and also in many urban areas there is inadequate qualified manpower. Urban planning activities need a well-qualified architect, surveyor, building inspector, drawing technicians, land valuation officers, site officers and a host of field officers
Effective urban planning and implementation are the antidotes to these continuing urban challenges. While formal plans, codes, ordinances or such other land-use control measures may not necessarily seem the most important factors influencing land-use patterns and their growth, in the current context of massive urbanization in Sub-Saharan Africa, they are still exceedingly important, for it is through them that the relevant public authorities – national, state, provincial, local government or planning agencies – influence where and in what direction, for what and when urban growth will occur. Besides, effective land-use planning and its major land-use policy instrument – zoning – is in essence a hazard prevention and mitigation exercise (Stren, 1992:71) that in the main begins to address the fundamental challenges confronting the burgeoning cities and towns of Anglophone African countries. Strengthening the institution(s) for managing urban development, be it the municipal/local government or some special – purpose urban development/management bodies is the place to start.
Land tenure is a significant urban management challenge many mayors face. In most African and Asian cities, for example, more than 50 per cent of urban populations live on land where title is unknown. Land registration and information systems require urgent improvement. As an urban leader you will have to plan to accommodate future urban growth, including providing the urban poor with serviced land to build and improve their own housing. In doing so, measures to secure property rights are indispensable. Such measures should ensure that women’s property rights are equal to those of men, even if there are cultural hurdles to that. Also, urban sustainability requires that you have an effective foundation of planning for urban land forms and land uses. Well-designed land use codes and zoning mitigate both carbon emissions that contribute to global climate change as well as other pollutants from transportation that impact regional air quality.
REFERENCES
Adamo, S.B. (2010). Environmental Migration and Cities in the Context of Global Environmental Change. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 2(3), 161–165.
Dijk, M.P. van (2006). Managing cities in Developing Countries: The theory and Practice of Urban Management. Renmin university Press, World Bank series, 1-198.
African Development Bank Group (AFDB) 2005. Integrated Urban Development Policy and Urban Development Strategy Paper: Revision of the Bank Group’s Urban Development Policy and Preparation of an Urban Development Strategy Paper. (Draft Report, December 2005).
Cities Alliance (2006).Guide to City Development Strategies: Improving Urban Governance. Washington D.C.
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