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sustainable construction world
october 2016
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Urbanisation
At the same time, lack of reliable data and long term analysis
of urban issues specific to Africa, has led to a largely
experimental practice in the design and conceptualisation of
African cities – with unpredictable and serious consequences
for affected communities.
Arup as a multidisciplinary built-environment consultancy
has developed an ethos based on deep contextual embedded-
ness and practical research in the built environment – under-
taking more than 1 000 self-funded research projects in any
single business year. Over the last few years, a large portion
of that research has focused on urbanisation and cities, and
resulted in a collective body of work that informs our approach
to the growth and development of urban areas.
The recently formed Cities group at Arup Southern Africa,
led by Nico Venter, realised the need to localise this research
to illustrate relevance and critical understanding of African
city contexts; where overall city expansion and urban rates
of change outstrip developed world norms. “The African
city research programme was started and is a long term
commitment to building our knowledge and skills in working in
African cities,” says Venter.
In search of a new
African urbanism
African cities and specifically Africa’s new
urban agenda have become a hot topic
amongst businesses and institutions
seeking to understand, influence and
explore opportunities arising from
Africa’s rapid rate of urbanisation.
The recently formed Cities group at Arup
Southern Africa, is led by Nico Venter.
The research process is engagement focused and iterative and
aims to capture local knowledge to both enrich the research
product and direct its development. The first phase of the
African cities research focused on understanding the challenges
and development contexts of five rapidly changing and growing
African cities; taking into account cultural, economic and
geospatial differences and creating realistic engagement goals
for the subsequent phases.
The five cities were Johannesburg, Addis Ababa, Dar-es-
Salaam, Accra and Nairobi. Venter explains, “The outcome of the
first phase of the research is a set of city specific engagement
cards, designed to start conversations around key issues. It was
clear early on in the research that three dominant issues were
common to all five cities; access to adequate housing, clean
water and integrated transport.
These have translated into themes reflected in the cards,
which are intended as a participatory tool that encourages
people to see things differently and collectively foster fresh
ideas on city transformation”.
The first public workshop was on 25 August in
Johannesburg, and brought together city stakeholders;
including local government departments, research institutions,
developers, funders and built-environment practitioners in a
quest to uncover new ideas for the city. “Further workshops are
to take place in other cities, culminating in a published work
that will greatly enhance our understanding of African urbanism
– assisting us to appropriately meet the present and future
needs of citizens in their daily interaction with their city,”
concludes Venter.
∞
Addis Ababa in Ethiopia.