Investment and innovation needed to secure sustainable future African cities

Image: Freepik

 

31 October is the UN’s World Cities Day:
The 2025 theme is “People-centred smart cities”

Experts warn that Africa will be the most urbanised continent by 2050, and the continent needs more investment to prevent a surge in shanty towns. Not only will Africa’s urban population triple in the next 25 years, investments in urban development of up to 5.5% of African countries’ GDPs will be needed to avoid the increasing rapid growth of informal settlements.

By 2050, the 704 million new urban residents in African cities will bring the total urban population to 1.4 billion. Climate change is also taking place amid this transition, with temperatures 2°C warmer, which will introduce even more extreme weather events across the continent, such as extreme heat, heavy precipitation, floods and drought.

Urban investment needed
For African cities to meet their infrastructure needs, investment must double to an estimated $130–$170 billion per year. According to a 2023 report by the African Development Bank (AfDB), the bulk of this annual investment is needed for cities to keep pace with rapid population growth.

These include capital investments in main infrastructure (transportation, utilities), public services, such as water and water management, housing as well as public and green spaces. Beyond infrastructure, key investment needs also include social expenditure in education and health. However, financing and funding are not always easy for African cities to secure.

World Bank: Opportunity of urbanisation
“Urbanisation needs to be seen as an opportunity, not a problem,” says Catalina Marulanda, Practice Manager, Urban, Resilience and Land, East Africa at the World Bank. “If properly managed, African urbanisation can drive structural transformation and create liveable cities that are engines of resilient growth.

She adds: “There is a tremendous level of effort across the region in increasing financing resilient infrastructure and services in cities. Many countries are focusing on what needs to be done with a focus on building resilient infrastructure, not only to withstand the disasters of today, but also those that are expected in the future, under increasing climate change threats.

“At the World Bank we are supporting exciting and innovative projects in Tanzania, Mozambique, DRC, Malawi, to name a few, which are creating the right conditions to increase domestic revenue mobilisation for financing urban development, with very interesting results on urban flood management, for example, which is a tremendous urban challenge in Africa.” [Read and watch full interview here.]

C40: Strengthening climate governance
AP3 Advisory recently announced a new contract under the FCDO-funded C40 Cities Climate Action Implementation Programme to lead a regional capacity building and technical assistance programme to support the cities of Accra (Ghana), Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), Lagos (Nigeria), Nairobi (Kenya) and Tshwane (South Africa) in building the institutional capacity to scale up climate action by tackling the institutional constraints necessary to unlock access to climate finance.

“This assignment represents a critical opportunity to support cities and subnational governments across Africa in advancing climate resilience and sustainable development through targeted capacity building and technical assistance to unlock climate finance,” says AP3 Managing Partner Gori Olusina Daniel.

Second airport for Cape Town area
Investing in integrated, efficient and sustainable transport systems is crucial to address the continent’s challenges with rapid urbanisation, congestion and inequality, as well as to achieve Africa’s development goals.

Earlier this month, the African property giant Growthpoint announced an R8-billion investment into the new Cape Winelands Airport and the surrounding precinct. The company said that this marks the start of a strategic partnership to build the Western Cape’s next-generation aviation, hospitality and industrial hub. Once operational, Cape Winelands Airport will serve as a second major aviation gateway for the province. The group said: “When tourism infrastructure works sustainably and at scale, jobs follow, cities thrive and communities benefit.”

Airport’s green aspirations
Mark Wilkinson, Director at the Cape Winelands Airport says sustainability is vital in the project’s development and what kind of airport it will be. He explains: “We’ve estimated that every year, about 60 million kilograms less CO2 would be emitted into Cape Town just by virtue of the airlines having a second airport to help them optimise their fuel planning.”

He explains, what he terms, their “huge green aspirations.” “We will be self-reliant, generating our own power with solar panels, we need about 10 megawatts of power to sustain our demand. We’re looking to store and treat our own water. We’ve got a blank canvas, so we’re looking to bring in the latest technology; we’re looking at sustainable aviation fuel when that becomes feasible in South Africa; we’re looking at electrical vertical take-offs and landings; and we’re looking at advanced biometrics within the airport.” [Watch or read full interview here.]

Circular economy: Waste to building materials
Finally, with the growth of African cities, the challenges in solid waste management in urban areas are increasing due to a combination of underfunding and poor infrastructure. Key issues include low waste collection rates, lack of proper disposal and recycling facilities, and weak governance, such as inadequate legislation and enforcement.

Two South African entrepreneurs in the green economy recycling space, Stefano Lepore of Alloro Africa and Sean Varrie of 4 Earth Global, recently revealed that they have pooled resources to form an innovative, pioneering collaboration, transforming infectious medical waste into sustainable building materials. [Read and watch the full interview here.]

• This article first appeared in the Green Economy Express newsletter, published by Africa’s Green Economy Summit.