Urban planning in a context of rapid urban growth. A large scale review of urban plans in Africa

TL;DR

This study reviews urban planning efforts across African cities, revealing widespread plans that often overlook actual growth constraints and proposing flexible, comprehensive planning approaches to improve urban development.

Contribution

It provides a large-scale review of urban plans in Africa, highlighting common bottlenecks and suggesting adaptable planning strategies to better manage rapid urban growth.

Findings

Urban plans are more common than previously thought.

Most plans do not account for existing built-up areas at approval.

Financial and systemic bottlenecks hinder plan implementation.

Abstract

As the African continent continues to urbanise, cities are becoming increasingly central to the transformations of societies and economies. Many studies highlight the limits of urban planning in these cities, emphasising the high share of population living in slums and the low levels of services that reach neighbourhoods. Less attention is given to the urban planning activities that try to prevent or improve these conditions. This analysis of urban plans illustrates that plans are more widespread than commonly thought. They also, for the large part, consider spatial growth. The low number of cities that grew within the projected boundaries of these plans is a symptom of numerous bottlenecks that constrain planning systems in these countries. Examples of these include the disregard of the full built-up areas at the time of the plan's approval and the missing link between the plans and the financial means allocated for its delivery. This article identifies opportunities to overcome these barriers such as flexible and adaptable urban plans that consider the entire built-up area of the agglomeration.