AFRICITIES - The African Mirror

Feb

15

2022

Addis Ababa yet to meet the needs of residents: what has to change

AFRICITIES

WITH an estimated population of more than 3.7 million people, Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, is home to about a quarter of Ethiopia’s urban population. The city generates well above 29% of Ethiopia’s urban GDP and 20% of national urban employment. Author EZANA WELDEGHEBRAEL, Research Fellow, University of Manchester Over the last two decades, Addis Ababa has witnessed rapid socio-economic changes and a drastic physical transformation. This was propelled by a development-oriented government and the private sector. However, the city faces challenges around housing, transport, infrastructure, services, youth unemployment and displacement. I’m part of the African Cities Research Consortium,…

Feb

10

2022

By The African Mirror

How a neighbourhood watch WhatsApp group shaped fears in a Cape Town suburb

AFRICITIES

Author LEAH DAVINA JUNCK, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Cape Town TRUST in state institutions to protect citizens is a prerequisite for sharing social spaces. This trust is corrupted in South Africa, where there are persistent anxieties that crime and violence are out of control. Despite considerable public spending on the police and security sector, the country has an enormous private security economy, as well as volunteer-based organisations for social protection like neighbourhood watch groups. Decisions over access to public spaces, who is welcome, valued and protected – whose lives matter – is, of course, a global question. And it’s…

Feb

07

2022

By The African Mirror

How black upward mobility fast-tracked racial desegregation in Johannesburg

AFRICITIES

SCHOLARS disagree about whether the formerly whites-only neighbourhoods of Johannesburg, South Africa’s largest and most economically important city, have become substantially desegregated since the end of apartheid in 1994. Some argue that racial residential segregation has declined only slightly, while others argue that it is substantial. Author OWEN CRANKSHAW, Emeritus Professor of Urban Studies, University of Cape Town My recent research shows that the extent of racial desegregation is much more substantial than is commonly accepted. This research is based on population census data for the years 1996, 2001 and 2011 and is a result of my long-term scholarly interest…

Jun

24

2020

By The African Mirror

Health risks loom in a hotter and humid Lagos

AFRICITIES

OPEYEMI SALAU WITHOUT a doubt, there are several reasons to believe that our climate is changing. Records over the period of 1880-2012, indicate that the surface temperatures have risen globally. There has also been an increasing rate of the warming reported over the last 25 years, during which 11 of the 12 hottest years on record occurred. Trends in temperature values are typically different among regions and for different seasons due to the varied types of land surfaces. However, the signs of the warming include rising ocean temperatures, decreasing sea ice in the Arctic, glaciers melting, reduction in snow cover…

Jun

22

2020

By The African Mirror

Ugandans join global push to rename colonial-era landmarks

AFRICITIES

Recognise historical figures who promote the values of freedom, dignity, peace and justice, says Ugandan lawyer NITA BHALLA Thousands of people have signed a petition calling for the East African nation to rename roads and landmarks that celebrate white power, joining a growing, global movement against racism. Statues linked to colonialism and slavery have been defaced or downed in the United States, Britain and beyond amid protests sparked by the death of George Floyd, a black man, after a U.S. policeman knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes. Now a prominent Ugandan lawyer and writer has joined the worldwide push on…

Jun

18

2020

By The African Mirror

OPINION: COVID-19 demonstrates urgent need for cities to prepare for pandemics

AFRICITIES

MAMI MIZUTORI AND MAIMUNAH MOHD SHARIF SOME 95% of COVID-19 cases have come from urban areas. Pandemic preparedness in cities and towns is more urgent than ever for reducing disaster risk, particularly in challenging situations where disease outbreaks could coincide with an extreme weather event. The eastern Indian city of Kolkata has been devastated by Cyclone Amphan, which caused many deaths and left millions without electric power. Fear of contracting the virus made it impossible to use cyclone shelters to their maximum capacity. COVID-19 restrictions made evacuations more difficult. Countries around the world were caught by surprise by the COVID-19…

Jun

08

2020

By The African Mirror

As lockdown clears the air, Cairo looks to keep pollution low

AFRICITIES

IT is a Thursday evening in downtown Cairo, usually a crowded and noisy time as the weekend gets underway. But today the streets are quiet, and the air is noticeably clean. "It has been a long time since I breathed such fresh air here and saw the sky clean like that," observed Fathi Ibrahim, a 52-year-old resident of downtown Cairo. Thick pollution - from vehicles, factories and power plants - usually makes breathing a suffocating effort in the heart of the city, he said. But a lockdown to slow the coronavirus pandemic has helped cleared the smog. "We even started…

Jun

08

2020

By The African Mirror

Lagos makes it hard for people living in slums to cope with shocks like COVID-19

AFRICITIES

OLUWAFEMI OLAJIDE THE NIGERIAN government has adopted a range of strategies to manage the spread of COVID-19. However, as desirable as the strategies may seem, the urban poor are disproportionately negatively affected. Lagos city is a case in point. The Lagos state government introduced a food relief package to cushion the effects of lockdown. But the distribution of the relief package has been hampered by governance challenges. The situation, to a large extent, reflects the opposite of good governance. Good governance is about relationships and interactions between citizens and government based on the principles of equity, efficient service delivery and…

Jun

29

2020

By The African Mirror

Bringing de-densification home in Alexandra

AFRICITIES

ABOUT 1 600 families in the Stjwetla shack settlement in Johannesburg are standing on the verge of seismic change. This is the story of one of them. DENNIS WEBSTER The American poet GC Waldrep recently described gravity as “a debt … incurred by God”. In the Stjwetla shack settlement in Alexandra, Johannesburg, gravity is God sent. Built around a series of small rivulets that flow down the western bank of the Jukskei River in the township’s northeastern corner, it is a place where everything rolls downhill. 22 June 2020: Trash collecting in the Jukskei River is a common sight in Stjwetla. Photo:…

Jun

27

2020

By The African Mirror

Megaprojects in Addis Ababa raise questions about spatial justice

AFRICITIES

BIRUK TEREFE Biruk Terrefe, PhD Candidate, Oxford Department of International Development, University of Oxford URBAN investments across the African continent are at an all-time high. Yet the nature of these investments differs starkly across cities. Many of them are driven by political considerations. For example, in Addis Ababa, a city that has made enormous strides in the past two decades, a new urban aesthetic is emerging. It targets urban elites, the Ethiopian diaspora and international tourists. Since coming to power in 2018, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s administration has initiated several urban megaprojects. These include LaGare, a 36-hectare real estate project,…