informal settlements - The African Mirror

Feb

2024

Lagos: drugs, firearms and youth unemployment are creating a lethal cocktail in Nigeria’s commercial capital

LAGOS is the most populous city in Africa and a regional economic giant, having West Africa’s busiest seaport. It is the centre of commercial and economic activities in Nigeria. The city’s population is estimated to be 20 million people. The existence of informal settlements makes it difficult to come up with a more precise number. ADEWUMI I. BADIORA, Senior Lecturer, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Olabisi Onabanjo University Lagos has grown rapidly since Nigerian independence in 1960 when its estimated population was 763,000 people. In the 1980s, its population reached 2.7 million. The government of Lagos state estimates that…

Feb

2024

By ANTHONY IDOWU AJAYI and CAROLINE W. KABIRU

Kenya’s healthcare workers abuse a third of teen mums from informal settlements – study

NEWS

ADOLESCENT pregnancy is a global public health concern: in 2022, about 13% of girls and young women gave birth before the age of 18. Compared with women in their early 20s, adolescents are more susceptible to maternal deaths. Pregnancy-related complications are among the leading causes of death among Africa’s adolescent girls. Babies born to adolescent mothers in low- to middle-income countries also face an increased risk of neonatal deaths, and pre-term and underweight birth. These risks make it vital that pregnant girls feel comfortable seeking healthcare. Adolescent pregnancy is an issue in Kenya, too, where 15% of adolescent girls become…

Jan

2024

By The African Mirror

Lagos city planning has a history of excluding residents: it’s happening again

AFRICITIES

IN Lagos, a megacity with a population estimated at 21 million, the state government has been building a satellite city, known as Eko Atlantic. At the same time, it has been destroying informal settlements, where as much as 60%-70% of Lagos’s population may live. HALIMAT SOMOTAN, Assistant Professor of African Studies, Georgetown University Makoko, a community on the mainland of Lagos, is one of the places threatened with demolition. Its residents, who originated from coastal communities in the Niger Delta, Benin, Togo and Ghana, claim to have occupied the area since the early 1900s. Half of the population resides in…

Apr

2022

By The African Mirror

Local knowledge adds value to mapping flood risk in South Africa’s informal settlements

ENVIRONMENT

THE current flooding in South Africa’s coastal city of Durban is dire and reports indicate that hundreds of people have died and thousands directly affected. Several months’ worth of rainfall has fallen in a day or so, and the effects have been catastrophic. The problem of floods in Durban is not new. Between 1980 and 2010, there were over 77 disastrous flood events in KwaZulu-Natal province and others. The flood events can be categorised as disastrous when lives are lost, people are displaced and property is destroyed. Authors GARIKAI MARTIN MEMBELE, PhD researcher at University of KwaZulu-Natal, University of KwaZulu-Natal…

May

2021

By The African Mirror

The fascinating history of how residents named their informal settlements in Nairobi

AFRICITIES

IN Kenya’s capital city, Nairobi, it is estimated that over 70% of the population live in informal settlements. Many of these have a history rooted in colonial policies whereby the “African native” was a temporary resident of the city. Africans could only live in the city as registered labourers. MELISSA WANJIRU-MWITA, Lecturer, Technical University of Kenya As these informal settlements grew over the years, their names – and the names of places within them – have grown to encapsulate their history. Africans were forced to live in dormitory-like working quarters. In spite of these restrictions, some still found their way…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

People living in African urban settings do a lot of walking: but their cities aren’t walkable

AFRICITIES

Walking remains the main mode of transport in many sub-Saharan African cities, especially among low-income residents in informal settlements. Yet, it is well acknowledged that walking conditions in African cities are precarious and unsafe. This is partly due to the prioritisation of local urban design for auto-mobility. SETH ASARE OKYERE, Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University DANIEL OVIEDO, Assistant Professor, UCL LOUIS KUSI FRIMPONG, Assisant Lecturer, University of Environment and Sustainable Development MARIAJOSE NIETO, PhD student , UCL MICHIHIRO KITA, Professor, Osaka University Under the right physical and social conditions of the urban built environment, walking offers major…

Aug

2020

By The African Mirror

Covid19 and the provision of water and sanitation services to informal settlements

COVID-19

NEIL MACLEOD Recently, as a result of the Covid19 pandemic, there has been a recognition in South Africa of the importance of access to water and sanitation for residents living in informal settlements, together with hygiene education. However, the solutions adopted have been reactive to date, contradict stated government policy when it comes to both sanitation and water, and are not sustainable. The water and sanitation solutions currently adopted in South Africa make use of fixed water tanks that are filled by tankers and provide sanitation using communal chemical toilets. Ironically, while bucket toilets provided by the public sector are…