In 2018, the United Nations Department
of Economic and Social Affairs estimated
that about 55% of the world’s population
resided in urban areas compared to only
30% in the 1950s. It further postulated
that by 2050, urban dwellers will make
up about 68% of the 9.8 billion people
projected to call earth home.
African cities are among the fastest growing
today, not just the Tokyos and Delhis of the
world; cities like Ouagadougou in Burkina
Faso, Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, Bamako
in Mali, Kampala in Uganda and Lusaka
in Zambia, are expected to record annual
population expansion rates ranging from
about 3% up to 8%. A McKinsey study
estimated that between 2015 and 2045,
an additional 24 million people would be
living in African cities each year, while for
India that estimate is 11 million and for
China, 9 million.
Rural-Urban Migration
A major contributor to the rise in urban
population is rural-urban migration.
With African countries dealing with
environmental factors such as droughts,
famine, land loss, conflict, water pollution,
habitat destruction etc., rural migration is
expected to increase leading to a rise in
urban population levels.
Urban areas naturally provide easier
access to markets, a wider audience for
services, lower transaction costs than
rural areas, access to specialized services,
more networking and knowledge sharing
opportunities, and the means to expand
individual scope and innovate better. The
rise in rural migration should normally
lead to an increase in the supply of labour
The Future Of Mobility In African Urban Cities
and diversity in skillset to urban areas,
leading to productivity and, by extension,
GDP growth. Rather than benefit as
expected, cities have become rather
strained as infrastructural & institutional
capacities and amenities are not optimized
to support the population expansion.
This has led to a gradual weakening of
structural systems – failures in educational
facilities, healthcare systems, degradation
of physical infrastructures (roads, power,
transport networks) – and requiring
significant investments in expansion
projects that are needed to sustain
economic growth.
A Diverse Work Force
The potential of Africa’s urban migrant
population is yet to be fully harnessed
because a vast majority of them are in less
than ideal situations. From uncomfortable
living conditions at best, to dysfunctional
transport systems and everything in
between, majority of urban dwellers are
unable to apply themselves to productive
ventures in their cities of residence.
While adequate accommodation, easy
access to quality medical services, good
education and the likes are sure-fire
means to improve the living standards
of city dwellers; the importance of
adequate mobility infrastructure cannot
be overemphasized. Solid transportation
systems in Africa’s cities has the power
to transform not only the way people
migrate from rural to urban areas, but also
provide current urban dwellers alternative
solutions to their present unsatisfactory
standards of living and open the continent
to more opportunities and collaboration
within its borders.
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