Integration of Non-Motorised Transport (NMT) infrastructure in most African cities has always been an afterthought. This has been witnessed by the uncoordinated mix of modes in the urban areas and the continuous effects it has had on the economy and the functioning of major towns and urban areas. The City of Kampala has decided to trailblaze in this area of transforming urban mobility in East Africa, a region renowned for traffic congestion and stressful commuting. This was necessitated by the ever-increasing urban population and the resultant increased demand on infrastructure. Namiremebe Road and Luwum street were chosen as the pilot areas for the program as they pass through the city center and are the major public transport hub for in the city. The aim of the program was to have an integrated network for all modes.
Category: Integrated urban development
Interview with Daniel Onyango on Crisis Communication
Nairobi, Kenia, a troubled place that woke up Daniel Onyango and friends’ creativity to rose awareness for the safety measures. He lives in one of the biggest informal settlement of the capital where people did not understand the magnitude of COVID-19.
More: https://youtu.be/SVi5u3_5y-s
Join us and watch a special series of videos and podcasts that will show how to overcome a crisis from many different points of view. More videos, podcasts and interviews coming soon on our COVID-19 page.
Podcast with Dr. Lardo Stander: Economic Response and Housing
“The social compact is critical in order to respond quickly and appropriately to future pandemics.”
Economic modelling to better understand crisis scenarios; mapping vulnerable groups for targeted help. Dr. Lardo Stander from Pretoria, South Africa, told us how did they deal with the South African slums’ economic and housing problems during lockdown.
More: https://youtu.be/Z2XUO7wxIPI
Join us and watch a special series of videos and podcasts that will show how to overcome a crisis from many different points of view. More videos, podcasts and interviews coming soon on our COVID-19 page.
Podcast with Nadia Odjo: “Smart Schooling”
“We learned to use what we have.”
Listen to Nadia Odjo, a SmartSchooling natural from Jacmel, Haiti, and founder of the B.R.I.T.E Initiative. She implemented distance learning at her school by her own besides a disconnected community that even had problems setting up e-mail accounts.
More: https://youtu.be/YKV8qFFVbEs
Join us and watch a special series of videos and podcasts that will show how to overcome a crisis from many different points of view. More videos, podcasts and interviews coming soon on our COVID-19 page.
Final Report: Virtual Global Exchange
The exchange was designed to bring together urban practitioners from all over the globe. The goal was to ignite creativity, innovation, solidarity and motivation, while creating and enhancing this global community of practice around the common purpose of combating the global COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences with smart local solutions and strategies.
During the first week, urban practitioners and experts from different municipalities, the civil society, business and academia, presented a total of 56 Good Practices in 18 sessions and gave insights into their experienced challenges and local solutions to deal with the pandemic. The exchange were centered around the nine topics were Public Health, Crisis Management, Economic Response, Housing, Education, Digitalisation, Crisis Communication, Innovation, and Green Urban Recovery.
The second week was about receiving practical “How To” capsules with practical exercises on topics that came up repeatedly during the exchange events such as: social media usage, digital tools, and how to plan for virtual meetings. Finally, the newly learned mindsets and tools could be applied in a 4-hour solution design workshop.
Global Mayors Challenge 2021
The Corona pandemic has changed the daily lives of all of us. In cities around the globe, it has created many courageous, creative and inspiring responses. Bloomberg Philanthropies is launching the Global Mayors Challenge 2021, an urban leadership competition to identify the 50 best urban solutions that will help communities emerge stronger from the crisis.
The 50 leading cities will receive support from internationally renowned experts who will assist them in developing their proposals. Fifteen grand prize winners will then receive $1 million each to begin the implementation of their breakthrough ideas.
The Global Mayors Challenge 2021 is open to all cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants. The deadline for applications is 21 March 2021.
All further information can be found on the Bloomberg Philantropies website.
Infection chains – preventing infections through distance, communication and support for the informal sector
Around 100 municipal practitioners from more than 20 Latin American and European cities, including Brazil, Peru, Mexico, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Spain, the United Kingdom and Germany, participated in two virtual events on the topic of “Infection Chains – preventing infection through distance, communication and supporting the informal sector”.
During the virtual exchange of experiences, which was held as part of the series of events on “Municipal response to COVID-19”, the participants presented and discussed practical examples from their cities and exchanged experiences on the topics of infection chains and prevention measures, as well as on the topic of crisis communication.
In the first virtual event, the challenges in the areas of infection chain tracing and Covid-19 testing strategies were discussed intensively, because they represent urgent problems for many Latin American cities. The exchange of experiences revealed that crisis communication in particular is an important concern for municipalities – in European as well as Latin American cities alike.
Municipal practitioners face the challenge of raising public awareness of the need for the measures taken over a long period of time. Therefore, the focus of the second event was on the topic of communication. Among other things, strategies of cities were presented on how municipal crisis communication can be designed. It was discussed how cities can inform their residents about public restrictions and Covid-19 in a transparent, inclusive and understandable way.
The virtual events provided space for an interactive exchange of experiences, which was very positively received. All participants took part in a lively discussion and were in favour of continuing the offer.
The languages offered included Spanish, Portuguese, English and (partly) German.
Programme
During the two events, six good practices from Essen and Stuttgart (Germany), Aracaju, Niterói, Belo Horizonte (Brazil) and Naucalpan (Mexico) were presented.
Participants also gained a new perspective on the pandemic from the presentation of three studies on municipal management of Covid-19 by the Brazilian municipal associations “Asociación Brasileña de Municipios” and “Confederación Nacional de Municipios,” as well as “Design Thinkers Group Spain” and “Whiteboard Innovation Israel”.
The aim of the virtual event was also to actively involve the participants. The space for questions between the presentations and the subsequent discussion were used intensively for exchange.
The following questions were discussed during the two events:
- What measures can be taken to interrupt infection chains and what role can the municipality play in this?
- How can infections be traced and what are local challenges in doing so?
- What is the role of the informal sector in relation to infections?
- What strategies can be taken to make crisis communication inclusive, transparent and understandable?
- How can communities with limited access to digital communication tools be reached?
Good practice presentations
Presentations on 14.10-2020
Decentralised mobile sample collection strategy of the city of Essen.
Jörg Spors, Hygiene Officer of the Fire Department of the City of Essen, Germany
Measures taken by municipalities to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
Eduardo Tadeu Pereira, Director “Asociación Brasileña de Municipios” (ABM), Brazil
Fighting the pandemic with strategic management and innovative measures, Aracaju, Brazil.
Waneska de Souza Barboza, Aracaju Health Department, Aracaju City Hall, representative of the National Front of Mayors (FNP), Brazil
Government action to combat Covid-19 in Naucalpan, Mexico.
Mauricio Eduardo Aguirre Lozano, Secretary of the Municipality of Naucalpan, Mexico
Survey on covid-19: focus on local government and support from federal agencies.
Carla Albert, Health Worker, Confederación Nacional de Municipios (CNM), Brazil
Presentations on 05.11.2020
Opening Speech “Global Human Research Project”. Jorge Roriguez Nieto,
Design Thinkers Group Spain and Amir Hoshia, Whiteboard Innovation Isreal.
Integrative Crisis Communication, Stuttgart, Germany.
Ayşe Özbabacan, Integrative Crisis Communication Officer, Stuttgart, Germany,
Simone Fischer, Integration Policy Officer, Stuttgart, Germany,
Reinhard Schröter, Operations Manager Bus and Tram, Stuttgarter Verkehrsbetriebe, Stuttgart, Germany.
Covid-19 and the implications on the sewage system, Niterói, Brazil.
Camilla Franco, Undersecretary of Health, Niterói Municipal Health Secretariat, Niterói, Brazil
Communication in Crisis: Citizens, Passers-by & Customers, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
Hugo Salomão França, Director of International Relations, Belo Horizonte City Hall, Brazil.
Results
Through peer consultation, participants were able to share their knowledge and experiences around the topics of infection chains and crisis communication, as well as analyse common challenges. Furthermore, thanks to international expertise and the presentation of good practice examples, new approaches to solutions were disseminated.
After the virtual session, participants can continue their exchange on the Connective Cities virtual platform.
Waste to positive energy in Mafraq governorate in Jordan
The establishment of the composting plant to produce organic fertilizers was part of the plan for solid waste management in Jordan. The project was jointly planned by the Ministry of Local Administration and the UNDP in its first phase, and then it received technical and financial support from the GIZ in its second and third phases. The project aims to serve Mafraq governorate which hosts a large number of livestock farms, through the collection and treatment of animal manure to produce organic fertilizers to be used in agricultural land in the city.
Towards the Just City in Kenya
In the next 25 years, Africa’s urban population is set to double. By 2040, the majority of Africans will be living in cities. There are numerous reasons for this: climate change, violent conflicts and the hope of finding work or education, although this list could easily be extended. Urbanisation thus constitutes one of the greatest transformations facing Africa in the 21st century.
Despite the diversity of the African continent, however, they are so far mostly “unjust” cities that people are moving to. The majority live in informal settlements and work under precarious conditions, mostly in the informal sector, without employment contracts and social security.
Towards the Just City in Kenya is the first publication of its kind that explores the conceptualisation and application of the “just city” concept in Kenya. The authors explore the concept from various dimensions, namely:
- Conceptualisation of the just city in Kenya.
- Locating the just city in the constitutional, policy, legislative and institutional context.
- Discussion of spatial justice in the context of planning and housing; and
- Interrogating practical ways in which cities express injustice and how these can be practically addressed, with examples from the public transport sector.
The study offers recommendations on how the just city concept can be realised in Kenya, looking specifically at urban institutions, citizens’ rights, housing policies and urban public transport systems.
With its just city project, FES Kenya and its partners facilitate dialogues through working groups which bring together civil society, trade unions, Members of County Assemblies, Government representatives, and academia working in urban centres of Kenya with the objective to jointly work for a just city.
Principles for Better Cities
We are now living through a period during which we are both struggling to find adequate ways to characterize the dominant urban challenges and to respond adequately to those challenges. It is indicative of this complexity that we live in a period that is simultaneously being criticized as ‘the Anthropocene’ and, more optimistically, called ‘the Urban Age’. This is the era in which humans have had a profound impact upon the earth’s ecological systems. It is also the period during which the planet has become overwhelmingly urbanized. Likewise, social relations are ever more global, and thus, at one level, diffuse. To address local challenges, global targets have been set up to inspire and guide common efforts in sustainable development.
Arguably, responding well to the current challenges is best achieved by a set of integrated principles that firstly link highlevel aspirations to on-the-ground practical guidelines. Secondly, it is best realized through recognizing global and generalizing patterns while being sensitive to local particularities and priorities. Thirdly, it requires simple and aspirational principles at the top level but, at the same time, a grounding in more complex detail as the process goes deeper.
Principles for Better Cities is a collective response to that set of tensions. The document attempts to meet those contradictory needs by outlining a set of layered principles (Part I) while providing a method for translating between other existing charters, frameworks and sets of principles such as the Sustainable Development Goals (Part II).