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Facing the reality of African cities

Cape Town - The emancipation of Africa was the emancipation of the colonial city from the colonials, architect Mokena Makeka said at the African Real Estate & Infrastructure Summit in Cape Town on Wednesday.

"The city is the epicentre of the emancipated state. We need to use social media to harness the potential of Africa's cities. We need to make way for millennials to deliver the new African project of making smart cities by coming directly from the knowledge economy," he said during a panel discussion.

"There is a serious disconnect between millennials and older generations. We need to dialogue on that one. The millennials and even younger ones do not have the same imperatives we had when we studied. The sooner we pass on the baton and embrace the smart and modern city the better."

Prof. Vanessa Watson, professor of city and regional planning at the School of Architecture at the University of Cape Town, said in her presentation that African cities tell two different stories.

On the one hand, there is the Africa rising narrative about the resurgence of economic growth, an emerging market boom, a growing consumer market in African cities and the sense that the African middle class has tripled and is one of the fastest growing in the world. Along with that story goes the figures around urbanisation and the idea that the continent is the last frontier for property development opportunities.

"But there is another story about African cities. It is the story of African cities where 43% of populations live below the poverty line. Many are living in slums or informal settlements and many will never get a formal job ever in their lives. Many people in African cities don’t even have a bank account and live from day to day," she said.

"Africa is not rising. It is staying the same and in some cases even getting tougher and tougher. We can quite accurately say that with the growth of population coming, what we are facing is an urban 'poly-crisis' – from food security to climate change to unemployment to poverty to poor services to disadvantaged municipalities."

What is of concern for her is not just how to deal with the current planning an "poly-crisis", but how to deal with what she calls the many new "fantasy plans" for creating city make overs, edge cities and satellite cities in Africa.

"The only way you can achieve your fantasy city would be to remove the poor people and demolish the slums. Political power and money are coming together in dangerous ways in Africa. The whole notion what there is profit to be made with smart cities is dangerous," she said.

"Can the African middle class really afford to live in the glitzy glass box office towns? The answer is purely no. The real spending power of the African middle class is much over estimated."

She said where these "fantasy" developments do happen on the continent, they are often entirely exclusive.

"So, we have the reality of African cities on the one hand and fantasy plans on the other. We, therefore, have enclave elitism combined with local neglect," said Watson.

"The world class African city should rather be about careful complex and thorough administrative management of the financial and legal change that can start to change our cities. It should be about land management, value capture, pro-poor urban development. That will turn our African cities into world class cities – not Dubai fantasies."

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