Smart Cities: Digital solutions for urbanization in Africa

Challenge description

By 2100, almost 40% of the world’s population will live in Africa, and most of this population will be concentrated in the continent’s fast-growing cities. According to the UN medium variant forecast, by 2100 Africa will be almost equal to Asia in terms of population (4 billion vs 4.7 billion), and the top 10 most populous countries in the world will include five African countries: Nigeria (546 million, 3rd place), DRC (432 million, 5th place), Ethiopia (324 million, 7th place), Tanzania (245 million, 8th place) and Egypt (205 million, 9th place). According to the same forecast, the three most populous cities in the world by 2100 will be: Lagos (88 million), Kinshasa (83 million), and Dar es Salaam (74 million).

As of today, Africa has more than 60 cities with populations over 1 million. By 2030, this number will double, with Lagos reaching 21 million, Kinshasa 22 million, Luanda 12 million, Dar es Salaam 11 million and Johannesburg over 10 million.

Growth in urban centers leads to automobilisation, raising the issue of traffic congestion caused by poor management of traffic flow, inadequate parking, etc. Traffic congestion results in an increase in fuel costs, road collisions, pollution and time spent on the road. In the 2023 Traffic Index developed by Numbeo, a crowd-sourced global database of quality of life data, Nigeria ranked 1st globally with an index of 311, Kenya – 4th (242), Egypt – 5th (232), South Africa – 12th (189), Morocco – 43rd (137). The average one-way transportation time for Nigeria was 63 minutes, for Kenya – 52, for Egypt – 49, for South Africa – 39, for Morocco – 37 (compared to a global average of 35 minutes).

The levels of energy consumption are rising, as are the costs of production and distribution of power due to the aging of infrastructure. Unemployment, a rise in crime rates and difficulties with accessing clean water supply and sanitation facilities are also associated with surging urbanization. 

Climate change is intensifying the challenges that governments and citizens face. For instance, urban floods have a devastating effect on communities. Thus, cities must be resilient and responsive to sudden outbreaks. Weak disaster preparation and response mechanisms exacerbate the impact of cataclysms on the population. An example is the devastating consequences for cities in Malawi and Mozambique from Cyclone Freddy in March 2023. The damage was intensified by disregard for planning regulations in cities and the practice of informal settlements. According to UN Habitat data of 2020, between two-thirds and three quarters of Malawians in the main four cities live in informal houses where weak building materials are usually used, which makes informal settlements less resilient. Deforestation (forests near informal settlements are often used to make charcoal as there is no electricity) also worsens the impact as it loosens soil.

Rapid growth in urban centers requires the development of sustainable infrastructure. However, the expansion of African cities is rarely accompanied by structural transformation. Public management systems and land tenure systems in African cities are often operated through outdated planning laws and regulations. Absence of up-to-date data, inadequate land registry management, and lack of finances due to weak fiscal systems are the interconnected factors that hinder successful planning. Information on the number of residents or the state of domiciles is essential for preventing risks and detecting citizen needs. Existing data are often not digitized, updated or shared between government departments. Land registries are often outdated, which complicates the development of appropriate taxation systems. The lack of clear land titling also creates barriers for city public-private partnerships and private sector investments.

For now, according to UN Habitat, only 25% of the respondents from Africa have stated that their city has an official definition of the “smart city” concept. That said, recognising the advantages of integrating technologies into the urban environment, African countries have achieved in recent years tangible progress in developing smart city initiatives. At the 2021 Transform Africa Summit, the government of Rwanda presented the Smart Cities Blueprint elaborated in cooperation with Smart Africa in 2017. It strives to establish a framework for implementation of ICT solutions in African cities. The Blueprint outlines the benefits and domains of smart cities – i.e. the smart delivery of city services and smart management of city flows – and defines ten steps for planning a smart city.

Nevertheless, a number of African countries have launched smart city strategies and projects at national level: the Rwandan Kigali Innovation City, Algiers Smart City Initiative, Kenyan Konza Technopolis, Nigeria Smart City Initiative, etc. Furthermore, countries are starting to invest in the development of necessary domestic expertise to boost smart city projects. Thus, the Moroccan Mohammed VI Polytechnic University launched a two-year training course focused on smart city strategies in Africa in January 2023. 

Some noteworthy ICT solutions implemented for city management include water leakage control services (Kenya’s Upande), travel planners for public transport (South Africa’s Where is My Transit), GIS-based rubbish collection and recycling systems (Kenya’s Taka Taka), wireless Internet access services (Kenya’s poa! Internet). Generally, the demand for IoT solutions for city management and development is growing steadily and will determine the vector of development for urban spaces across the continent.

Africa’s NXT50 Cities Coalition initiative, founded in 2022 by the Charter Cities Institute (CCI) and Kigali International Financial Centre, aims to support rapid urbanisation of the continent and help design 50 modern cities benefiting from technological innovations. It partners with AUDA-NEPAD. Among the projects supported are three new cities across the continent: Itana City (Nigeria), Enyimba Economic City (Nigeria) and Nkwashi (Zambia). The Charter Cities Institute also signed a MoU with the Malawi National Planning Commission to support implementation of the Malawi Secondary Cities Plan (MSCP), an initiative aimed at the development of eight cities in the country. In 2021, the CCI signed a memorandum with Zambia Institute for Policy Analysis and Research to provide support in its MFEZ Cities Policy Project.

In 2023, nine African countries entered the top smart cities of the world according to the IMD Smart City Index Report, compared to six in 2021. These are: Cairo (108th), Algiers (123rd), Cape Town (125th), Rabat (126th), Nairobi (131st), Lagos (132nd), Abuja (133rd), Tunis (137th), Accra (138th). 

However, global rankings often overlook or underestimate achievements of African countries and do not take into account unique challenges encountered by cities on the continent. Therefore, at the Africa Smart and Sustainable Cities Summit of 2023, the top 30 African smart cities were named with the aim of ensuring a comprehensive recognition and unbiased assessment. The top five cities included Kigali, Rwanda; Tunis, Tunisia; Nairobi, Kenya; Cape Town, South Africa; Accra, Ghana. 

Solutions

• Smart cities, referred to as the places where the traditional networks and services are made more functional with the use of digital and telecommunication technologies, turn out to be a tool for efficient urban management, planning and delivery of essential public services to residents. According to the Smart Cities Blueprint, developed in 2017 by Smart Africa in collaboration with Rwanda, the key concepts of the smart city are inclusive data-led management and planning, efficient community-based infrastructure and services, as well as localized and shared innovation and economic development;
• Basic services such as energy, water, sanitation and waste management can be made more efficient and affordable with the use of digital solutions. The potential uses of digital technology in urban development vary from fighting crime and ensuring public safety to the development of municipal infrastructure. Artificial Intelligence (AI), big data, the Internet of Things (IoT), mobile banking and other cutting-edge technologies are among the tools useful for increasing the efficiency of governing cities and territories and forecasting growth areas;
• New technologies could also be applied to the areas of transport monitoring and control (e.g. traffic control cameras, air quality sensors, realtime information on traffic flows), administration (e.g. digital land transport services), health care, economy, infrastructure, environment and weather (e.g. IoT-driven collection, distribution and analysis of environmental data), public services and community engagement (e.g. monitoring incident reporting by residents) and research and innovation;
• Utilizing data on population, households and socio-economic status is necessary to predict and address the needs of city residents and is thus crucial for improving urban planning mechanisms. Data could be used to strengthen security. For instance, optimizing the placement of city cameras could reduce the crime rate. Proper response to accidents and fires could also be achieved through the use of technological solutions. Smart mechanisms could also be applied in order to foster tax policy: data analysis and AI could be used to determine optimal tax rates for stimulating economic development.
• Smart cities are also seen as a means for attracting investment and stimulating the digital industry of the country; therefore, many of them are being developed as special economic zones (SEZs) or charter cities as well as ICT accelerators and hubs. This indeed encourages international actors to invest.