Contextualising Buildings to Africa’s future Cities

Contextualizing buildings in Africa’s future cities

A critical dimension of the building sector in Africa is the need to be contextualized within the broader framework of sustainable cities. Africa is one of the fastest urbanizing regions of the globe, and this then means that the market for the building sector will be in these expanding cities. The question, however, is how do we ensure this growth of buildings and thus cities does not compound unsustainable consumption and production patterns that underpin three of the leading human & planetary crises of our times – biodiversity loss, climate change, and pollution & waste? The second question is – how do we ensure such growth is cushioned from global emergencies as we see with the reality of now – with the food & fuel crises driving up inflation, especially for urban dwellers? Another??

The answer lies in integrating environmental sustainability in critical growth aspects, including urban food systems, urban infrastructure, urban waste, water & sanitation, and energy efficiency. Each of these aspects can be expounded as follows:

- Urban food systems – to build efficient cities, the food supply chains need to be streamlined to ensure the food consumed in urban areas is sourced from nearby areas to minimize carbon footprint and costs associated with extended supply chains and sourced safely. This gives rise to the need for urban farms. Application of nature-based, non-chemicalized approaches, especially in urban vegetable farms, is critical considering that already up to 90% of urban dwellers buy their vegetables from informal urban food traders. The aspect of food safety becomes very vital, considering that wastewater is used to irrigate some of these urban farms. To cushion against these, it will be essential for urban buildings also to include aspects like roof-top green gardens that can supply a household with organic, fresh vegetables.

- Urban infrastructure – there is a need to integrate green infrastructure increasingly, e.g., urban forests, as part of the landscape of urban infrastructure solutions, especially for drainage and flood control. These have been found to be cheaper and more effective than conventional grey infrastructure solutions. This is critical to control flood waters, enhance ground recharge and rejuvenate ecology in cities; thus, planning of built environment in African cities should take this into account.?

- urban waste – recycling, and waste recovery, needs to be part and parcel of the urban built environment. Currently, less than 4% of waste in Africa is recycled, and the continent may have up to 1 billion tonnes of waste by 2050. As part of waste management, buildings need to facilitate the ability to sort waste for recycling & recovery. Energy systems in urban areas also need to prioritize waste recovery to power solutions as a strategy for waste management. Specifically, waste recovery to affordable clean cooking solutions of fuel briquettes needs to be a critical consideration. Incentivizing enterprises engaged in waste recovery – especially biomass waste to clean cooking, and plastic waste recovery to building materials such as paving tiles that are cheaper, lighter and with a lower carbon print, needs to be part of waste management in Africa’s sustainable cities.?

- Water & sanitation – under the changing climate, rainfall patterns continue to get more erratic – with short, intensive rains that lead to flooding and prolonged periods of droughts. Safeguarding water availability calls for, among strategies, the institution of rainwater harvesting solutions in building codes of modern buildings in Africa. Extending sanitation to informal settlements, e.g., public toilets that also serve the dual purpose of generating biogas, is critical to replace unclean cooking in informal settlements and address indoor pollution.????

- Energy efficiency – as part of green incentivizing buildings, roof-top solar needs to be part of building codes, especially commercial / office buildings, to enhance energy efficiency.?

- Efficient cooling – policy incentives to enhance availability and transition to newer cooling technologies that are more efficient are critical considering that Africa is already warming by 1.5times faster than the global average. Cold chains are also crucial to reducing food losses estimated at 30 – 50% in Africa.?