allAfrica.com: Ethiopia: "Next Cities" Prepare for Future (Page 1 of 1)

There are master plans and there are master plans. City master plans I mean. Talking about master plans here, one can't be too sure if people follow strictly the guidelines embodied in them. It has been told, for instance, that green spaces clearly put on the blueprints of the master plans don't necessarily exist on the ground. In fact, in many instances, dots indicating parks on the map mean cements and concretes on terra firma.

Worldwide today, it is anticipated that the majority of the human population will be making a momentous decision, willy nilly, to live in cities or mega-cities, as they are appropriately called. The mass exodus of people to cities which has already begun in several countries will continue, with many others following suit.

In the eyes of hundreds of millions of people in Asia, Latin America and even Africa, cities represent both the future and the present. They are the places to go to for jobs, education, escape from local or cross border conflicts, etc. In places like China, the migration to cities of millions of people each year is a given, and not even considered an "internal displacement." CNN Traveller magazine described this dynamic in the following manner: "The world has reached a point of hyper urbanization. 2007 marks the first year when more than half the global population is "urban", not "rural". Indeed, this is the era of the "mega-city" metropolises of 10 million plus people. In 1950, only Tokyo and New York met that threshold. Today, there are 20 mega-cities, including Mexico City, Karachi, Manila, Dhaka, Lagos, Jakarta and Chongqing. In one generation's time, by 2050, three quarters of the world's 8 billion people will be living in urban areas, when 100 years ago 90 percent of humanity was living in villages surrounded by fields".

No wonder then modern cities, particularly those in developing countries are having hard time providing the basic amenities to their urban populations. Semi-official numbers released occasionally for Addis, for instance, show that about 30 percent of the citizens have no toilets of any sort.

Besides, not everyone has another crucial necessity: clean, drinkable water. So the question is will cities in Africa be "future cities", "next cities"?

In other words, will they be able to provide the needed basic services given that more people enter the cities than leave them?

It is expected that cities today, those mega-cities anyway, will reinvent themselves into cities of the future. How will today's cities house and give employment to 70 million people that are expected to migrate yearly to them worldwide? They certainly have to become, at the minimum, eco-friendly and energy efficient. In short the "next cities" of the world will have to prepare themselves for all that globalization will bring with it.

Some mega-cities are already into the act. Dongton, an island city and part of Shanghai, is all set to act on its avowed principle that "All its citizens can be in close contact with green open spaces, like lakes and canals .. Its buildings will to a large extent get their energy from wind, sun and biomass".

You have probably heard plenty about Dubai on more mundane matters. Of all the cities in the entire Middle East, if not the world, Dubai has moved the farthest to meet the future. Just one example: if you are in the mood for an extreme skiing? Then skip the Alps and head straight to Dubai city centre. But other mega-city wannabes are not advised to imitate Dubai, because that city has money to burn; while most others don't.

Portland, USA. Note this: "Portland also has an effective and modern public transport system that is truly radical in the USA. Buses, streetcars, and light-rail trains ply downtown avenues free of charge within the designated Fairless Square.

Bogotá in South of America: It has a completely new agenda with transport system. It has a bus a rapid transit system and high-quality cycling boulevards in the poorest neighborhoods.

Zurich of Switzerland has gone the opposite way. It has maintained a manageable population of about 1 million; but it is linked to a network of other cities. Copenhagen of Denmark is a compact city which has pedestranised its city centre and made habitable for young Danes.

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