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Managing Development of a Rapidly Growing African City: a Case of Gaborone, Botswana
Geoadria, 2006
Urbani razvoj tijekom posljednja četiri desetljeća u potpunosti je promijenio urbani izgled Gaboronea. Njegov izvorni savanski krajobraz i zeleni karakter okolice promijenili su se zbog kumulativnog utjecaja brojnih činitelja uključenih u stvaranje sadašnjega modernog naselja, od malog sela do glavnoga grada Bocvane. Koncept "Vrtnoga grada" počeo se provoditi neposredno nakon što je zemlja stekla neovisnost od Britanaca 1966. godine. Izgrađivano na ostavštini "Vrtnoga grada", pretpostavljalo se da će se "novo naselje" nastaviti oblikovati i postati prepoznatljiva urbana oaza. Međutim, to nije bio slučaj te je Gaborone postao jedan od najbrže rastući urbanih laboratorija u supsaharskoj Africi, prikazujući intenzivnu difuziju i usvajanje uvezenih urbanih modela (WARD, 1999). Izniman rast stanovništva, od svega 7000 stanovnika 1966., do gotovo 200 000 godine 2001. te nekontrolirano urbano širenje bili su neizbježni. To povećanje rezultat je ruralno-urbane migracije, novog upravnog sustava i ekonomskog položaja glavnog grada Bocvane, kao i intenzivne urbanizacije, industrijalizacije i prometnog razvoja temeljenog na uporabi osobnih automobila. Čak je i u posljednjem generalnom urbanističkom planu (GOB, 2001) manje pozornosti posvećeno ulozi zelenih sustava i površina te njihovu utjecaju na brojne ekološke i društvene vrijednosti. Danas se Gaborone suočava s izazovima i problemima tipičnim za megagradove, poput degradacije okoliša i nekontroliranog urbanog širenja. Predmet ovog članka je znanstveni projekt DIMSUD čiji je cilj prepoznati načine postizanja održivog urbanog razvoja. Projekt je započeo analizom izazova i nastavio sa zadatcima koji stoje pred urbanim planiranjem kao i mogućnostima postizanja održivog urbanog razvoja. Ključne riječi: održivi razvoj, nekontrolirano urbano širenje, megagradovi, Vrtni grad, kotla, urbano planiranje, urbani razvoj, uporaba prostora Urban development in the last four decades has brought a complete change to the urban image of Gaborone. Its original savannah landscape and surrounding green complexion has changed by cumulative impacts of numerous factors involved in creation of a contemporary settlement, from a small village to the capital city of Botswana. The concept of a "garden city" was introduced immediately after the country gained its independence from the British in 1966. Building on the legacy of "garden city", it was assumed that the "new town" will continue to shape and gain recognition as an urban oasis. However, this was not the case and Gaborone became the fastest growing urban laboratory in Sub-Saharan Africa, portraying intensive diffusion and adoption of imported urban models (WARD, 1999). The spectacular population increase from only 7,000 people in 1966 to almost 200,000 in 2001, and urban sprawling were inevitable. This enlargement was fuelled by ruralurban migration owing to the administrative and economic status of Botswana's new capital, as well as, due to intensive urbanization, industrialization and transportation based on individual car use. Even in the latest city development plan (GoB, 2001) less attention has been paid to the role of green networks and areas, and their contribution to many ecological and societal values. Today, Gaborone is facing the challenge of the typical problems of mega-cities, such as environmental degradation, urban sprawl. The research project DIMSUD is dedicated to identify ways toward sustainable urban development, starting with an analysis of challenges, and continuing with the tasks for urban planning and opportunities for sustainable urban development.
International Journal of Sustainable Built Environment, 2013
Q5 Africa has experienced unprecedented rates of urban growth, at above 3% annually. This growth was accompanied not only by agglomeration economies and spread effects but negative externalities that impinge on the inhabitants and the natural resource base in the rural-urban transition zone. Already, cities occupy large geographical areas that are continually expanding. Botswana's population is small with a recent urbanization history. However, it has recorded one of the highest urbanization levels (61%) and annual urban growth rates (2.5%). Unlike in most developed countries, the dynamics of peri-urbanization in Gaborone reflect a strong interplay of market and institutional factors. Actual population growth and demand for space has always defied projected forecasts. The country presents unique prospects for investigating patterns and processes that characterize urban growth and their intersecting environmental and policy implications for sustainable urbanization. The study utilizes a developmental approach based on spatial data to describe, interpret and analyse patterns and processes that determined the growth of Gaborone. It is evident that certain developments within the urban shadow of the city have been unregulated. In spite of the apparent ecological footprints resultant from the geographical manifestation of urban growth, legislative mitigation measures have rarely been implemented to promote sustainable urbanization.
MANAGING THE DEVELOPMENT OF A FAST GROW ING CITY: A CASE OF GABORONE, BOTSWANA
Gaborone is one of the fastest growing cities in Sub-Saharan Africa. Today, the urban agglomeration of the capital of Botswana has only about a quarter million inhabitants, but will become a half-million city in only two decades. Thus, Gaborone is facing the challenge of the typical problems of mega-cities, such as environmental degradation, urban sprawl.
The limitations of state regulation of land delivery processes in Gaborone, Botswana
International Development Planning Review, 2006
The limitations of state regulation of land delivery processes in Gaborone, Botswana This paper assesses the strengths and weaknesses of a state-led land delivery process in Gaborone, Botswana, in particular the extent to which such a process enables the poor to access land with secure tenure. The paper observes that, despite its efforts, the government has been unable to supply suffi cient urban land to satisfy demand, largely because of three interrelated factors: (i) the changing and speculative nature of demands made by middle-and high-income benefi ciaries; (ii) the evolution of a 'culture of entitlement'; and (iii) government reluctance to address the land and housing needs of the poor. Consequently, while the unattainable land demands made by the rich have resulted in a sprawling albeit wellplanned city, the poor have utilised their collective agency to stake their claims by 'illegally' occupying, fi rst, state land within the town and, later, customary land in peri-urban areas. These contradictions and contestations have, in the long run, forced the government to rethink, revise and rewrite its policies and approaches to urban land supply and development processes, although poor people continue to lose out in the struggles over policy, state land allocation and increasingly commercialised processes of informal peri-urban land subdivision. Botswana is one of the few countries in sub-Saharan Africa in which the government has steadfastly attempted to provide adequate land for its burgeoning urban population. Enabled by windfall revenues from mineral resources, the Botswana government has sought to develop orderly, well-planned and adequately serviced towns and cities free from shacks, slums and 'squatter' houses. Although the state has generally achieved its objectives, this success has been attained at the expense of the poor, who have been excluded from mainstream urban development and housing processes. This paper is based on qualitative and quantitative data collected during a study of informal land delivery processes and access to land for the poor in Greater Gaborone, undertaken by Kalabamu and Morolong (2004). 1 The aims of the study were, among other things, to assess the strengths and weaknesses of formal and informal land delivery mechanisms and how each of these enables the poor and other vulnerable groups to access land with secure tenure. The poor are here defi ned as individuals and households who, in comparison to the rest of Botswana's population, are unable to aff ord facilities and services off ered by either the private or the public sector. They include the destitute
2021
A thorough examination of policies and guidelines tailored towards enabling access to land and housing in Gaborone suggests incongruences' inherent in these strategies. Besides, planners and policymakers' continuous oversight to recognise the complexities of the urban everyday survival strategies and the lived experiences of the populace needs to be investigated. Numerous interventions have been introduced to facilitate land and housing access for low-income households in Gaborone. Even so, restricted access to these assets remains an enormous task, proven complex and problematic to resolve. The empirical evidence specifies the predominant situation articulated by a clash of rationalities between policies and everyday socio-economic practices of access to land and housing by low income households in Gaborone. The investigation of these tensions between policies promoting access to land and housing and the advocacy of the Self-Help Housing Agency as the primary rationale for ...
Small-scale land grabbing in Greater Gaborone, Botswana
Town and Regional Planning, 2021
Most of the studies on land grabbing tend to focus on the acquisition of large tracts of land by transnational companies interested in biofuel and/or food-crop production. The practice has been applauded for enhancing food security, creating cash employment for local communities, and providing renewable energy sources. It has also been criticised for benefitting a few local elites and disadvantaging the poor and marginalised communities. This article attempts to analyse the phenomenon of small-scale land grabbing in urban and peri-urban areas. A literature review method was adopted; searches included online databases, in particular Google Scholar, Web of Science and ResearchGate and the University of Botswana Catalogue (UBRISA). Relevant references cited in downloaded articles are reviewed, until additional searches did not lead to new findings. Using 'land grabbing' as a tool for analysis, the article makes an audit of two reports by presidential/judicial commissions of inquiry into problems of land allocations in and around Gaborone to uncover land-grab deals and processes in communal and state-owned land in Botswana. The audit revealed that land grabbing in Greater Gaborone is an imperceptible process carried out by politicians, chiefs, businessmen, the elite and other people who understand the market value of urban and peri-urban land. The process has compromised urban land governance, poor people's rights to the city, housing, community, recreational facilities, and increased socioeconomic inequalities in the city. Finally, the article underscores the need to undertake further studies and audits to collect empirical data on the exact nature and extent of land grabbing in urban and peri-urban areas.
'Unplanning' the Planned City Lessons from Ouagadougou for African New Towns
The Beeker Method: Planning and Working on the Redevelopment of the African City, 2017
Following the emergence of neoliberal economic policies across the African con-tinent, over the last three decades many African countries have seen a shift from state-led housing development to fully privatized development. Increasingly, this urban development takes the form of New Towns: master planned com-munities developed on greenfield sites. Because they are dependent on mar-ket-driven returns on investments, these privately-developed New Towns tend to ignore existing social and environmental realities and instead accommodate only the upper and middle classes in spatially segregated enclaves. Although this urban model has recently become more popular with both investors and poli-ticians, it is not entirely new. As early as the 1980s, Dutch urban planner Coen Beeker was a vocal critic of developments in and around Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, which replaced vibrant traditional communities with both formally and de-mographically uniform developments. This paper argues for a re-examination of Beeker’s own methods and the reasons for the sustained popularity of the urban projects that he led.
ARCHive-SR, 2023
Botswana is a country with one of the fastest urbanizing population in sub-Saharan Africa with over 60% of its population living in cities, towns and urban villages. Botswana consists of several urbanizing traditional settlements within its settlement system, which have over the years transformed in terms of size, morphology and economic structures. The policy intervention processes and the resultant physical configuration within these urbanizing traditional settlements is testimony to the political economy of Botswana's history. Contemporary planning as a key policy intervention process, in these urbanizing traditional settlements, however, provides the space for contest between formal planning based on 'northern-derived theory' and indigenous planning practices. Thus, the advent of Upgrading Schemes, as part of this contemporary planning, brings to the fore this contestation. This paper traces the case of an Upgrading Scheme for Kanye village, articulating its relevance, shortcomings and limitations to effect change, and so proposes a policy framework within which the upgrading schemes could be formulated and undertaken in Botswana.
GeoJournal, 2017
This case study investigates peri-urban land-use conflicts and changes, in a typical African setting, for a village located on the outskirts of the capital city of Gaborone-Botswana, in order to explore policy implications for sustainable coreregion development. The year 1982 provided the baseline situation that was compared with other dates, namely: 1996; 2006 and 2012 in order to analyze land-use conflicts, competition, and succession. The study tracked the landuse changes using: Geographic Information System (GIS), with 1:50 000 air photos taken in 1982; Landsat images from 1996 and 2006 as well as 2012 Google images of medium resolution. The investigation also relied on a social survey, historical landscape reconstruction approaches, field interviews and direct observations. An analysis of 1982 aerial photographs revealed that Gabane Village had experienced little urban influence from the city of Gaborone at that time. Subsequently, stakeholders with different socioeconomic demand emerged. This caused extensive landuse changes over the study period. The residents of Gabane nonetheless employed diverse adaptive strategies to sustain their livelihoods. An analysis of the proposed 2001-2025 Development Plan for Gabane Village, identifies possible future land-use changes and conflicts and proposes tentative policy solutions for the emerging sustainable development challenges.