Are African cities ready for Covid-19? – KBC

The epidemiological terror and impact of Covid-19 have been mainly felt in cities over the last couple of months.

The percentage of the world’s population living in urban areas is rapidly increasing if studies by population agencies are anything to go by.  The impact has been replicated in large cities the world over.

The larger the population, the higher the concentration of Covid-19. The logic of it is simple. From crowded and densely populated residences, increased subway cars and sidewalks to hyper-connected global airports, sharing of spaces precipitates sharing of germs.

In a pandemic, the connectivity and human proximity of densely populated cities poses alarming risks.

The many impacts of such a pandemic means that cities are bearing the brunt of the pandemic with most of the services important for city dwellers grinding to a halt. Street retailers which is an important economic activity in cities, for example, has ground to a halt, this is because most National and city governments have declared a partial or total lockdown to reduce the spread of the pandemic within the cities.

Although many would argue that this has not spared anyone as far as the social divide in cities is concerned, the urban poor a highly reflected scenario in Africa and Asia will definitely be more affected by the impacts of this virus – the need, therefore, to seek remedies for both the high density and low-density public infrastructure is important in dealing with such pandemics.

In Africa for example, the concentration of population in cities offers two sides of the same coin. One, with a growing population in urban areas, productive capability and creativity are enhanced.

However, it is precisely in cities that poverty is mostly concentrated, inequalities in both health and quality of life of individuals threatened. Lack of clean water for both preventive and corrective Covid-19 measures, improper solid waste management systems, dependence on cash economies, social disintegration and urban crime are well manifested in these inner cities.

The densely populated and crowded urban areas in developing and industrialized countries proportional to increased vulnerability to public health crises with these areas facing the brunt of Covid-19 and face daunting challenges in terms of response, and mitigation to pandemics.

Though urban density alone might not be a reason for the direct relationships with pandemics, settlements in poor urban settings are also characterized by lack of sanitation systems, poor housing standards (ventilation and drainage systems) as well as inadequate health facilities.

A city that has appropriate health facilities can be able to negate the impact of pandemics to a larger extent compared to rural areas, especially in developing countries.

However the opposite is true, several African governments are unable to institute proper health care systems coupled with poor town planning principles and therefore posing a danger to city residents.

What can City Planners do in the wake of Covid-19

Modern City planning originated out of concerns of health problems created by urban sprawl, filthy slums and industries.

The fields of public health and planning, therefore, come uncoupled. Public health initially took on a mainly biomedical focus on individual genetics, biology and behaviour and how clinicians could affect those, and on a narrowly biological approach to epidemiology and evidence.

On the side of planning, city planners focused on built environments but this was later hijacked by the car and not for people as it is supposed to be.

Decentralization of city services

With various decentralization reforms happening in Africa as a means of improving service delivery, there has been tremendous progress in the decentralization of services, especially in Cities.

Development control, health and agriculture are some of the main functions delivered by city functions with a big fraction of budgetary allocations.

To mitigate the spread of this virus in less developed countries, a need to undertake mass testing is important and this requires a door to door testing.

How is this going to be achieved in our populous informal settlements how safe is the process going to be? When some health care professionals are struggling with the proper gear in these countries Do we have adequate and well-compensated personnel to undertake this in our informal settlements and the entire city population and with the urgent timelines?

Public health systems and sanitation facilities for the urban poor.

There is an urgency for a healthier and equitable public space to reduce social inequalities as well as designing urban spaces and housing and related infrastructure for health and proper public health systems to help counter effects of Covid-19.

Public health professionals have severally reminded us that proper hygiene is the solution to preventing the spread of CoronaVirus. Properly managed sanitation facilities are vital especially in informal settlements where they are a luxury for the advantaged.

In the City of Kigali, the Government is setting up facilities to wash hands in public places, in South Africa.

Large cities and schools water are available for washing and drinking, in Kenya, the major cities are still lagging behind in this – we can borrow this as well.

This can be strategically located in bus parks, open markets, public schools as well as in shopping malls.

Development control

Calls to end homelessness, improve social housing and designing for all the cadres cannot be ignored.

The compliance to the building codes and other building regulations is key in ensuring safer and comfortable public spaces, habitable affordable social housing within cities, reducing social inequalities and creating pedestrian-friendly spaces that facilitate social distancing.

Developers should provide adequate ventilation, open spaces in comprehensive neighbourhoods, adequate spaces for shopping malls to ensure social distancing as well ensuring that proper drainage systems to avert flooding which results to other pandemics such as cholera.

City food systems

Covid-19 has ground urban retail and street economy which is critical in developing countries to a halt.

Many of these communities live below the poverty line, and having them to go to Shoprite, Naivas Pick and Pay and the mega shopping malls for vegetables is daunting.

Even as we may want to encourage commercialized agricultural productions systems within peri-urban areas, there is a need for city planners to advocate for subsistence food production in urban areas.

The monitored transportation of agricultural produce to cities if not handled very well may result in the spread of the virus by the trucks and those managing the transportation.

The design of the open city markets will also need a revision in order to have a street market with fresh produce offering much-needed produce to all with sufficient social distancing spaces to reduce the spread of the disease.

Conclusion

While major cities African cities include, still serve as the global entry points for tourists and outbreaks, the eventual impacts to communities in the developing countries and in urban informal sectors can be more severe.

Urban centres may entail higher risks of an initial transmission, but they’re also hubs of important public health and communication infrastructure – both key resources in fighting a pandemic.

Dr Valentine Ochanda is a Programme Manager at WIOMSA Cities and Coasts Programme while Nathan Mutunga is an Urban Spatial Planner.

“The views expressed in this article are their own and don’t necessarily reflect KBC’s opinion”