Making Room for Urban Growth - Urban Expansion Planning in Ethiopia, Uganda and Somalia

Rapid urban population growth means that cities in developing regions will accommodate roughly 18 times more new urban residents than cities in developed regions in the next 50 years. As cities expand in population they also grow in area, adding extensive new peripheral lands that are often unplanned. Informal neighborhoods on the urban periphery often feature limited access to basic services, and disorderly urban growth has been shown to limit the productivity-enhancing benefits of urbanization and slow development. Many of the residents of new areas are former rural dwellers, refugees, migrants, and members of other vulnerable populations. They find themselves forced to make homes in areas that are not organized for urban settlement.

Municipal governments struggle to plan for growth in rapidly urbanizing areas. Where plans do exist, implementation is lacking, hindered by a lack of technical capacity and limited financial and human resources. Many planning instruments were developed in the global north and are difficult or impossible to apply in the low-income secondary cities where most growth is taking place.

Efforts to plan for growth on the urban periphery are considered controversial because of concerns about the impact of urban expansion on global climate change. However, empirical evidence shows that attempts to contain urban growth in rapidly urbanizing contexts lead to informality, uncontrolled growth, more costly housing, and negative consequences for households and for the climate. This event advocates for a pragmatic approach to guide urban growth into patterns that support the production of affordable housing in planned urban layouts that enable basic services and facilitate climate-sensitive development pathways.

Urban Expansion Planning, a simplified technique for managing urban growth, has shown positive results in helping municipalities create dense, walkable, orderly peripheral neighborhoods for low-income residents. Municipal governments in Ethiopia, Somalia and Uganda have succeeded in producing urban expansion plans for the next three decades of growth. Sixteen cities in Ethiopia have developed plans on the ground, with a 50% implementation rate - much higher than the standard for master plans – mainly using local resources. Recent findings show that the plans result in lower costs of providing basic services, help facilitate the provision of land tenure, and improve access to livelihoods, leading to higher incomes. Planned urban expansion is also a key part of improving housing quality, facilitating incremental self-housing and encouraging public and private sector investment in the built environment.

The event will feature an overview of the approach and presentations by practitioners working on the ground in cities. It will include time for questions and engagement, creating opportunities for South-South dialogue on a topic of real importance for city leaders.