Megacities the future of Africa
Burgeoning urban sprawl of Lagos an example of what is in store for SA
WE ARE two Stellenbosch University academics comparing notes at the end of a short visit to Lagos in Nigeria. We deliberated on our experiences with the people in this enormous and ever-expanding city.
We represented Stellenbosch University (SU) at the African Research Universities Alliance meeting. SU is one of a select group of African universities working together on cutting-edge research and development that focuses on 13 themes relating to technology, education, science, health, entrepreneurship and urban living.
As relatively seasoned travellers on the African continent, we continue to be amazed at the ability of the people in African cities and Lagos to establish sustainable lives. We observed the incessant pressure on the city to accommodate its populace of 20 to 25million people. It is believed that such megacities are the future of Africa.
Other cities approaching megacity status are Cairo in Egypt and “iGoli” – as and when Joburg and Tshwane merge into one. Constantly attracting people, it is predicted that more than half of the continent’s projected 2.5 billion population will be living in megacities by 2050.
Lagos is a city and state. In other words, in our parlance this city is also a province. It is not surprising that its built infrastructure is continuously improvised. Older structures are augmented by newer additions. Space is at a premium and the search for livelihoods is informalised and ephemeral.
Despite the traffic snarl-ups and periodic short spells of load-shedding, the city is bustling with commercial activity. Food sellers, motor mechanics and technological services, home appliance repairers, clothing stores and beauty salons jostle shoulder-to-shoulder on pavements, on side roads and in backyards.
It took time to make sense of what was going on in Lagos, and then to contemplate what we could learn from this city.
Lagos is a magnificent and enormous concatenation of people, sights, sounds, buildings and architecture that tries to keep up with an enormous and ever-increasing population
We discovered a wonderful cultural masala in a city with myriad languages and where Christians and Muslims make up 45% of the population, with the rest practising various African traditional religions.
Religion appeared to be observed with ease by people in the city. Multiple faiths are accommodated in formal events; a Christian prayer started off the formal opening of our symposium and it ended with a Muslim prayer.
Locally centred identity seemed comfortable and tension-free. We did observe charged, yet conflict-free argument – for example, by taxi drivers over space in the queues to ferry passengers. But the streets seemed to be cohesive and relatively calm as people went about making a living.
We learnt to see Lagos on its own terms, not our own, and in the process also established a reception for our own mutually enriching conversation, one which we think is necessary in such polarised times in our country.
The city provided us reason to pause, drop our prior perceptions and try to understand the city on its own terms.
Perhaps this is a stance worthy of adopting back home as Cape Town expands, and where it is not so farfetched to imagine that one day it will become a megacity, with the name iXapa.
As for the research agenda based on a greater African-centredness, we concluded that African cities have much to teach us about resilience, adaptability, patience and creativity. Many of the challenges we are only now starting to face have long been a way of life in our sister cities on the continent.
We think we should stimulate and encourage our research and development initiatives to understand and engage with the complex lessons that African contexts have to teach us. But for this we should open ourselves up to the possibility of learning about African contexts on their terms, not the terms dictated by our prejudices. Aslam Fataar is a professor in the Department of Education Policy Studies at Stellenbosch University, and Nico Elema is the manager of the Centre for Collaboration in Africa, located in the university’s division, Stellenbosch University International