Urbanization and poverty in Africa: encouraging shared growth Cecilia Tacoli International Institute for Environment and Development, UK

Urbanization – what is it, and why it is important  Urbanization (%) and urban growth (absolute numbers) have different causes  More than half the world’s population live in areas classed as urban since 2008  But there are wide regional variations  The fastest urbanizing regions to 2050 will be Africa and Asia  Most of the growth of the world’s total population and urban population will be in these regions  But not necessarily in the large cities

What drives urbanization? Changes in the % of GDP from industry and services, employment sectors and population in urban areas, (all low and middle income nations. Source: Satterthwaite 2007)

Urbanization in sub-Saharan Africa: a ‘special case’?

Some myths on urbanization in SSA  ‘Urbanization without economic growth’, or the underestimation of informal sector activities? ...but also the underestimation of urban poverty  The role of rural-urban migration, natural population growth and circular migration  Large cities or urban networks?  Changes in family farming and their links with urbanization and seasonal mobility  The impacts of urban growth on natural resources and its contribution to climate change are lower than usually thought and can be positive

Urban governance and urban poverty  Almost 60% of urban Africans live in small urban centres (less than 500,000 inhabitants) and only 9% in cities of over 5 million inhabitants  Urban poverty is increasing and is under-estimated by income-based measurements  Living conditions are just as important as income, and can be addressed by appropriate governance  There has been much progress in decentralisation, but more needs to be done in small urban centres with regard to technical capacity, revenue and accountability

Beyond internal rural-urban migration: international remittances help build small towns in Senegal – but not without problems...

Urbanization, climate change and rural livelihoods  The impacts of climate change contribute to mobility, but are not the only reason for it  Mobility, migration and income diversification are a key element of rural poverty reduction and adaptation to CC – and often revolve around urban centres  Urbanization is good for farmers, as demand for high value food increases (and is more stable than int’l markets)  Remittances and non-farm incomes encourage farmers’ innovation through cash investment

Some implications for policy  A regional (rural-urban) approach rather than a sectoral approach  Urbanization is not the cause of growing urban poverty – this is the consequence of the failure to plan for and manage urban growth  Local governments have a key role to play – they need support from national governments and donors for this, but it is important to keep in mind that it takes time for decentralisation to succeed  Migration (not only rural-urban) will increase as a result of climate change, but this is a positive adaptation and not necessarily a problem