ECAS 2013

While rapid advances are now being made in understanding the current and likely future dynamics of urban environmental/climate change under different scenarios, the evidence base remains highly uneven. The most extensive and robust evidence exists for OECD countries and other selected hotspots. Our knowledge and understanding of the processes of change as they are already affecting many African urban areas, and will do so increasingly through this century, remain seriously inadequate and patchy. Not only does this lacuna represent a major academic opportunity to learn across the diversity of Africa's 54 countries straddling very different environmental and linguistic-cultural regions, but the ability to formulate and implement appropriate climate change mitigation (CCM) and adaptation (CCA) initiatives depends on appropriate evidence and understanding of the underlying drivers and processes.

In this context, this paper will offer a preliminary synthesis of the state of the art in respect of African urban areas (not just capital and megacities) emerging from a landmark workshop to be held at Royal Holloway, University of London in April 2013 as the winning bid in the 2012 Urban Studies Journal Seminar Series Competition. This meeting will draw together leading academics and others engaged in urban environmental/climate change research and practice in these different parts of Africa to share experiences and forge comparative perspectives that will enrich our understanding and open new horizons for urban change theory (from which other parts of the world will have much to learn) and relevant applied communities of practice.

In South Africa, changes in planning legislation and associated urban development guidelines are traced through three periods, namely:

• Early foundations (1948 - early 1990s)

• Transition (1990s)

• Contemporary (2000 to present).

In Tanzania similar periods can be observed:

• Colonial period (1891-1963)

• Post colonial period with a state led economy (until mid 1980s)

• Transition, free market economy (mid 1980s to present)

In each period, the study looked into the main planning legislation and related guidelines for urban development, resultant planning and layout standards, provision of physical infrastructure and engineering services; and housing delivery. Special attention is given to the impact of planning regulation on the livelihood of the residents in positive and negative ways. Case studies from the city of Durban and Dar es Salaam were selected for each period to illustrate the ways in which the prevailing legislation (or lack thereof during the Transition period), impacted on the form of urban settlement for the poor.

The paper will present lessons learnt from the more advanced planning machinery in South Africa facing now problems on how to cope with new informal settlements and from Tanzania where planning regulations do not have a large impact but flexible instruments are in place. It will contribute to a discussion of new appropriate planning regulations for Africa's urban reality by a comparison study of the two different countries.

Research team: Prof. Dr. Sabine Baumgart, TU Dortmund University, Germany

Prof Peter Robinson, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Dr. Susanna Godehart, South Africa, consultant, Dr. Wolfgang Scholz, TU Dortmund Unversity, Germany, Associate Professor German University of Technology, Muscat, Oman

Tanya Dayaram, South Africa, consultant

This paper investigates the determinants of illegal price discrimination in the housing and rice markets in one neighborhood of Lagos, Nigeria. In so doing it is among the first experimental audits of discrimination in Africa, a methodology with great potential to elucidate the shape and scope of discrimination in contexts in which unequal treatment can lead to socially destabilizing conflict. We demonstrate the existence of discrimination on class and ethnic bases, and show evidence suggesting that this discrimination is based in empathy, or felt ties, rather than attempts by sellers to maximize profit. This discrimination is of a much greater frequency and magnitude than that in US housing audit studies, consistent with our hypothesis that discrimination will be greater where legal institutions which censor discrimination are weaker. We also show evidence suggesting that when identities are made more salient discriminatory preferences are stronger. We find no support for a readability hypothesis; sellers are no better at reading ability to pay of coethnics than non-coethnics.

The government in Abuja needs to learn from Brazil and China by: a) designing an urban policy that it will stick to; b) encouraging participation from all sectors of society in designing such a policy; c) streamlining the cumbersome and bureaucratic land acquisition process; d) encouraging, through various incentives, investment of the private sector in housing for low income residents; e)setting up better avenues for financing the purchase of housing by low income earners; f) being more aware of ways in which sustainable urban development can be implemented; g) being more vigilant about ensuring accountability with respect to urban policy implementation; and h) being more willing to make use of local content when it comes to developing solutions to the problems of urban sprawl.