Marful, Alexander Boakye (2014) Smarting the City or Development: the Dilemma of the Post-Oil Countries in sub-Saharan Africa. REAL CORP 2014 – PLAN IT SMART! Clever Solutions for Smart Cities. Proceedings of 19th International Conference on Urban Planning, Regional Development and Information Society. pp. 621-630.
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Text (Smarting the City or Development: the Dilemma of the Post-Oil Countries in sub-Saharan Africa)
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Abstract
Although sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is the home of over 900 million people, it is estimated that this is likely to treble at the end of the 21st Century. More than 50% of this population would be living in Cities with its infrastructure woefully inadequate to support these lives. SSA is a region with 54 countries, 28 of which are listed among the world’s 30 least developed countries. More than two-thirds of the people in the region live on less than 2 dollars per day. However, despite the fact that mobile phone penetration in Africa is about 80%, it is estimated that not more than 20% has direct access to electricity. Most of the SSA countries on the advent of oil or gas discovery have embarked on many audacious infrastructure projects with the goal to develop the cities and the country as a whole. With the influx of the hype of ‘Smarting everything’, that is from mobile phones, computers, and cars to communities and cities, most of these countries are faced with the generational question- whether to ‘smart’ the development or the cities? This paper takes a look at what ‘smart development’ and ‘smart cities’ are in the context of the SSA socio-cultural milieu. It also explains what would be the dynamics for the urban fabric of Smart fractal communities within the cities in the light of quality of life, sustainability and resilience. It goes further to expatiate what strategies needs to be adapted if smart cities or development is what SSA currently needs to tackle its urbanisation crises. Finally, recommendations for the way forward shall be posited.
| Item Type: | Article |
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| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Post-Oil Countries, Smart Cities, Smart Development, sub-Saharan Africa, smart fractal communities |
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform |
| Depositing User: | REAL CORP Administrator |
| Date Deposited: | 27 Jul 2016 17:57 |
| Last Modified: | 27 Jul 2016 17:57 |
| URI: | http://repository.corp.at/id/eprint/285 |
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