Abstract

This paper illustrates how the capabilities of GIS and satellite imagery can be harnessed to explore and better understand the urban form of several large African cities (Addis Ababa, Nairobi, Kigali, Dar es Salaam, and Dakar). To allow for comparability across very diverse cities, this work looks at the above mentioned cities through the lens of several spatial indicators and relies heavily on data derived from satellite imagery. First, it focuses on understanding the distribution of population across the city, and more specifically how the variations in population density could be linked to transportation. Second, it takes a closer look at the land cover in each city using a semi-automated texture based land cover classification that identifies neighborhoods that appear more regular or irregularly planned. Lastly, for the higher resolution images, this work studies the changes in the land cover classes as one moves from the city core to the periphery. This work also explored the classification of slightly coarser resolution imagery which allowed analysis of a broader number of cities, sixteen, provided the lower cost. Document type: Book

Abstract

This study focuses on Bamako, the capital of Mali, that dominates the country’s urban landscape. Acentral premise of policy-making in cities is that the flexibility, practicality, and focus of local governments make them ideal players to understand and respond to the needs of their citizens. Indeed, cities mostly aim their problem-solving at local conditions. In Mali, the economic importance of the capital city cannot be understated – it is the nerve center of the national economy. If the capital, Bamako, were to be removed, Mali would lose 36 percent of GDP. Thus, reforms and investments aimed at tackling urban development challenges in the capital will have knock-on effects on national economic development. This report also demonstrates how a variety of data could be used for urban innovations: opportunistic data, which is collected for one purpose and then used for another (such as data owned by cellphone companies and then used to understand urban mobility); purposely-sensed data, which is collected using cheap and ubiquitous sensors that can be deployed in public spaces (for instance, to better understand land and building use); and user-generated data, which comes from engaging people through social media platforms or crowdsourcing (for instance, through Open Street Map communities to track urban infrastructure investments and use). A summary of recommendations for unleashing Bamako’s potential includes coordinating land use and connective infrastructure, financing and managing better public service delivery, and investing in urban institutions.