Our epoch has been characterized as the Athropocene.
Our species, Homo sapiens is capable
of the same disruptive and devastating effect on our planet just like
volcanoes, earthquakes, tornadoes and tsunami. We are virulent. Look at what we
have done to our climate and our environment.
But the virulent disruption of our kind,
especially through our industrial and technological prowess has been uniquely
associated with the migration of over half of human kind from the fields into
cities. Hence, a fundamental characteristic of the Anthropocene is the age of
urbanism. I would like to think about our kind to today as Homo sapiens urbanus.
In Africa the phenomenon of urbanization has
been late in onset. Somehow Africans, especially in Eastern and Southern Africa
lingered too long in the farms. But today at 3.5 percent, Africa is fastest
urbanizing landmass on the planet. In Kenya for example, the rate of
urbanization outpaces the rate of annual population growth by 60 percent. A
recent UN-Habitat report projects that by 2025 Africa’s urban population will
outstrip that of South America and Europe combined.
By 2040 African cities are expected to have
to accommodate 79 Million additional inhabitants. Between 2040 and 2050 the
figure will rise to an astonishing 84 Million. The potential consequence – challenges
and opportunities – of these bewildering growth rates are relevant for all us, whether
we live in urban or rural areas. As we all know, the Africa rising saga and the
surge of an African middle classes is underlies the triumph of the African
urbanization.
The scale and pace of Africa’s urbanization is
unprecedented. But something else is happening in Africa. Circa 80 percent of
the population in Sub-Saharan is aged below 35 years old. Moreover, the median
age on the content is below 20 years and is projected to reach a youthful age
of 25 by 2050. I dare say that Africa is on the warm threshold of a youthful
urban moment. This changes everything.
For the academy, the African urban moment raises
scholarly and policy relevant issues. What does sedentary lives and changing
diets mean? The prospect of the convergence of communicable and
non-communicable diseases has far-reaching consequence on health and morbidity.
Will urbanization hinder or aid efforts to reduce poverty and deal with growing
chasm of inequality that has attended the Africa rising saga? How will
urbanization affect the quality of African lives? Cities across Africa are
bursting at the seams, engulfed by mountains of garbage and squalor, immobilized
by wretched traffic gridlock, and paralyzed by scarcity of decent, affordable
housing for new immigrants. Will the urban moment come with better prospects
for employment youth Africa’s youth? And will urbanization change the character
of politics in countries like Kenya, where ethnic bigotry looms large?
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