Experts advise on urbanisation

As the City of Kigali plans to rollout ambitious development projects under the recently launched city master plan, urbanisation and climate change experts have advised the city planner to plant urban forests and build energy efficient structures. The experts argued that this, as well as use of solar and other renewable energy sources, will help protect the environment and reduce pollution and the effects of global warming. Prof. Ronald Prinn, the co-director on science and policy on climate change programme at the University of Massachusetts in the US, noted that it is important for cities to incorporate climate change and the environment safeguards in city development plans to reduce effect of global warming caused by pollution and environmental degradation.He said poorly planned urbanisation contributes more than 80 per cent of the environment problems cities face.According to Prinn, cities where planners ignored sustainable growth, are suffering under air and water pollution, as well as urban heat waves.“Building cities without reflecting on how they will affect the future is putting a country’s climate and environment at stake because the bigger the city, the more the demand for energy, water and jobs, as well as rural urban migration. “This puts pressure on natural resources, which could result into abuse of the environment,” Prinn said. He was presenting a paper on urbanisation in Africa during the just concluded Transform Africa Summit 2013 in Kigali.Song Hee Kyung, the vice president and head of business enterprise at Korea Telecom, noted that deploying information communication technology (ICT) in township master plans can address problems of traffic congestion and air pollution and other environment concerns.“You need to look at creating cities that promote use of green energy and transport means that are environmentally-friendly.”Smith Kwabena, the executive chairman of Nigeria-based Orun Energy Limited, said governments need to encourage use of renewable energy, including solar power and bio-gas, to ensure sustainable development and meaningful urbanisation.“The demand for energy is ever increasing across the world and yet it takes between five to seven years to construct a hydro power plant. Therefore, encouraging use of solar power and other renewable energy sources that are less costly and environmentally-friendly is the best solution compared to hydro power generation.”Lilian Mupende, the City of Kigali director for urban planning and the One-Stop Centre, said the city’s master plan addresses most of the concerns raised by the experts. “The city authorities consider sustainable development and environmental management as some of the key development issues that can not be ignored,” Mupende told delegates at the summit.She added that the city is emphasising the element of recycling waste and the use of renewable energy. “We have also zoned our land within city, allocating each particular activity its part. This also includes green parks within the city,” she noted.

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Experts advise on urbanisation