Sustainable urbanization and spatial growth of cities in least industrialised countries : the case of Dar es Salaam City, Tanzania

Abstract

One of the most disturbing outcomes of rapid urbanisation in least industrialised countries is the inability to manage spatial growth in rapidly growing towns and cities. Most worrying has not been only the declining capability of urban local authorities to provide basic infrastructure, but the rapid urbanisation that is driven by widespread poverty and stagnating poor economies. The consequences of this type of urbanisation have been directly related to un-sustainable spatial growth of cities. The characteristics of this kind of growth are evidenced by the booming informal economic sector and proliferation of settlements in these cities. This pattern of growth has crippled effective urban management. As density increases in the old informal settlements, new developments tend to overspill into peri-urban zones where buildable land is available at affordable price especially for the poor. The fact that low-rise and low-density housing development dominate spatial forms in these new areas, the impacts of city sprawl and associated negative externality effects are increasingly becoming imminent. These are manifested in terms of air and water pollution, traffic jams, increased household expenditure on transport costs, diseases, diminishment of open spaces and conservation areas, and more generally poor functioning of the cities. This paper presents the spatial dimension of urbanisation of Dar es Salaam City and analyses its growth within the context of sustainable urbanisation variables. It employs existing spatial data from the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development combining with census data sources. Aerial and oblique photos were also used to complement spatial data. In order to address sustainable urbanisation goals, it recommends for solicitation of new city spatial and house forms and revision of the city structure.

Keywords: Sustainable urbanisation, spatial growth, city sprawl, Dar es Salaam