Kigali’s city vision unfolds

The vision to develop Rwanda’s capital city into a centre of urban excellence is one step closer to reality following the City Council’s approval of an updated master plan.

Dubbed ‘Kigali Yacu!’ meaning ‘Our into the planning and design of buildings, Kigali!’, the Kigali Master Plan infrastructure and urban services 2050 Vision will guide the roll• facilitating development of a transit-oriented out of a more equitable, flexible city with more sustainable transport modes, and incremental approach to city development,

aligned with the UN-Habitat principles and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The vision is to accommodate 3.8 million residents and provide 1.8 million jobs by 2050.

Surbana Jurong and its member company SMEC worked together to update the city’s master plans, which incorporate key initiatives that include: • promoting mixed-use, affordable development with access to social infrastructure and facilities for all • promoting compact development for live-workplay in one place, with efficient use of land and infrastructure • introducing inclusionary zoning to upgrade unplanned settlements • introducing an incremental development model based on resource availability and requirements • integrating climate and disaster resiliency such as mass public transport and non

motorised transport • facilitating market access by small and microenterprises, thereby promoting the creation of more formal jobs. Various teams from across SMEC South Africa’s functions are involved in providing input to the city’s master plans. These include, but are not limited to, planning and traffic engineering, urban development and water supply.

“Kigali Yacu is a multidisciplinary, collaborative initiative that is integral to Kigali’s future. Leveraging our understanding of the local needs and our experience with earlier master plans, we worked closely with the city and engaged the community in developing the vision of Kigali 2.0 towards what will essentially be a centre for innovative and inclusive living in Africa,” says Wong Heang Fine, group CEO, Surbana Jurong.

Surbana Jurong and SMEC co-developed a methodology to update the previous Kigali master plan adopted in 2013.

Extensive community engagement

Kigali’s residents were engaged through 16 focus groups, stakeholder meetings, plus codesign workshops. Comments from government officials and the public were incorporated into the review.

“We supported the participatory process with a wide variety of communication channels, including meetings, planning displays, public announcements, social media and virtual messaging platforms to engage as many Rwandans as possible in the feedback and input process,” says Gabriella Robba, public engagement expert, SMEC.

Surbana Jurong and SMEC also undertook additional socio-economic and demographic studies, which gathered new primary and secondary data to support the modelling for a city-wide transport plan.

Adds Benon Rukundo, acting director: One Stop Centre, City of Kigali, “The revised Kigali master plan is a key milestone for a rapidly evolving city in a country that is experiencing significant change in social and economic dynamics. Our key objective is to develop a citizen-centred master plan that provides the City of Kigali with a solid base for future urbanisation. We are excited for the plan to be implemented.”