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Next page images show the current situation in Mwanza. From left to right: 1. There is a lack of parking spaces on the CBD. Currently on street parking is a temporary option for the growing amount of cars. 2. The streets of the city currently represents a hazard for everyone. The image shows street vendors occupying the sidewalks, aleatory transit circulating in the street and pedestrians invading the street. 3. Long distance bus station lacks visuals aids and organization. 4. The parking spaces reserved for stores create obstruct traffic and are a negative visual aid for the storefronts. This creates an environment that is less inviting for the pedestrians and cyclists. 5. Mini van parking station at the market square. This mini vans are also called Dala-Dala. 6. A Dala- Dala from the inside full of passengers. The person standing is the money collector and the copilot for the driver. Source: Personal archive.
happen among the city. As cities around the world, Mwanza has also a lack of parking spaces. Few of them are located at the center but these are not enough for the increasing demand. Currently there are for different types of parking in the area: • On street parking: 62 parking spaces in the central area. • Off-street parking: 1,500m2 area hosts 60 parking spaces, however it is mainly used by taxis. • Institutional parking: Mainly for governmental, banks, post, and other big offices. • Private parking: corresponds to the privately owned residences.
x. Opportunity areas Based on the current situation and field notes the following are concrete opportunity areas detected in Mwanza:
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• Roads made of soil are in a bad condition, presenting potholes which represent a hazard for everyone. Secondary and tertiary roads are lacking pavement and maintenance. • Poor road design, specially in crossroads. • Current road capacity is not enough to handle the car incoming traffic. • Traffic jams in peak hours from the outskirts of the city. • Lack of sustainable solutions that will reduce the oil consumption and CO2 emissions. • Increase of privately own cars intensifies the traffic jams, the noise and the pollution. • Lack of good alternate modes of transportation increases inequality among the population. • Current mini vans system is hazardous and polluting. • There is no existing bus schedule. • There is no designated space for the mini van transport. • No bike lanes or safety provided to cyclists. • The existing sidewalks are in bad conditions, hence there is a lack for suitable sidewalks for pedestrians.
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Next page shows images from Brasilia. From left to right: 1. Brasilia in its early stage image shows a desolated land being populated by just a few complexes. 2. Brasilia early stage showing it’s cathedral’s beginning. 3. Air view of one of the city’s main axis shows a perfectly symmetry along a wide boulevard. 4. Air view showing the scale of its current surroundings. 5. Street view shows that pedestrians need to walk along huge amount of space. The public space is completely neglected. According to Jan Gehl, this is one of the failures of Brasilia: “When the skyline is more interesting and we fail to see how buildings land and how people interact with them there is reason to be worried. First we shape the cities and then the city shapes our life style.” 6. Cars are the main avenues dominate the transport. A good example on how cities are build around cars. Source: (Unknown, 2012), (Brasilia Tour, 2014) and (Hustwit, 2011)
• Lack of proper parking spaces. • Cars are for high class and public transport is for low class culture. • Crossings are currently unsafe and are lacking road signs, zebra crossing lines, and traffic control elements.
xi. Examples around the world Brasilia, in Brazil, was the ultimate plan that was built under all the ideas of the modern manifests. From the airplane it looks fantastic; its own master plan resembles an eagle with its wings opened. Brasilia is order. However, if one goes down to the street level it can be notice that it is a disaster. Things are not connected, you have to walk kilometers in a straight path under the sun, in order to reach your destination, our what makes more sense, drive. However as we tend to separate cars from pedestrians, and buildings from roads, we end up creating a city for cars. And when every trip has to be made by car and more roads are created, far from reducing traffic, we en-
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courage it. This is becoming a big issue, specially in developing countries. In many cases cars get more space than people. This is something that extends also to parking spaces. The average parking space is about 28m2, the same size as a studio apartment. The average cost of building it is $40,000 USD which eventually comes down to the tenants.24 When parking spaces dominate the city, the quality of life of the users suffer. The sprawl of the city becomes more extent, the air becomes more polluted and walking becomes harder. Nonetheless, the fact that everyone wants to ride a car is disappearing in our current society. In the cities around US and Europe young people are driving less, they want more walkable cities. In Helsinki, a survey shows that in a span of 10 years the citizens will not own a car.25 Central Saint Giles in central London is a mixed used mixed income project with over a 100 residences and as 37,161m2 of office and only 30 parking spaces. Paris is 24 (Institute of Transportation and Development Policy, 2014) 25 (Rautakoura, 2014)
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Next page shows images from Bogotá. From left to right: 1. Image shows the RTB bus station, very similar to a tram station. An elevated platform hosts users as they hope into the bus. 2. Mayor of Bogotá greets the passengers into the bus station. 3. Day view of RTB bus station lane. 4. Evening view of RTB single lane. Free and not congested of automobiles. 5. Bicycle lane in the poorest sector of the city at the side of the car street which hasn’t been paved. 6. Bicycle lane in the city center next to a muddy road for cars. Source: (Hustwit, 2011)
setting maximums in transit; Germany and Tennessee require retail around parking garages to promote walking. Mexico city and Sao Paulo are working with streets reforms. It is also important to notice that our current car culture represents also a hazardous way of transportation when not used carefully. In the United States 200 persons die and 17,000 are injured each year because of people backing out from a parking space. Setbacks with compound walls create desolated streets and attract crime. In another example, the mayor of Bogotá, Colombia recently faces the challenge to reduce traffic in a 9.6 million city. What has been troublesome is that the more road infrastructure and parking built, the more cars and traffic the city shelters. So, while assessing the situation, he came to understand that parking is not a human right hence, he has decided to take a more human approach during his service. First, his team invested in the people, thus, public initiatives such as libraries, parks, sidewalks, parks and also a bus system called TransMilenio.
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This name comes from the initiative to promote the bus system as the next millennium transport. In addition, this approach pretends to break the paradigm that buses are for low income class citizens. The RTB is a traditional bus system that works like a subway, as it goes on a single lane. People can pay at the bus station, the doors from the station open simultaneously and around 100 people can get out and inside the bus in seconds. People now are saving time in commuting as it now takes half the time to move around the city. In this system, one of the main difference with other transportation initiatives is the cost. When building 25 km of subway, 400 km of TransMilenio can be built.26 At the end this is also raising equality among classes; when the law states that every citizen is equal, for the mayor of Bogotá it means that 100 individuals riding the bus have 100 times more right of better road infrastructure than a car with 1 individual.
26 (Hustwit, 2011)
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The image on the right shows a comparison of 40 persons in different kinds of transportation. First 40 cars occupied a high percentage on the street. The second image shows the capacity of a bus carrying 40 persons and how much space it takes on the street. Lastly, the last image shows how much space 40 bicycles take. Notice that a more effective use of transport is always the collective system or the bicycle approach.
Source: Tobin Bennett for Urban Ambassadors
A second initiative in Colombia is the pedestrian and bicycle network which extends in a 24 km way from the lowest income sector to the richest sector of the city. This has been so far a revolutionary way to experience the city. Nowadays, the low income settlers are more willing to ride a bike because the planners have shown them that a person riding a 30.00 USD bike is as equally important as someone riding a 300.000 car. So, before creating any new infrastructure of roads the government has decided to invest in bicycle lanes; in fact, the car roads are in a very bad condition, while the bicycle lanes are kept a priority.27 This is democracy at work. This approach shows respect for human dignity, for everyone, not only for those who can afford to have a car, which are normally the same kind of dwellers that think that they should be a priority in the city. Around the world other countries are taking a very similar approach. In Copenhagen, a 1.9 million population, 30% of dwellers use bicycles and out of these, 70% keep using 27 (Hustwit, 2011)
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it during the winter. This means that the city hosts 36,000 bicycles per day.28 In Helsinki, bicycling is the second most popular exercise of the country, exceeded only by walking.29 Furthermore, it is well known that encouraging this transport system will also bring future benefits on the commuters health; it keeps people fit, it doesn’t pollute and it doesn’t take out much space, it is a really smart way of getting around the city.
xii. Approach Based on Mwanza’s situation, its current state and the past examples, the following are concise points that can help improve the situation in the city. These are also low cost solutions that will bring a big improvement in the city. • Construction of secondary roads: This is an initiative to create and maintained roads, specially in informal settlements. This will allow to merge the current CBD infrastructure with the informal settlements, making 28 (City of Melbourne, 2013) 29 (Rautakoura, 2014)
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them part of the whole city center. In the end this action will bring equality among classes as everyone will start to get the same kind of infrastructure. In addition crime rate will be reduced. • Creation of bicycle lanes and sidewalks: Prioritize investment in bike lanes and sidewalks that connect the CBD and which link the main roads to the outskirts of the city. The Transport Strategy map shows the proposed bicycle lanes going through Nyerere street and Uhuru road, and surrounds the public spaces along the water front. This will liberate traffic in Kenyatta road and will increase the pedestrian and cycling traffic in the Nyerere street side, consequently increasing the public life along the market and the Mirongo River green areas. • Protect bicycle lanes and sidewalks: a protected bicycle lane along every street is not a cute architectural fixture, but a basic democratic right. This is an initiative to show to the residents that the city cares for them; in addition, it is also a way to encourage
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bicycles over cars. Safe bicycle lanes include properly marked lanes, unobstructed from any urban infrastructure, safely guarded from cars. Sidewalks should provide space for people with baby carriages, trolleys, and should be comfortable, safe and healthy to walk. • Invest in public transport: An RTB system is an investment that will have big impact on the city. This will bring an organize system and will encourage residents to use a fast and healthy public transport, thus creating equality for its residents. It will also help improve the traffic originated from the current bus transport and will reduce pollution. Plus, as mentioned before, this solution is one of the cheapest ways to invest in public transportation. It doesn’t need additional tracks or tunnels as trams and subways do, hence it becomes 16 times more affordable than them. The infrastructure needed for this system consists in four things: the bus stops which at least need to be situated every kilometer, the buses, the roads which already exist, and a fast payment card. Observe that the Traffic strategy maps shows already bus stops every
500 - 700 m. • Regulate on street parking: This target seeks to eliminate unnecessary parking requirements for buildings and stores, enforce parking rules, and eventually remove any cars from the CBD. As seen, Mwanza currently lacks parking spaces, yet has a big amount of traffic within the CBD. According to the public zones previously proposed the Traffic strategy map shows a car free area in order to liberate traffic in the public and pedestrian zones. The area adjacent to the heart and the car free zones, has a low parking rate that prevents buildings from investing in big amounts of money in parking. Lastly the map also shows the areas where it would be possible to have public parking spaces, however these could modify with additional parking studies. • Focus new development along transit: It is important that any new development is done along roads and infrastructure. This allows citizens to benefit from the roads, and ensures an inclusive and more equal soci-
ety. In addition it grants the city with time to plan for new roads and infrastructure. • Reinforce sustainable transportation in schools: the use of public transport is something that newer generations are nowadays favoring. However, in the west, this change took several decades to happen. It was wrongly believed that the car presented an image of wealth, and therefore only available for the high class. However, “a developed country is not a place where the poor have cars. It’s where the rich use pub lic transport”30
30 Paraphrased from (Hustwit, 2011) Enrique Penalosa, former Mayor of Bogotá, Colombia
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“Nothing in the world is more simple and more cheap than making cities that provide better for people� Jan Gehl
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People Power and Safety In the previous subtopics we have refer to housing, land use, public spaces and transport; all of which are the common area that urban planners, architects and politicians put effort on. However, we often forget that some deficiencies of our society need specific approaches to improve the quality of life of its residents. As Battle puts it, “sustainable issues cannot and will not be fixed by technology alone. We need other solutions that bind people together in common goals and understanding.”31 In Mwanza’s last central area redevelopment plan of 1993, there is a noteworthy aspect, some of the ideas and plans proposed were not consistently followed up, therefore some of the initiatives were forsaken. Social matters such as violence, crime or economical resources are elements that could normally hinder any new urban plan or redevelopment. Thus, in order for any new plan to work it is important to take the social and cultural background into consideration. 31 (Battle, 2007) P.289
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In the second chapter we saw that Singapore’s case needed a big amount of capital investment and a radical change of culture to become what it now is. The city gave up its own identity in order to pursue a city order. However the ideal plan should be social inclusive in order to allow the culture to change while respecting its traditional values. As a result, this subtopic contains specific cases particular to the situation in Mwanza that could help improve social matters and land use affairs.
xiii. Current Situation As mentioned in the housing subtopic, according to the city’s statistics, the growth of the unplanned settlements is increasing at a fast rate due to the pace of which new service plots are provided. Only in 5 years 10,000 applications for plots were received and only 8,00032 were provided. To stop this sprawl out of the 9,303 plots only 37% were given to developers. 32 Mwanza Master Plan Draft Report 2007 P.72
Furthermore, in chapter two we learned that a parallel project called “3,500 Surveyed” was launched, where 14,734 plots were relocated resulting in compensations costs of 6 billion TZS ( 3,543,000. 00 USD) and were only 86.6% have been payed so far. Certainly, the city is not able to cope with the rapid growth of the population as it lacks economically and human resources. Meanwhile the informal settlements are growing and the city is growing in debt in order to compensate the residents. In addition, the housing conditions that families are now living in are very unhealthy. In the housing subtopic it was also mentioned that only 24% of the rooms are in good condition to be inhabited and this rooms have an average size of 12m2. These are precarious conditions which the population is facing, not to mention that with lack of public spaces the only thing to do is watch television or be outside in an unpleasant environment. A second, important issue is the security of the city. As stated by the statistics33, Mwanza is one of the safest cit33 (Mwanza City Council, 2014) Excel file, safety and security topic
ies in the country, however the crime rate is high. During the year 2011, only 588 crimes were reported, the majority of them related to drugs, murder and rape. Out f these 79.8% of the victims were women. This accentuates during the night hours due to the lack of urban lighting. Hence, it is easier for attackers to hide and surprise the victims. Moreover the poor vigilance of the city allows crimes to proliferate and become unnoticed. For planning purposes it should also be noted that the increase of population in the city from urban areas might result in an increase on crime. Mainly because people from rural areas move to the city in order to develop a better way of life, yet when it becomes difficult to find a job or decent place to live they might be drawn upon to illegal activities. A third issue regarding social matters, is the informal commerce. “These include retail sales of second hand cloths and related merchandise, vegetables and fruits, baba and mama lishe (food selling vendors), tailoring, laundry, furniture marts, shoe shining and maintenance. Others are
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Next page shows images from Khayelitsha Township in Cape Town. From left to right: 1. Look out point during the day. 2. Look out point at night, provide a safe environment for people to use the are at nights. 3. The watch towers have also started to provide spaces for the community to gather. 4. The image shows an aerial view of the watch point surrounded by urban furniture and a football field for the community. 5. Street lights, urban furniture and vegetation were created along the pedestrian pathways. 6. Pedestrian pathway shows a paved path surrounded by lighting poles. Source: (Hustwit, 2011)
push carts, newspaper sales, charcoal and fire wood sales etc. Inventories of 2006 noted that there are more than 2300 operators in the informal sector business activities in the city.”34 Lastly, Mwanza city currently seeking, as any other city, to distribute its economically and human resources in a way that produces the best results in the lowest possible way. Therefore, it is necessary to develop down to earth strategies that are able to work in this urban context.
xiv. Opportunity areas Following some opportunity areas based on the issues mentioned before: • Rapid population growth specially in the CBD. • Rapid increase of informal settlements. • Land administration is poorly done, resulting in lack of plots for development. 34 (Mwanza City Council in collaboration with Ministry of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development, 2007) P.24
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• Lack of public and green spaces around the city. • City becomes very unsafe during evening and night hours. • Low incomes in formal and informal sectors of the economy. • Operations in informal places cause land use conflicts • Lack of low or interest free credit facilitating financial institutions. • Little or absence of entrepreneurship skills. • Lack of an institution to administer trade and commerce especially the informal. • Lack of adequate areas for trade especially in informal trade.
xv. Example Khayelitsha Township in Cape Town, was founded in 1986 and has a population of 600,00. Is one of the youngest towns in South Africa and “has been characterized by violent crime, poverty, unemployment, a harsh natural envi-
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ronment and undignified public space.”35 Thus, it makes it a very hard context to work with. The city has been going through several projects in order to collect water storm, however the vast lands that originated from this became crime hot spots. Thus, the Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading Project (VPUU) is working in order to transform the township of Khayelitsha into a vibrant, safe, and attractive place but most importantly into a community that is environmentally, economically and socially sustainable.36 The solutions have not always resulted in building, but in infrastructure such as lighting or paving roads. When VPUU started their work in the city, they started to focus on the safety issues. They first looked at the pedestrian routes, which were the ones that people were using, instead of the roads for cars. After some analysis the project was introduce to the community and that was the moment that a real change was perceived. What was making 35 (City of Cape Town, 2014) 36 (City of Cape Town, 2014)
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these spaces unsafe, was that there was no lighting there and the pathways were not easy to walk on as they had holes and ditches, and aggressors were able to n hide. The project consisted in the addition of lighting and the creation of a look out point every 500 m. This happened specifically on the pedestrian walkways to provide safety points, so if an unsafe situation might present people would have a safe refugee to go to. After the project was completed, these boxes started to provide identity to the community; they were vertical high points that worked as watch towers, but also they also where spaces for the community to gather around. In addition these have started to provide economic activities and places were the inhabitants can meet. Nowadays the parents feel happy that their children can count on a safe place to go and play.37 A second example refers to Finland’s good practices in housing plot distributions. The regulations on building housing blocks vary from city to city, yet, overall they con37 (Hustwit, 2011)
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sider common elements important to offer a good quality of life to the residents. These elements consist in: high density ratio, parking spaces, green areas and commercial facilities. Additionally it contains the minimum distances between buildings and setbacks from the sidewalk with the objective to provide an inviting atmosphere for pedestrians and cyclists. This strategy has been successful for the country as it promotes a healthy an equal environment for all residents. So without mattering the social class, everyone is entitled to proper and dignified housing and to enjoy nature and open spaces.
xvi. Approach When a place has such extreme conditions, the answer is not for the government to intervene by imposing a solution on people. But rather involve the people that are living these realities and figure out what the best solution is to improve it. Hence, it is important to understand that the changes in urban culture are now starting to be changes in the build environments. So, in order to grow intelli-
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gently we have to plan for small scale ventures. Following are the approaches based on the issues stated before: • House Block Distribution: This strategy seeks to promote and strengthen proper youth upbringing and growth, by creating an environment with self regenerating neighborhoods that will allow the optimal development of their various talents. As noted before, a right distribution of space within the plots will bring a great benefit at a low cost. The housing block example in the previous page shows a series of matters that should be taken into consideration for the development of new housing within the CBD. The first point is a 4 m setback from the plot border that encourages sidewalks to be more comfortable and allows flexibility in the case that a road needs redevelopment. A second element is a parking space that serves the two housing blocks. The standard taken is equivalent to 1 parking space per 120 m2 of habitable space. Notice also that one of the buildings contains parking spaces in the 1st floor, this tech-
RUBIK SQUARE DIAGRAM
Housing areas proposed in the land use strategy Persons working on the 3rd sector Middle aged persons working in the 2nd and 1st sector Families with young children Students Elderly Other areas proposed in the land use strategy
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nique allows adaptability of spaces, meaning that in case needed this space can become for commercial or storage use in the future. The first floor of these buildings is reserved for commercial use while the rest are for housing (see housing and land use subtopic for further information). In this example, the ratio of the plot is .7 which corresponds to the medium density norms stated in the National Urban Planning act.38 In this layout several terraces and open windows can be proposed around the buildings. These generates more public life activity ensuring that residents are having a reason to use the space. This block is also providing recreational spaces for adults and kids to spend their time. Greenery is also and important and predominant in this space. Lastly, the regulations specified in this approach, require for private developers to provide parking spaces. This strategy allows the City Council of Mwanza to use these parking spaces as public during certain hours of the day, while they serve as private parking 38 (Subsidiary Legislation, 2011) P.2
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during night hours. Hence, this approach helps to solve Mwanza’s lack of parking spaces; in addition, it doesn’t bring any additional costs to the city. • Rubik square strategy: This actions seeks to promote a more harmonious relationship between rural, urban, and regional development to achieve spatial distribution of the population leading to the optimal use of the city’s resources. It is also a call of attention to urge the government, politicians and citizens to ensure an inclusive and equal society where all classes are granted respect, care, and assistance. And lastly, it intends to solve through a creative solution the increasing debt that the city is undertaking in order to compensate residents for their relocation. The Rubik square diagram on the previous page shows an example of the situation in Mwanza, where the plots are currently randomly divided among the population. The example classifies the citizens into 5 simple groups: those ones who work on the 3rd sector of industry, the working class in the 1st and 2nd
RUBIK SQUARE DIAGRAM
1 stage. If a sample group is taken and the first groups to get land composition are those in the 3rd sector business.
2 stage. The spaces relieved are restored/built and a new sector migrates to those spaces. In this case the families with small children and elderly move near the school area.
3 stage. The sample continues to expand and new land is freed. Meanwhile the land recently built sectors continue to repopulate.
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sector, the families with small children, the students, and the elderly. This classification serves to explain the approach in a simple manner, however further studies and census need to be performed before initiating this approach. As agriculture and fishery need great amounts of land, the group with more experience in the 3rd sector is offered a piece of land in the outskirts of the city. This not only includes people currently working in the tertiary sector, but also citizens that show any interest or ability in this sector. This will promote other forms of business in Mwanza, and with the right investment strategy it could turn into an exporting business. This method also helps to achive one of the city’s economic goals: to have sustainable urban agriculture in Mwanza City.39 When these spaces are liberated in the CBD, construction works can start in these spaces and later, 39 (Mwanza City Council in collaboration with Ministry of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development, 2007) P.20
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people from other groups can move to inhabit the new housing buildings. The classification of groups is an important factor as it means that they can be allocated near their working or studying places. This initiative will eventually reduce the commuting times and will create special bonds within the surrounding community (see maps in the previous page). • Slums upgrade: As pointed out in the Housing and Land use subtopic the integration of the informal settlements to the CBD will not only resolve a housing issue, but consequently improve the equality of the citizens. By bringing infrastructure to these spaces like roads, lighting, commerce, etc, the safety level will increase. In addition, electricity will bring computers and with them information; roads will bring easy access and with a mixture classes, which eventually will allow the once lower class population to become the middle class. The map in the right shows the connections of roads, lighting and pedestrian paths should be redevelop in the new CBD.
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“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.� Native American Proverb
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The next page images from left to right: 1. Mirongo River shows solid waste carried on to the Victoria Lake. 2. Solid waste is normally dumped into the river causing obstruction of the sewage. 3. Electric cables and infrastructure can be found in the sewage canals. This represents a hazard for the residents. 4. Commerce situated along the river also produce waste which later is thrown in the river. 5. Sewage canal shows trash being carried on. 6. The image shows another point along Mirongo River. Source: Personal archive.
Public Utilities Management With our cities becoming bigger, planners and governments constantly work to provide a wealthy, comfortable and happy living for the citizens. However if we fail to follow sustainable strategies the environmental disruption can be destructive. Nowadays our everyday life is filled with gadgets and technological devices that make our daily life more practical, yet there is very little effort in applying these same technologies in our homes and infrastructure in the city. The speed at what cities have been developing has left the governments with short term solutions that have not been efficient enough for our cities. Nonetheless, cities still developing have a chance to apply more sustainable solutions that nowadays are difficult to put in use in the old western cities. The next this subtopic points out some areas in Mwanza that are crucial for the CBD’s development. Although these are part of the bigger city administration, the in-
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vestment on these will ensure the success of the CBD development plan.
xvii. Current Situation Overall Mwanza City lacks public utilities that are sustainable, safe and that cope with the demands of the population. Although this is a topic that involves, as we have seen, different stakeholders and a great amount of investment from the city, it is worthy to mention it in this work. This area plays an important role in the direction of the city and is a key player in its sustainable development. Hence, following are general issues that are currently hindering the capacity that the CBD has in order to become an attractive, vital, healthy and safe environment. The methods used to deal with solid waste are very unhealthy as they normally include throwing waste away in random places, burning and burying the trash or living it in few collections points around the city where collectors pick them up. Within the old CBD there are 23 collection
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points. The Municipal council has 3 trucks that collect this garbage which seem insufficient. Because of this, in the year 2000, private companies and Community Based Organizations (CBOs) started providing collection services. These services are not free of charge to residents so the residents end up paying 400 TZS for either the CBO or the private company. The failure to pay leaves the resident to its own means of waste control. It is important to mention that the city “generates an estimated amount of 385.139 tones of domestic waste and about 500 tones of industrial waste per day”40, sadly the waste management department is only able to collect 60% of it. During 1993 the CBD had a total of 290 houses with flush toilets connected to septic tanks, however 120 of houses were using pit latrines. However, the rapid increase of population has contributed a lot to a massive pollution of Mirongo River. The houses located along the river have connected septic tanks and pit latrines to the river. In ad40 (Mwanza City Council in collaboration with Ministry of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development, 2007)P.47.
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dition, “garages and petrol stations contribute further in degrading the water quality of Mirongo River. After car washing and service activities the produced waste water possesses traces of crude oil (petroleum) which are also being discharged openly into the river.”41 Withal this the water is treated at Capri Point Storage Tanks by using Calcium Hypo-chloride as disinfectant. “According to Mwanza Urban Water and Sewerage Authority (2006), the treatment process enables it to supply clean and safe water which meet only the National Water Quality Standards.”42 Regarding electricity, the city fails to provide electricity to all sectors. Areas like Isamilo, Mkolani, Mabatini, Posta, Kirumba Mlimani, Ibungiro Mlimani, Mji Mwema, Igama and Nyakabungo are areas which normally experiences inadequate electric infrastructure.43 In addition it is very 41 (Mwanza City Council in collaboration with Ministry of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development, 2007)P.37. 42 (Mwanza City Council in collaboration with Ministry of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development, 2007)P.38. 43 (Mwanza City Council in collaboration with Ministry of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development, 2007)P.342.
common to experience blackouts during certain hours of the day.
• •
xviii. Opportunity areas • Lack of sewage usage. Currently the sewage is not used to its full capacity due to the fact that residents do not use it, and there is two reasons for this. One, because there is not enough awareness in the use of this system and second because in some cases it is cheaper to use a water collector leaving the option to connect to the main sewage unnecessary. • There is a lack of new technologies to treat water in a more efficient way. • Main sewage in the city is clogged with trash. • The river is not clean and carries big amounts of solid waste into the Victoria lake. • There is a lack of storm water management. • The sewage needs to be expanded. • Lack of education when separating the trash • Lack of solid waste collectors. The current capacity is
• • • • • • •
only 60% per day. Lack of technologies to manage solid waste Collection points are insufficient and unhealthy. Some collection points are located near places where food is prepared or sold. Inadequate waste collection system, with some areas without any service. Poorly managed dumpster landfill site. Inadequate provision of refuse collection points (bays) Inadequate provision of solid waste disposal facilities. Insufficient electricity supply. Electric cables cause contamination of the views and landscapes in the city. Lack of space for electric substations.
xix. Approach Since this is a topic that concerns the whole city, following is merely an invitation for the city of Mwanza to invest in more sustainable solutions. Therefore, next are some points that invite us to rethink the possibilities:
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• Sewage connection: Currently less than 20% of the sewage is utilize, partly because of habit but also because of the cost it represents to residents to connect to the main system which often results in people installing septic tanks instead. However, as we saw in the People Power and Safety subtopic, the housing companies should take the task to install the needed utilities in the housing facilities. This will initiate a culture of change by habit. In the other hand, regulation in the building code should require any kind of housing to connect to the main system.
This approach has been taken by one of Tampere’s developing areas as a pilot, and so far it has resulted in cheap solution for the city on the long run45. In addition the initial investment was very low compared to the traditional system. Investing in this kind of solution, not only will improve the current handling but also will reduce the costs. In addition, it would be the initial step in cleaning the Mirongo River and Victoria Lake.
• Automatic waste collection system: Consists of a system that automatically collects waste without the need for room or loading site for packers. Because of this, the traffic is reduce within the city, and there is no gas emissions coming from the collectors. This system is requires less maintenance duties and costs for housing companies or similar ones. Lastly it provides a better urban landscape. 44
• Solar energy: One of the city’s greatest natural resources is the sun, yet it is not used to its full potential. Solar panels are a cheap solution for the electricity shortage within the CBD, plus it promotes sustainable energies. Being the same case as with the sewage and parking space issues, solar energy is an additional element that the housing developments could take in. A change in the building code regulations should instate that housing companies should provide this solution to their designs.
44 (City of Tampere, 2014)
45 (Airo, 2014)
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These strategies are possibilities that could provide Mwanza a strong economical and sustainable shift in its future. These actions, although represent a considerable invest, also have the potential to become areas in which the city could develop future jobs and research. However technology by itself wont solve the city’s issues; these actions need to be followed up by new social patterns. Conclusions As mentioned in the beginning of this chapter, social cohesion, housing, transport, environmental impact and quality of life, are areas that take part in the urban planning process. For this reason the solutions presented in this chapter are down to earth strategies that give direction in order to achieve Mwanza’s vision. This also means that they need further studies and social work needs to be carried on, with the intention for them to succeed. Moreover these are creative interventions that adjust to the city’s realm and are recommended to tackle specific problems within the city.
Lastly, I would want to end this chapter by quoting Geetam Tiwari, a civil engineer from India, “the growth of future cities depends upon how well we are able to plan for the ‘unplanned’. The generic theme evolving from Asia, Latin America and Africa is that as cities expand, the ‘informal’ grows faster than the ‘formal’. Thus plans will need paradigmatic change to deal with the heterogeneous housing and mobility needs of growing populations. We will have to plan for activities that cannot be well-defined and predicted, which is better than turning a blind eye to the future.”
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Not even the most promising ingredients that have worked in a city can act in a different one; specially one with contrasting circumstances. Tampere city model, as reviewed in chapter two, can not be replicated in Mwanza by the simple reason that their culture, place and government is different. The guidelines that Finland’s government follows and that have been successful, can’t be directly apply in Mwanza’s environment. However, we can change the rules of the game. Often, as architects, we underestimate the power of the building code, we seek to control details and masses; yet it was the building code which shaped Manhattan in the mid 1900’s. The skyscrapers that we all know have their shape because there were rules that addressed setbacks, height, and the towers arising from a lower, heavier mass. I started this work with the intention to understand the best way of doing urbanism, the best theory, the best practice. I wanted to understand the ways to participate in a society in order to attain the best results, yet, I ended up believing that there are none. Cities are complex or-
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ganisms with flows of people, flows of money and flows of goods. Cities are the physical place where all these forces combine. So, to intervene in a city is a hard work. To understand how the city is going to move during the next twenty years and plan in advance a course of action seems almost as an utopian task. If we look at how our cities are developing nowadays we can see that they are urban agglomerations that we try to organize, to package. We are turning our cities into banal gatherings. There are no new theories, no new ways to define it. However, I believe that if we stop and think about them we might find new concepts for it. In chapter two I settled to challenge the decisions that have been taken in the past and scrutinize the conditions they have conceived. Nowadays its obvious to believe that buildings are not what make up a city, appeal is not enough. In this century we need concepts that take into consideration the economic growth and the development through out generations. A prosperous city must be designed for the most vulnerable of its members.
The image below shows an aerial view representing the old New York under construction. The height of buildings started to become a problem within the city when the citizens realized that they were not getting enough sun and their homes were mostly gloomy during the day. The urban planning department then came to the conclusion that they need to regulate the height of them. Hence, the set backs that occur in the upper levels of the buildings are meant to let the sun rays pass to the adjacent plots. Builders had to propose creative solutions that will still generate them profit and, at the same, that they complied with the building regulations.
Source: (New York City Wallpapers, 2012) Old New York Image.
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Richard Baron, founder of a company that redevelops low income neighborhoods in the United States, has expressed that generations today have been programmed with an 18-19th century way of dealing with the 21st century problems. In other words, graduates are approaching problems in a one-dimension way, without any understanding of the financial or political world. Therefore, the proposed solutions in this thesis act as acupuncture points in Mwanza city. They are bold, yet down to earth ideas that could work in such environment. Through the gathering of these methods and urban solutions I came to the understanding that in this century there is a network of people, from all levels of society, who are working together to improve the life in the city. There is an enthusiasm for cities. There is a global movement that is working for them. “This is the century for city lovers. This is where it happens.”1 Asia and Africa are part of this energy; in the following years they are going to show us that there are different 1 (Hustwit, 2011)
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ways to build the urban space. They are going to challenge the western point of view with completely new approaches; dramatic changes that might take part only in one generation span. We are in the era of metropolis, where different viewpoints are adding together. We have new ways of communication, global warming issues, 7 billion people in the world, political forces, etc, that are happening simultaneously in the city. Now, more than ever, we need to act as humans. We need cities to power our imagination, to give us a sense of meaning; we need a place to get our ideas moving forward. Lastly I want to say that I was born and raised in a city that was divided in two countries during the 1840’s decade. Originally named: Paso del Rio del Norte (Pass of the North River), the Mexican city, Juarez, serves now as a border to the United States city, El Paso. Hence there is no surprise that our urban realm is so influence by the American way of urban planning; big highways, car dependency and a big attachment of the capital world. Withal, there is
The images on the next page from left to right: 1. A postcard sent by my grandmother from her groceries store. She invested her savings into creating a shop and, with the help of Coca Cola, managed to refurbish it. Nowadays she has a business that provides her a way of life in one of the low class neighborhoods in Ciudad Juarez. 2. The image shows the first impressions one has when arriving to Mwanza city. The main road, Makongoro, which leads from the airport to the city center, shows a display of Sprite and Coca Cola houses. This indicates to two theories: First, it seems that Coca Cola is the most interested private company in solving housing and job issues. Second, it appeared to me that I was not far away from home.
Source: Personal archive.
a big gap between our social classes, were the lower class is still experiencing shortages of infrastructure, housing and education. Sadly, the building regulations and the authoritarianism of the government has lead to poor solutions in urban planning. Thus, it is clear for me that the change needs to come from inside the community. I have identified with Mwanza because a similar situation is occurring there. There are great ideas and urban plans that have not been able to be realized due to the decisions of the ruling government. Ergo, the strategies exposed in this thesis are easy solutions that will carry a great benefit for the city and that will open the way for a better and more sustainable future. Mwanza, thank you for letting me be part of this change.
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COCA COLA: THE URBAN PLANNER OF THE 21st CENTURY
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