The challenge of COVID-19 in African cities: an urgent call for informal settlement upgrading

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ABSTRACT

This commentary discusses the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for cities in Africa, particularly the informal settlements that make up a large part of African cities. There is a strong possibility that COVID-19 will result in the relocation of residents from informal settlements to the urban periphery, but this could result in further social exclusion and should be avoided. The key lesson of the pandemic is that it is essential to upgrade informal settlements in order to reduce the risk of infectious disease and in order to reduce social inequities. Strengthening urban governance processes is a key precondition for this.

KEYWORDS:

• African cities
• COVID-19
• informal settlements

The COVID-19 pandemic is an urban crisis – about 95% of total cases are in urban areas (UN-Habitat (United Nations Settlements Programme) 2020). COVID-19 has many implications for cities, both in terms of health and in terms of the economy and society, and this commentary discusses the implications of COVID-19 for cities in Africa, particularly the informal settlements that make up a large part of African cities. History teaches us that the demolishing of informal settlements and relocation of residents is often the kneejerk response to epidemics, but what the key lesson should be is that it is essential to upgrade informal settlements in order to reduce the risk of infectious disease in African cities and in order to reduce social inequities. A key precondition for being able to do this successfully is that we need to strengthen urban governance processes so that local government is better able to work with other stakeholders to upgrade informal settlements in a participatory way in order to reduce risks.

Chevalier (1958) noted of cholera in 19^th century Paris that epidemics deepen and expose existing social imbalances. The COVID-19 pandemic has certainly done that in African cities. As of 18 August 2020, there had been more than 1.1 million cases of COVID-19 in Africa, with about 26,000 deaths (Africa CDC 2020). Cape Town, the second largest city in South Africa, has been one of the cities most affected in Africa – it has had more than 70,000 cases thus far (South African Government 2020). The highest incidence of COVID-19 in Cape Town is found in the areas with high concentrations of informal settlements, namely the Khayelitsha and Klipfontein health sub-districts. Based on their estimated populations (Western Cape Government 2018), as of 21 August 2020, these sub-districts have had more than 2,000 cases per 100,000 residents, compared to 1,639 per 100,000 residents for the rest of Cape Town. Residents of informal settlements are particularly at risk of infectious diseases such as COVID-19, as the lack of adequate water supply and sanitation means that practicing good hygiene is extremely difficult, and overcrowded living conditions mean that practicing social distancing is often impossible.

The rapid spread of COVID-19 in informal settlements in Cape Town is a warning to other African cities, as informal settlements are an important part of African cities, accommodating more than 60% of the urban population of sub-Saharan Africa (UN-Habitat, 2020). Informal settlements, which are settlements in which residents do not have legal security of tenure or adequate infrastructure, can be places with a vibrant social and economic life, but problems of insecurity of tenure, lack of adequate water and sanitation, poor shelter, overcrowding, lack of suitable storage for food, lack of suitable spaces for recreation and hazardous location all intersect to create particularly large and complex burdens of disease and high levels of risk (Smit et al. 2016). They are also particularly vulnerable to economic shocks, such as those caused by the COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions, as most residents have precarious short-term sources of income, for example, from informal trade or from casual work.

Cities affect the epidemiological characteristics of infectious diseases (Alirol et al. 2011), and infectious diseases also shape cities. History shows that the usual response to previous epidemics in African cities was the demolition of slums and relocation of residents to the urban periphery. For example, in Cape Town, an outbreak of bubonic plague in 1901 resulted in the emergency Plague Administration relocating all black African residents, in terms of the Public Health Act, to a settlement on the edge of Cape Town, which was later developed into the segregated township of Ndabeni (Swanson 1977). Similarly, the influenza pandemic of 1918–1919, led to a new South African Public Health Act and Housing Act ‘to ameliorate the wretched housing conditions of the poorer classes which had … been more vividly brought to light … partly by the late influenza epidemic’ (Central Housing Board, 1920, quoted in Phillips 1984, p. 416). These new policies essentially encouraged the demolition of slums and relocation of people to new housing areas, for example, it directly led to the establishment of Langa, another segregated township in Cape Town (Phillips 1984). Similar processes to these in Cape Town occurred in numerous other cities in Africa during the course of the twentieth century (Swanson 1977).

How will, and how should, COVID-19 shape our cities into the future? The danger is that it will shape our cities in the same way that previous epidemics have shaped our cities – through the demolishing of slums and relocation of residents to the urban periphery. In South Africa, which is the African country that has been most affected by COVID-19 so far, history seems to be repeating itself as there are already plans to de-densify informal settlements and relocate residents to 27 new relocation areas. In some cases this may be necessary and appropriate, but in many cases using COVID-19 as a motivation for relocations may not be addressing the real problem. Previous experience shows that the relocation of residents can increase social exclusion and vulnerability, with residents ending up further away from employment opportunities and facilities, and with their social networks severely disrupted (for example, Development Action Group 2007). Attempts to de-densify overcrowded settlements need to be done carefully and only where absolutely necessary, with extensive participation by residents, in order to avoid making people more vulnerable and at risk.

The fact that infectious diseases are particularly prevalent in cities, which can be ‘incubators where all the conditions are met for outbreaks to occur’ (Alirol et al. 2011, p. 131), means that we must reduce the risks for the most vulnerable residents of cities, particularly those living in informal settlements, where the risks are highest. The COVID-19 pandemic therefore highlights the urgent need to upgrade informal settlements, as this would reduce the risk of infectious disease in these areas as well as improving quality of life and reducing social inequities. Examples of good upgrading practice show that processes to upgrade informal settlements need to be participatory, with a range of physical, social and economic interventions to improve people’s lives and reduce their vulnerability to risks (Smit 2016).

In addition to being participatory and inter-sectoral, successful informal settlement upgrading programmes generally share the same key features (Smit 2016). Firstly, the security of tenure of residents is increased, even if only through a moratorium on evictions. Secondly, there are physical interventions such as the provision of roads, sidewalks, storm water drainage, water supply, sanitation and street lighting. There is often also support for the upgrading of housing. It is important to reduce overcrowding through upgrading processes, but there do not necessarily need to be relocations of residents as overcrowding can also be reduced in other ways, for example, through facilitating the provision of multi-storey housing. Thirdly, there are accompanying social and economic programmes, such as pre-primary education, adult literacy programmes, community health programmes, setting up savings groups, vocational training for income-generating activities, and facilitating access of small businesses to credit and to markets. Fourthly, informal settlement upgrading interventions need to be part of a long-term city-wide strategy to upgrade all informal settlements and ensure sufficient provision of affordable land and housing for households that need accommodation, within a broader framework of creating more compact and integrated cities. Fifthly, there needs to be reform of urban governance processes to ensure that informal residents and other marginalised groups are included in decision-making processes, as it is essential that the residents of informal settlements themselves are involved in decision making about the upgrading of the areas where they live and work.

A key precondition to being able to upgrade informal settlements is that we need to ensure that national governments capacitate local governments with the powers, resources and skills to play a key role in developing and implementing informal settlement upgrading programmes in partnership with civil society. Key issues include ensuring that local governments have sufficient revenue, and that budgeting and financial processes are open and transparent. Local government staff need to be equipped with necessary skills to engage in participatory processes with communities, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) usually have an important role to play as intermediaries between local government and communities. There are many good examples of local government and civil society partnerships in the successful upgrading of informal settlements (Smit 2016), and we need to learn from these examples and seize the moment to make African cities more resilient to disease and more equitable. The COVID-19 pandemic reaffirms that the built environment of cities is a key determinant of health, and reaffirms the importance of Sustainable Development Goal 11, which includes the upgrading of informal settlements and other types of slums. In order to be able to evaluate the impact of interventions in informal settlements and monitor progress, it is essential that disaggregated data on health and socio-economic indicators in informal settlements are regularly collected with the help of residents themselves. Through participatory processes we can create cities that are safer, more resilient and more equitable.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the PEAK Urban programme, funded by the UK Research and Innovation Global Challenges Research Fund [ES/P011055/1].

Notes on contributors

Warren Smit

Dr Warren Smit is the manager of research at the African Centre for Cities, an interdisciplinary urban research institute based at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. He has a PhD in urban planning, and has been a researcher on urban issues in Africa for the past 25 years. His main areas of research interest are urban health, urban governance and informal settlements. He was a member of the WHO Expert Group on Housing and Health, and contributed to the WHO/UN-Habitat 2016 Global Report on Urban Health.