Cities Ongoing – Smart and Sustainable Transitioning for Coastal Cities in the Face of Global Environmental Change- MIJI BORA

The challenges facing coastal urban sustainability in Africa are considerable. These are made more worrying by rapid changes resulting from the convergence of fundamental shifts across sectors, not least those associated with high population growth and climate change. Urban poverty and inequality levels continue to rise substantially, with the urbanisation processes being frequently informal and poorly located in areas of high risk, often at the expense of natural infrastructure, which might otherwise contribute ecosystem services like flood protection and water provision. Climate change is expected to further compound the destitution of the poor and interfere with urban systems, with coastal conurbations in the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region; such as Mombasa, Dar es Salaam, Maputo and Durban among others, being disproportionately affected by these changes. The current neoliberal planning ethos adopted by coastal cities within the WIO region is inconsistent with the principles and practices of urban sustainable development. The mitigation and adaptation measures will most likely require decisions that fall outside the usual paradigm of economic efficiency and rationalisation as response measures are slow, multiscalar, multi-stakeholder and have long time scales. Therefore, city planners, academics, urban researchers and other stakeholders have a responsibility to embark on transitioning these cities into economically productive, environmentally sustainable and socially inclusive entities. This not only calls for a clear understanding of the unique challenges of cities located on the coast, but also for planned actions geared towards shaping their development and liveability, whilst protecting and growing an economy that includes naturebased solutions. In view of the above, the overall aim of this project is to examine city systems and codesign practical pathways towards a sustainable port city of Mombasa. Consequently, we will use an eclectic mix of research designs to obtain data that are both quantitative and interpretive. Among other major activities, the project will engage in a series of trans-disciplinary learning exchanges between Mombasa and Durban’s eThekwini Municipality. EThekwini Municipality has a global reputation in using Community Ecosystem Based Adaptation approaches and has taken the lead in addressing solid waste, water and sanitation, energy and transport issues. In these exchanges, city officials and academic researchers from both cities will engage in learning, cogeneration and co-creating of knowledge without privileging the existing scholarly/expert knowledge. Importantly, such exchanges will involve prototyping approaches where certain interventions are conceptualised and implemented within a clearly demarcated domain of the target system. Overall, this project will facilitate learning, co-generation and co-creation of knowledge among policy makers, urban researchers and other stakeholders. Furthermore, it will provide up to-date information on the status of city systems and chart pathways to a smart and sustainable coastal city of Mombasa.