Answer to Question #228813 in English for Bright

Question

Discuss the impacts of urbanization on the African continent in terms of human
settlements, employment, and service delivery.

Answer 1

Human settlement

Because of urbanization, many African countries are being faced with the problem of rural-urban migration. In urban areas in Africa majority of the people live in impoverished slums and squatter settlements. Slums are urban areas that are heavily populated and have sub-standard housing with very poor living conditions, creating several problems. Slum areas typically suffer from:

• poor housing with small, overcrowded houses built very close together using inadequate materials and with uncertain electricity supply
• restricted access to water supplies
• little or no sanitation/latrine facilities and no solid waste disposal, which leads to a polluted and degraded local environment
• inadequate health care facilities which, coupled with the poor living conditions, increases sickness and death rates
• insecure living conditions – slum-dwellers may be forcibly removed by landowners or other authorities.

Employment

Urbanization has brought a positive impact on many lives of Africans who have managed to secure jobs in various sectors of the economy with majorly those in the formal sectors earning a very good salary. however on the negative side many in urban areas still suffer from unemployment. Most urban unemployment in African countries takes the form of underemployment, in which people are obliged to undertake any available economic activity, however poorly paid and unproductive because there are no social safety nets and no alternatives in the form of unemployment insurance or job training for formal sector work. In sub-Saharan Africa, the urban informal sector (which can include such activities as small-scale peddling, petty services, or work in unregistered factories) is estimated to employ more than 60 percent of the urban labor force at extremely low incomes.

Service Delivery

The provision of water and sanitation services to growing urban settlements, peri-urban and slum areas presents critical challenges. The increased demand for water from the growing population places added stress on already stretched resources. In and around cities, water is commonly in short supply and subject to increasing competition by different users. Urban growth leads to increasing demand for water for industrial and domestic use, which conflicts with agricultural demands.