Good Urban Governance and City Resilience: An Afrocentric Approach to Sustainable Development

Abstract

Good urban governance is a multidimensional concept that focuses on the improvement of the quality of living conditions of local citizens, especially those of marginalised and disadvantaged communities. Cities face various adversities and challenges, such as unsustainable use of natural resources, lack of housing and infrastructure, the prevalence of poverty, rapid urbanisation, crime, disasters and effects of climate change. City resilience is an inclusive process that refers to a city’s ability to sustainably manage unexpected and expected risk-related events. In addition, it includes a city’s capacity to adapt to future challenges from a strategic and spatial perspective. This paper aims to analyze the nature of sustainable development in general. More specifically, it sets out to analyze the importance of urban governance in Africa and the interrelationship of good urban governance and city resilience. The purpose is to provide a theoretical underpinning and a practical orientation for the role that urban governance could play in sustainable development. The methodology is based on a document analysis by way of an intensive literature study. The qualitative description of the findings focused on the themes that emerged from the research and the manner in which they were conceptualised. It was established that while African countries have experienced certain successes, there have been many challenges as far as ‘good’ and ‘sustainable’ urban governance is concerned. Results indicated that the notion of ‘good urban governance’ is a prerequisite for African countries to design and execute sustainable development initiatives successfully.

The Evolution of Sustainable Development Theory: Types, Goals, and Research Prospects

“…On the other hand, efficiency, effectiveness, rule of law, participation, accountability, transparency, respect for human rights, and tolerance of differences are also part of governance [94]. Many scholars believe that good governance is a prerequisite and the main factor for achieving SD [95][96][97]. However, no single form of governance can achieve sustainability in practice [93,96].…”

Economic Evaluation, Use of Renewable Energy, and Sustainable Urban Development Mamminasata Metropolitan, Indonesia

“…As such, urban resilience is viewed as an important outcome of good urban governance [32]. The economic perspective conceptualized by Harris [33] and Salvadori [34] states that there are four factors that affect economic growth: (i) population, (ii) total stock of capital goods, (iii) land area and natural resources, and (iv) technological progress. Several factors influence economic growth: (a) advances in science and technology, (b) increased investment, (c) increased exports, (d) increased income from taxes, (e) controlled inflation rates, and (f) low interest rates.…”

The Complexity of Space Utilization and Environmental Pollution Control in the Main Corridor of Makassar City, South Sulawesi, Indonesia

“…Urban transportation has a relationship to the city's rapidly developing economic system. This means that it requires sustainable transportation management [55]. Furthermore, there are five main elements that play an important role in the urban transportation system: (i) Humans, who need transportation; (ii) goods, i.e., things that are needed or consumed by humans; (iii) vehicles, which function as a means of transferring or transferring people and goods from one place to another; (iv) roads, as transportation infrastructure or media; and (v) organizations or institutions that act as transportation managers.…”