Urban Natural Assets for Africa: Rivers for Life

Through the UNA: Coasts for Life project ICLEI Africa appointed a service provider to conduct a high-level review and comparison of five project options, select the most likely to attract finance and then develop the chosen concept to pre-feasibility in line with the relevant funder’s requirements. The Five project ideas have been developed into project concepts, which can be can be taken forward to pre-feasibility:

• Coastal asset restoration and rehabilitation: Mangroves
• Land stabilisation and carbon sequestration: Sustainable forestry
• Resilience to flooding: Green affordable housing
• Sustainable access to safe water: Solar powered water systems
• Pollution prevention: Coupled urine diversion latrines and biogas digestors

The Sustainable forestry concept was developed into a pre-feasibility study and discussed with potential funders.

Platforms and mechanisms to inspire continued learning and sustained change. Online training platform developed & implemented through pulling together all programme trainings to be used to build capacity, create dialogue and support the mainstreaming of natural assets into land use planning.

• A one-pager which neatly presents the key achievements of the programme
• A one-pager which summarises the key outputs, tools and resources developed under the programme
• A one-pager which showcases the areas of innovation and experimentation the programme engaged with

• Eight programme stories were created to communicate the change that the programme has elicited over key impact pathways. These include:
  • Policy reform: Integrating nature and climate considerations into urban planning policies in African cities
  • Practice reform: Enabling operational shifts in African cities by supporting informed decision-making around urban natural assets
  • Mainstreaming in practice: Using multi-actor engagements and co-production to effectively embed nature in urban planning
  • Capacity building: empowering stakeholders to become champions for nature in eight African cities
  • Supporting local action: Through on-the-ground implementation in African cities
  • Embracing experimentation and innovation: Testing new ways to old challenges in African cities
  • Urban resilience for all: Promoting gender equality and inclusion in urban planning, decision-making and the design of nature-based solutions
  • Working with informality: Promoting collaborative efforts to service informal settlements with nature-based solutions

In order for African cities to deal with the growing urban crisis and effectively protect and bring nature back into cities, it is essential that a new way of thinking about planning and approach to dealing with development is mainstreamed. The UNA programme prioritises capacity building, exposure and interrogation of alternative approaches to planning that better suit the African context. In this way, supporting the improved integration of nature into decision making. A poster and supporting booklet were designed to support this work.

A unique approach to addressing the current challenges within their unique African context is ‘urban tinkering’. Urban tinkering, sharing a similar approach to that of the systems thinking approach, is an innovative and inclusive approach to urban design and planning that seeks to transform the use of existing urban elements in a way that shifts or diversifies their functions. Put simply, urban tinkering works with what is already on the ground, servicing the area through building on what already exists. The UNA programme supports capacity building, training as well as local in the ground action/implementation that use this principle. A paper was developed to outline this concept. Both a poster and video were produced as part of this project.

A core element of effectively aligning the project activities to city needs as well as ensuring opportunities are identified for sustainable change is understanding the decision making processes and institutional arrangements. Effectively understanding these structures is a benefit of deep scaling and a reflective planning process that the project prioritises. Through ICLEI Africa’s ongoing work, ICLEI has established a working methodology for understanding and engaging with formal and informal governance structures in cities.

Creating spaces that initiate conversations which challenge stakeholders, that allow space for reflection, and to think about new ways to address old challenges are all important to creating change. These spaces allow one to learn from others, learn how to learn and learn how to do things differently. Transformative spaces allow for the development of tension areas, building confidence, promoting systems thinking and allowing participants to connect with others across disciplines and across governance levels. All these elements are crucial in achieving change that is sustainable and compelling. Transformative spaces need to be intently designed and curated with care. The cutting-edge method of the UNA Rivers project is leading in designing and developing these spaces.

Effectively including the need for greater community engagement in planning processes from the outset of projects is well-known. However, this requires recognition and a new culture of fostering such engagement by city officials themselves. The UNA Rivers project experiments with multiple innovative and cutting-edge ways of engaging with community members (see the individual city pages).

For effective mainstreaming of urban natural assets in planning and decision making, activities need to prioritise and support processes and activities that shift mindsets and behaviour from planning cities for biodiversity to using biodiversity as a tool for city planning. The UNA programme is making this distinction effectively, phrasing these approaches as planning for and planning with nature.

This handbook series provides a selection of key considerations and lessons that should be considered when designing and implementing nature-based planning projects in Africa. Each consideration is supported by a relevant case study. See the handbooks here for more information.

The Sustainable River Based Urban Planning for Sub-Saharan Africa: Guidelines document addresses the fundamental questions of HOW and WHY to plan for rivers in African cities. The target audience for these guidelines is those working within the urban planning and environmental sectors in sub-Saharan African city regions. The guidelines present a range of principles, strategies and tools to better design for rivers and riversides.

The Sustainable River Based Urban Planning for Sub-Saharan Africa: Case Studies document compliments the Sustainable River Based Urban Planning Guidelines by providing real-world examples of successful river rehabilitation projects enacted in city regions, as well as the methodologies used and lessons learnt from these initiatives.

Acknowledging that the majority of community members rely on natural assets for their livelihoods, this document provides alternative and more sustainable ways for communities to engage with these assets whilst still ensuring income generation.

The UNA programme employs a number of unique methods to build capacity and share knowledge in various African cities. These include innovative games and interactive exercises (such as spilling the beans; co-ordination is a maze; terminology divide; jungle of jeopardy & stringing it together) that focus heavily on process, disrupt power dynamics and allow important conversations and areas of tension to emerge. All such activities promote experiential learning (“learning by doing”), which has proven to be more effective than traditional methods in helping stakeholders to engage with new practices and ways of thinking.