African Smart Cities Strategies for Agenda 2063

Abstract

By synthesizing urbanization challenges and current trends in Africa, this dialogue piece captures the broader transformative processes taking place on the continent. We develop a vision of the African cities of the future and show the alignment of key aspects of the 'smart city' concept with the African Union’s Agenda 2063. Looking at the approximately 50-year time horizon of Agenda 2063 (at the time of writing, 2016), we chart the strategy space for African megacities, medium cities, as well as small cities and new developments. Strategic insights are captured in summary and conclusions.