Posted on :2021年11月10日星期三

Africa is projected to maintain its streak as the fastest urbanising region in the world, with new forecasts showing its cities and major towns will be home to an additional 866 million people in just 30 years. To sustain the cities, African universities are engineering tech solutions.

智能城市技术被吹捧为非洲城市规划挑战的解决方案，因为大陆的城市和城镇记录了世界上最高的人口增长步伐。美国金融信息服务公司，惠誉集团预测非洲的城市居民将于2030年的817亿，到2050年的14.7亿，高达目前居住在城镇的60350万人。

百分比，大陆的城市人口预计将从今年总人口的41.8％上升到2050年的58％。

Fitch attributes the rapid pace of urbanisation in Africa not only to rural-to-city migration and in-city population growth but also to the modernisation of previously rural population clusters -- where rural areas transform themselves into urban spaces as a result of natural population growth and accumulated density.

"Populations continue to prefer migrating to or staying in the larger, more established cities with better infrastructure, more vibrant commercial hubs and proximity to ports and economic opportunities," reads the report in part.

“我们相信，在整个地区，各国将寻求增加基础设施的投资，特别是通过加强公私伙伴关系并增加技术驱动的解决方案的利用来增加现有的城镇。”

西非将在预测期间注册最强的城市人口增长，与阿比扬和拉各斯等城市拿起数百万更多的居民。

此外，城市集群的预计人口爆炸将为非洲提供更多对商品和服务的需求，并加快技术创新。

面向消费者的部门的需求将更高，例如食物和饮料，零售，汽车，农业，医疗保健，ICT以及电力和建筑等行业。

"We believe that this rapid growth in urban populations will also see an increased focus on the use of new technologies and leapfrog innovations as well as sustainability, particularly through growing the renewable power sector, emissions reduction efforts and increasing restrictions on single-use plastics," Fitch said.

Already, this focus on future solutions is pushing governments to earmark funds for research. One example is a project dubbed the Africa Cities Lab (ACL) whose goal is to create a digital education platform for urban professionals, with free content focused on urban planning and urban development in Africa. (Bird)

（ACL是由瑞士的Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne（EPFL）领导的联合倡议，该科技大学（加纳）和摩洛哥的穆罕默德·弗利特技术大学。

其他合作伙伴包括Seme City（贝宁创新校园），迦太基大学，开普敦大学和卢旺达大学。