Lusaka Mapping Pilot
Leading organisations Ordnance Survey (OS), the International Growth Centre (IGC) and the Commonwealth Association of Architects (CAA) are responding to the challenges associated with urban growth, and the availability of accurate and up-to-date data for creating well-planned and managed cities, by piloting the creation of an automated digital base map of Lusaka, Zambia.
The Ministry of Local Government is undertaking efforts to promote prosperous and inclusive urban settlements, and ensure Zambia’s towns and cities are resilient to support economic growth. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has further highlighted the need for a better understanding of the city’s informal settlements.
Using aerial imagery provided by the Zambia Survey Department in the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, OS has utilised its advanced automated process to generate a new base map using Artificial Intelligence across 420km2 of Lusaka, incorporating over 300,000 built structures. This innovative technique is a rapid, accurate and cost-effective way to generate a detailed digital map that has a multitude of use cases, including the design and management of critical infrastructure services, land use planning, transport planning, land tenure, ownership and administration together with the integration of future census data. Computers are taught what to look for in images using training data; the technology then automatically creates mapping quickly and accurately.
The world is rapidly urbanising with over 55% of the global population now living in urban areas and by 2050, it is projected to expand by an additional 2.5 billion urban dwellers. Sub-Saharan Africa in particular, is urbanising twice as fast as Europe with urban populations expected to triple by 2050.
The World Bank estimates that 54% of Sub Saharan African urban dwellers are living in informal settlements and between 50% and 80% rely on informal jobs. These settlements are overcrowded, often polluted, with inadequate housing, and limited access to water and sanitation facilities. Furthermore, these informal sites lack the infrastructure required to support sustainable, liveable, and productive urban environments.
OS mapping data will help identify informal settlements, population and density, the number of built structures, the location of transport infrastructure surrounding the formal and informal neighbourhoods, as well as access to electricity, sanitation facilities and clean water. A sister project, led by Patrick Lamson-Hall of New York University’s Marron Institute, is contributing to this analysis by creating a typology of the various informal settlements and tracking their expansion over time.
Together this will enable the Ministry to better target investment in critical infrastructure and services, upgrading informal settlements to provide for the most vulnerable residents. It will also assist in better planning for urban expansion, which reduces the overall cost of infrastructure investment, limits informality, and enables more resilient and sustainable urban futures.
By 2025, roughly 440 cities in emerging economies will contribute to nearly half of global economic growth. Sprawling urban areas limit access to job opportunities and social and commercial services while also being disconnected. If well-managed and planned, urbanisation in rapidly developing cities can be transformative, creating jobs, reducing poverty, and improving residents’ quality of life with better access to healthcare and cleaner water.
With two-thirds of African cities yet to be built, and retro-fitting infrastructure being three times more expensive, sustainable urbanisation is one of the solutions to our ever-growing global population and can increase prosperity, while alleviating high levels of urban poverty.
The world is rapidly urbanising with over 55% of the global population now living in urban areas and by 2050, it is projected to expand by an additional 2.5 billion urban dwellers. Sub-Saharan Africa in particular, is urbanising twice as fast as Europe with urban populations expected to triple by 2050.
The World Bank estimates that 54% of Sub Saharan African urban dwellers are living in informal settlements and between 50% and 80% rely on informal jobs. These settlements are overcrowded, often polluted, with inadequate housing, and limited access to water and sanitation facilities. Furthermore, these informal sites lack the infrastructure required to support sustainable, liveable, and productive urban environments.
OS mapping data will help identify informal settlements, population and density, the number of built structures, the location of transport infrastructure surrounding the formal and informal neighbourhoods, as well as access to electricity, sanitation facilities and clean water. A sister project, led by Patrick Lamson-Hall of New York University’s Marron Institute, is contributing to this analysis by creating a typology of the various informal settlements and tracking their expansion over time.
Together this will enable the Ministry to better target investment in critical infrastructure and services, upgrading informal settlements to provide for the most vulnerable residents. It will also assist in better planning for urban expansion, which reduces the overall cost of infrastructure investment, limits informality, and enables more resilient and sustainable urban futures.
By 2025, roughly 440 cities in emerging economies will contribute to nearly half of global economic growth. Sprawling urban areas limit access to job opportunities and social and commercial services while also being disconnected. If well-managed and planned, urbanisation in rapidly developing cities can be transformative, creating jobs, reducing poverty, and improving residents’ quality of life with better access to healthcare and cleaner water.
With two-thirds of African cities yet to be built, and retro-fitting infrastructure being three times more expensive, sustainable urbanisation is one of the solutions to our ever-growing global population and can increase prosperity, while alleviating high levels of urban poverty.
Published: 02 May 2021