Abstract
The broad notion of ‘Smart Cities’ in Africa is emerging amidst significant socio-political transitions in populations, economy, and technology. Local governments across the continent are being asked to contend with limited resources and an increase in demands for service and accountability. Advances in information communication and digital technology, if contextually appropriate, can be harnessed to support collaboration amongst governance stakeholders. However, for technology to be an asset it must be a facilitator of good governance rather than an end to itself. This chapter presents a conceptual framework for Smart and Open Urban Governance in Africa and explores themes of transparency, public participation, and accountability.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Arana, A. (2014). Mexico city launches innovation lab to transform itself. Retrieved on February 21, 2018 from http://www.govtech.com/applications/Mexico-Citys-Innovation-Lab.html.
Araral, E., & Hartley, K. (2013). Polycentric governance for a new environmental regime: Theoretical frontiers in policy reform and public administration. In Paper for panel: polycentric public policy and the environment, international conference on public policy, Grenoble, June 26–28, 2013.
Arku, G. (2009). Rapidly growing African cities need to adopt smart growth policies to solve urban problems. Urban Forum, 20(3), 253–270.
Arku, G., & Sadler, R. (2017). Healthy cities. In: A. L. Bain & L. Peake (Eds.), Urbanization in a global context. Oxford University Press.
Baka, V. (2016). Co-creating an open platform at the local governance level: How openness is enacted in Zambia. Government Information Quarterly, 34, 140–152.
Caragliu, A., Del Bo, C., & Nijkamp, P. (2009). Smart cities in Europe. In: Proceedings of the 3rd Central European Conference in Regional Science. A Presentation Report.
Chatwin, M. & Arku, G. (2017a). Co-creating an open government action plan: the case of Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly Ghana. In: Growth & change. DOI: 10.1111/grow.12234.
Chatwin, M., & Arku, G. (2017b). Beyond ambiguity: Conceptualizing open government through a human systems framework. JeDem, 9(1), 52–78.
City of Madrid. (2016). Open government subnational action plan. Retrieved March 30, 2017 from https://www.opengovpartnership.org/subnational-government-pilot-program.
Code for Kenya. Retrieved on January 28, 2018 from https://codeforkenya.org/.
Elgeyo Marakwet County Government. (2016). Open government subnational action plan. Retrieved on March 30, 2017 from https://www.opengovpartnership.org/subnational-government-pilot-program.
Gassman, O. & Enkel, E. (2004). Towards a theory of open innovation: Three core process archetypes. In: Proceedings of the R&D Management Conference, 1–18.
GoToVote. Retrieved on January 28, 2018 from https://gottovote.cc/.
International Association for Public Participation (IAP2). (2005). The IAP2 public participation toolbox. Retrieved on July 10, 2017 from http://www.iap2.org/associations/4748/files/toolbox.pdfS.
Lindell, I. (2008). The multiple sites of urban governance: Insights from an African city. Urban Studies, 45(9), 1879–1901.
Mboup, G. (2017). Land: the hidden assets in African cities. Paper prepared for presentation at the “2017 World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty”. Washington, DC. March 20–24, 2017.
Meijer, A., Curtin, D., & Hillebrandt, M. (2012). Open government: Connecting vision and voice. International Review of Administrative Sciences, 78(1), 10–29.
Mergel, I., & Desouza, K. C. (2013). Implementing open innovation in the public sector: The case of challenge.gov. Public Administration Review, 73(6), 882–890.
Mexico city. LabPLC. Retrieved on January 28, 2018 from http://www.govtech.com/applications/Mexico-Citys-Innovation-Lab.html.
Mzalendo. Retrieved on January 28, 2018 from http://info.mzalendo.com/.
Noveck, B. (2015). Smart citizens, smarter state: The technologies of expertise and the future of governing. Harvard University Press.
Paine, T. (1989). Political writings. Cambridge University Press.
Reason, P., & Bradbury, H. (2001). Handbook of action research: Participative inquiry and practice. London: Sage Publications.
Stren, R. (1991). Old wine in new bottles? An overview of Africa’s urban problems and the “Urban Management” approach to dealing with them. Environment and Urbanization, 3(1), 9–22.
Stringer, E. (2007). Action research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Ushahidi. Retrieved on January 28, 2018 from https://www.ushahidi.com/.
United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG). (2015). Assessing the institutional environment of local governments in Africa. A report.
Unicef. Innovation Labs. Retrieved on January 28, 2018 from https://www.unicef.org/innovation/innovation_73201.html.
United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2008). Participatory governance and the millennium development goals (MDGs). United Nations Publications.
UN Habitat (2008). Participatory budgeting in Africa- A training companion with cases from eastern and southern Africa. Volume I Concepts and Principles. Retrieved on January 18, 2018 from https://unhabitat.org/books/participatory-budgeting-in-africa-a-training-companion-for-anglophone-countries-part-i-concepts-and-principles/.
UN Habitat. (2014). The state of African cities 2014: Re-imagining sustainable urban transitions. Retrieved on January 28, 2018 from https://unhabitat.org/state-of-african-cities-2014/.
UN Habitat. (2016). World cities report: Urbanization and development, emerging futures. Retrieved on January 28, 2018 from http://wcr.unhabitat.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/WCR-2016_-Abridged-version-1.pdf.
UN Habitat (2018). The state of African cities 2018: The geography of African investment. Retrieved on September 13, 2018 from https://unhabitat.org/wpdm-package/the-state-of-african-cities-2018-the-geography-of-african-investment/.
United Nations. (2016a). The sustainable development goals report. A Report.
United Nations. (2016b). Draft outcome document of the United Nations conference on housing and sustainable urban development (Habitat III). A conference Report.
United Nations. (2017). The New Urban Agenda, A/RES/71/256, Habitat III and United Nations.
World Bank. African gender innovation lab. Retrieved on January 28, 2018 from http://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/africa-gender-innovation-lab.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Chatwin, M., Arku, G. (2019). Smart and Open Urban Governance in Africa. In: Mboup, G., Oyelaran-Oyeyinka, B. (eds) Smart Economy in Smart African Cities. Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3471-9_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3471-9_12
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-13-3470-2
Online ISBN: 978-981-13-3471-9
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)