Urban types in rapidly urbanising cities : Analysis of formal and informal settlments in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Urban types in rapidly urbanising cities : Analysis of formal and informal settlments in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

urban form, urban growth, urbanisation, urban space, urban sprawl, urban density, developing country

One of the challenges confronting cities in non-industrialised countries today is the fact that cities are growing at unprecedented rates, sizes and densities. Growth trends in these cities are largely unregulated. In these countries, cities have changed in at least four major ways: their size, spatial organisation or morphology, the quality and distribution of public services and infrastructure and their employment base. While this situation can be attributed to global urbanisation trends, the general poor knowledge on how these cities develop, densify and acquire certain physical characteristics has limited effective urban planning and management. At times, the pervasive knowledge gap has been associated with the lack of relevant theories and concepts to explain the evolution, growth and prevailing spatial qualities. However, the limited research in this field has also contributed to this problem. The other problem that confronts the rapidly urbanising city is continued sprawl that has been manifested in externalities of inadequate infrastructure provision and under-utilisation of scarce resources, particularly land.

This thesis is an attempt to contribute towards addressing these two problem areas. The main field of study is on urban types within a rapidly urbanising city context. Dar es Salaam city was selected as a case study area. The study explores the theoretical framework for classification and analysis of settlements. The relevance of this framework in the study context is examined. At low scale level, the study provides an analysis of house forms, density, plot characteristics, spaces and space uses in formal and informal settlements.

The analysis shows that urbanisation under poverty and low-density urban types greatly influence the sprawling character of the city. The increasing market-led housing development and ineffective planning responses are contributing factors to the observed unguided densification and deteriorating spatial qualities. It has also been shown that while theoretical frameworks developed from most industrialised countries can be adapted to analyse urban types in non-industrialised countries, these theories are limited in comprehending fully the growth and character of rapidly urbanising cities.

Lupala, John Modestus

KTH-Royal Institute of Technology

2002

Kombe, Wilbard. Supervisor

Vestbro, Dick Urban. Supervisor

en

Thesis

http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-3426

http://lallier.msh-vdl.fr/theses/items/show/945

http://lallier.msh-vdl.fr/theses/archive/files/475b5776caaac1b7f571493ebff5a2f0.jpg