Crossroads: Sustainable Infrastructure + Entrepreneurship + Online Engineering Education in 21st Century Africa
Murray R. Metcalfe, PhD
Nairobi - January 31, 2019 Rapid Urbanization
World Cities By Population - Projected 2100 World Population Ranking City (millions) # 1 Lagos, Nigeria 88 # 2 Kinshasa, DRC 83 In 2100 # 3 Dar es Salaam, Tanzania 74 # 6 Khartoum, Sudan 57 African cities # 7 Niamey, Niger 56 will make up # 12 Nairobi, Kenya 47 13 of the top # 13 Lilongwe, Malawi 41 20 cities # 14 Blantyre City, Malawi 41 worldwide # 15 Cairo, Egypt 41 Source: Hoornweg, D., and Pope, K., 2017. “Population predictions # 16 Kampala, Uganda 40 for the world’s largest cities in the 21st century.” Environment & # 18 Lusaka, Zambia 38 Urbanization, 29(1): 195-216. # 19 Mogadishu, Somalia 36 # 20 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 36 Key Questions
1. How can future African city engineers build sustainable cities that support such large populations in Africa?
2. How does the required cadre of African cities engineers get trained?
3. What type of pedagogical innovations are needed to scale engineering education?
4. How can Western institutions be helpful? – and at the same time prepare our students for future activities in and interactions with 21st Africa Beyond the Challenges
Sustainable Cities
EESC-A: Engineering Education for Sustainable Cities in Engineering Africa Scalability Education Region Country Traditional Emerging EESC-A Universities Institutions West & Central Africa Ghana KNUST Ashesi Network Nigeria U. of Lagos Covenant U. Obafemi Awolowo U. East Africa Kenya Kenyatta U. African Virtual U. Target Network U. of Nairobi Aga Khan U. • 3 Regions Andela • 11 Countries Tanzania U. of Dar es Salaam • 26 Institutions Ardhi U. Open U. of Tanzania Uganda Makerere U.
Rwanda U. of Rwanda Kepler Carnegie Mellon U. Ethiopia U of Addis Ababa
Southern Africa Zambia U. of Zambia Copperbelt U. South Africa U. of Johannesburg UNISA Stellenbosch U. U. of Cape Town Durban U. of Technology Tshwane U. of Technology Central U. of Technology Botswana BIUST
Mauritius African Leadership U.
Northern Africa Egypt Cairo U. Ain Shams U. Africa Team
Prof. David Olukanni Covenant University Prof. Fatma Mohamed Nigeria University of Dar es Salaam Tanzania
Prof. Innocent Musonda University of Johannesburg South Africa
Dr. Gilbert Siame University of Zambia Zambia Key Views – African Sustainable Cities
● African urbanization will be a hallmark of human development in this century and will transform the planet
● Africans will “own” this development – the west (and China) will have a role, but it will be reduced over time.
● Solutions will look different in Africa. A defining question: what is the great African city of the 21st century?
● The carbon-intensive model of “great” Western and Asian cities cannot be sustained, particularly in Africa. There need to be solutions that look strikingly different. Opportunity for leapfrogging.
● Entrepreneurship will be key in Africa, and there will be less dependence on government provided infrastructure. The words infrastructure and entrepreneurship are rarely used together – but can be.
. Key Views - Critical Knowledge & Skill Gaps
● Communication & collaboration
● Digital & financial literacy
● Entrepreneurship
● Innovation “Power ● Sustainability mindset Skills” ● Leadership
● Business acumen
● Critical thinking
● Ethics & integrity Part I. Entrepreneurship and African Urban Infrastructure – Seeking the Intersection 10
Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurial Organizations - This Model Has Worked Well in Developed Economies …
Technology Entrepreneurial Innovation + The Entrepreneur Finance
• Development and deployment of new technologies in selected industries • Improved standard of living for users and employees 11
… and can address issues facing developing economies – including those in Africa
Technology Entrepreneurial Innovation + Entrepreneurship Finance
Sustainability and • The reduction of poverty and Environmental improvements in health Protection • Global development, in a sustainable manner • Improved environmental footprint 12
An Intersection in Africa?
• The projected explosive future growth of African cities will strain efforts to develop supporting infrastructure • Simultaneously Africa’s potential rise as an entrepreneurial powerhouse will be increasingly evident on a global scale
• Can these two worlds meet? – can the benefits of the powerful model of technology innovation, entrepreneurship, and risk capital play a role in solving Africa’s looming urban infrastructure gap? 13
Telecom
July 2018: • International Conference on INFRASTRUCTURE Development and Investment Strategies for Africa (DII Livingstone) NOW IMAGINE …
July 1988: • International Conference on TELECOM Development and Investment Strategies for Africa 14
Energy 15
Housing & Construction
UofT IGUS project:
• “The house in a box”
• Applying tall building seismic engineering solutions to low- cost low-rise buildings 16
Transportation
Mobius Motors (Kenya) 17 Go Jek – Jakarta, Indonesia 18
Introduction Via – New York City 19 20
Smart Cities Technologies 21
Solutions to Grand Challenges
ICT/Systems Technology Business Model Energy/Environment/ Sustainability Hybrid Value Chains Site/Context Specificity Financing
African Cities
© Copyright 2014, 2017 22
Solutions to Grand Challenges
ICT/Systems Technology Business Model Energy/Environment/ Sustainability Hybrid Value Chains Site/Context Specificity Financing
African Cities
© Copyright 2014, 2017 23
Questions and Implications
Many questions unfold, through the lens of entrepreneurial activity and sustainability: • What types of organizations are required? • What are the future roles of traditional universities and of emerging alternative higher education and technical training providers? • The role of those of us in the west? Africans will decide the approach to and form of cities infrastructure - how can we in the west best help in African efforts to educate engineers 24
Questions and Implications, continued
• Is there a more sustainable model of African cities vs. the traditional model of “great” western cities?
• What city of today will be the great African City of the Future?
• How to educate future African engineers who not only build infrastructure but who are global, sustainable, urban engineering leaders and entrepreneurs?
“We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as unsolvable problems” (Gardner) Part II. Climate Change in Cities: Global Cities and their Greenhouse Gas Emissions
“Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Global Cities” – Christopher Kennedy et al; Environmental Science & Technology, 2009 Inventory categories of greenhouse gas emissions
● Electricity ● Heating and industrial fuels ● Industrial processes ● Ground transportation ● Aviation ● Marine ● Waste Total emissions
Toronto Prague New York Los Angeles London Geneva Denver Cape Town Barcelona Bangkok 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 GHGs ( t. eCO2 / cap)
Within city Direct Life-cycle “Global Cities and their Response to Climate Change” – Lorraine Sugar, University of Toronto
The Dar data defines the challenge and opportunity for Africa – and for African engineering education …… Specifically …
● GHG emissions in Africa today are at sustainable levels on a per capita basis ● But GDP/capita needs to substantially increase ● Africa’s Options:
○ Follow the path of “great” western cities, and rise to comparable levels of GHG/capita emissions … creating an unsustainable continent and world
o Leapfrog technologically and through urban design to grow economically without proportional growth in GHGs
● The options created and decisions made by future African cities engineers will determine what happens
● Those future cities engineers are being educated in African engineering schools today Part III. Online Courseware Development & Evaluation
● From in-class to online
● SPOC 1 – Sustainable Cities: Adding an African Perspective
● Global Classroom
● E-Textbook
● SPOC 2 – Sustainable Cities: Integrating Case Studies from Africa
● Collaborative Content Creation Infrastructure for Sustainable Cities (in class at UofT) Online Course Topics
1. Introduction to Urbanization: Growth of World Cities 2. Concepts of Sustainable Cities and Communities 3. Principles of Sustainable Urban Design 4. City Performance Metrics and Methods of Assessment 5. Green Buildings 6. Sustainable Transportation 7. Sustainable Energy Systems 8. Water, Wastewater and Stormwater Management 9. Contaminants and Waste Streams, Waste Disposal, and Re-use 10. Urban Green 11. Land Use Planning and Neighbourhood Design 12. Summarizing the Tradeoffs: The Great African City of the Future SPOC 1 – Launched in Summer 2018 4 Online Modules Global Classroom – Fall 2018 E-Textbook on Sustainable Cities SPOC 2 – forthcoming 2019 27 Suggested Case Studies – a sample
1. Creating the Cleanest City in Africa – Kigali
2. Urban Food Security – Cape Town
3. Solar Water Heaters – Zanzibar, Tanzania
4. Land Use and Low Carbon Energy – Lusaka and Dar es Salaam
5. Non-Motorized Transportation – Johannesburg
6. Waste Management – Lagos In Conclusion: Specific Steps Looking Forward 1. Multi- institutional partnership
● University of Toronto ● Universities in Canada ● Universities in Africa ● Other global institutions 2. Leverage online ● Online courses ● Global classroom iterations education ● Virtual Global Engineering Teams (V-GET) ● Training faculty on online course production ● Software and virtual lab innovations 3. Industry- academic collaborations
● Training opportunities and work opportunities for Canadian students ● Training opportunities for both faculty and industry in Africa 4. Research on sustainable cities
● Building on population projections, and quantifying infrastructure demand ● Integrating across cities engineering disciplines 5. Implementation projects to leapfrog to sustainable development
● Sustainable materials ● Renewable energy ● Innovative transportation models ● Etc. 6. Urban entrepreneurship in Africa
● Exploring entrepreneurship opportunities in urban areas ● Introducing infrastructure entrepreneurship Thank You!
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