Crossroads: Sustainable Infrastructure +

Entrepreneurship + Online Engineering Education in

21st Century Africa

Murray R. Metcalfe, PhD

Nairobi - January 31, 2019

World Cities By Population - Projected 2100

World

Ranking City

Population

(millions)

# 1 Lagos, Nigeria 88

# 2 Kinshasa, DRC 83

# 3 Dar es Salaam, Tanzania 74

# 6 Khartoum, Sudan 57

# 7 Niamey, Niger 56

# 12 Nairobi, Kenya 47

# 13 Lilongwe, Malawi 41

# 14 Blantyre City, Malawi 41

# 15 Cairo, Egypt 41

# 16 Kampala, Uganda 40

# 18 Lusaka, Zambia 38

# 19 Mogadishu, Somalia 36

# 20 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 36

Source: Hoornweg, D., and Pope,

K., 2017. “Population predictions

for the world’s largest cities in the

21st century.” Environment &

Urbanization, 29(1): 195-216.

In 2100

African cities

will make up

13 of the top

20 cities

worldwide

Rapid Urbanization

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

Engineering EducationScalability

EESC-A:

Engineering Education

for Sustainable Cities in

Africa

EESC-A

Network

Region Country Traditional

Universities

Emerging

Institutions

West & Central Africa Ghana KNUST Ashesi

Nigeria U. of Lagos

Covenant U.

Obafemi Awolowo U.

East Africa Kenya Kenyatta U.

U. of Nairobi

African Virtual U.

Aga Khan U.

Andela

Tanzania U. of Dar es Salaam

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

Stellenbosch U.

U. of Cape Town

Durban U. of Technology

Tshwane U. of Technology

Central U. of Technology

UNISA

Botswana BIUST

Mauritius African Leadership U.

Northern Africa Egypt Cairo U.

Ain Shams U.

Target Network

• 3 Regions

• 11 Countries

• 26 Institutions

Africa Team

Dr. Gilbert Siame

University of Zambia

Zambia

Prof. David Olukanni

Covenant University

Nigeria

Prof. Fatma Mohamed

University of Dar es Salaam

Tanzania

Prof. Innocent Musonda

University of Johannesburg

South Africa

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

● Sustainability mindset

● Leadership

● Business acumen

● Critical thinking

● Ethics & integrity

“Power

Skills”

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

Innovation

Entrepreneurial

FinanceThe Entrepreneur

• 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

Innovation

Entrepreneurial

FinanceEntrepreneurship

Sustainability

and

Environmental

Protection

• The reduction of poverty and

improvements in health

• Global development, in a sustainable

manner

• Improved environmental footprint

+

12

• 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?

An Intersection in Africa?

13

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

Telecom

14

Energy

15

UofT IGUS

project:

• “The house in a

box”

• Applying tall

building seismic

engineering

solutions to low-

cost low-rise

buildings

Housing & Construction

16

Mobius Motors (Kenya)

Transportation

17

18

Introduction

Go Jek – Jakarta, Indonesia

19Via – New York City

20

Smart Cities

Technologies

21

Solutions to Grand Challenges

ICT/Systems

Energy/Environment/

Sustainability

African Cities

Financing

Business Model

Site/Context

Specificity

Hybrid Value Chains

Technology

© Copyright 2014, 2017

22

Solutions to Grand Challenges

ICT/Systems

Energy/Environment/

Sustainability

African Cities

Financing

Business Model

Site/Context

Specificity

Hybrid Value Chains

Technology

© Copyright 2014, 2017

23

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

Questions and Implications

24

• 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?

Questions and Implications, continued

“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

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

BangkokBarcelona

Cape TownDenver

GenevaLondon

Los AngelesNew York

PragueToronto

GHGs ( t. eCO2 / cap)

Within city Direct Life-cycle

Total emissions

“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 education

● Online courses

● Global classroom iterations

● 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

eesca.utoronto.ca

Thank You!