From August 5 to August 13, 2024, representatives from seven African cities visited the Brazilian cities of Sao Paulo, Fortaleza and Curitiba, to discover inspiring solutions being implemented by local authorities to promote sustainable urban development.
The Study Tour, organised as part of the African Development Bank’s African Cities Program (ACP), launched in 2020, was financed by the South-to-South Cooperation Trust Fund (SSCTF) in collaboration with the Bank Group’s Urban and Municipal Development Fund (UMDF), with the participation of the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group.
The trip was inspired by the idea that peer exchanges between cities in the Global South can enrich the urban planning approaches and strategies of decision-makers in African municipalities.
“Africa’s rapid urban transition has many similarities with that experienced by Latin America in the 1950s and 60s,” said Darline Tognia, UMDF Coordinator and leader of the delegation. “By visiting Brazil today, we can see firsthand, and with hindsight, how cities have absorbed this growth; which solutions have worked, and which have not.”
The delegation consisted of 19 high-level municipal staff drawn from planning departments, finance departments, transportation services, and others, working in eight African cities which are already benefiting from the Urban and Municipal Development Fund and C40: Nairobi (Kenya), Beira (Mozambique), Tshwane (South Africa), Lomé (Togo), Dakar (Senegal), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) and Freetown (Sierra Leone).
The visit started in Sao Paulo, the largest city in South America, where innovation and sustainability coexist with complex urban and environmental challenges. At Parque Bristol, a popular neighbourhood, participants visited a publicly run multipurpose facility for children, which benefits from a “School Feeding Program”, a large-scale municipal effort to promote healthy eating, while also supporting urban agriculture.
As part of the tour, the group also met with waste recycling cooperatives, visited an electric bus maintenance middle, learnt about public transport by river-boats, and how informal settlements are being upgraded by the municipality trough the provision of basic infrastructure, improved transport integration, social housing programs and environmental protection measures.
In Fortaleza, a coastal city in north-east Brazil, and the second leg of the tour, the delegation saw various initiatives that have significantly improved the cityscape; in sustainable mobility, youth engagement and climate resilience.
The tour came to an end in Curitiba, a city of 2 million inhabitants, renowned for its innovative approach to sustainable development and urban mobility. The delegation learnt about the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system implemented by the city, as well as its slum upgrading, urban planning and solid waste management programs.
The Urban and Municipal Development Fund envisioned the trip as a means of consolidating a network of African cities interested in adopting urban solutions with an inclusive and human-centered approach.
The Brazil tour follows previous ones organized in 2022 to Copenhagen (Denmark) and Malmo (Sweden), to discover the renowned sustainable urban planning strategies of Nordic countries.
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Fun South African Fact: South Africa is now the only country in the world to have hosted the Soccer, Cricket and Rugby World Cup!
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Fun South African Fact: South Africa is known as the “Rainbow Nation” thanks to its mix of cultures across the country. The status of being a cultural “melting pot” is evident in the fact that South Africa has a whopping 11 official languages: English, Afrikaans, isiZulu, isiXhosa, IsiNdebele, Sesotho, Northern Sotho, Setswana, SiSwati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga. Most South Africans speak more than one national language. IsiZulu is the most common first language and isiXhosa is second. Fun fact – did you know the people of Wakanda speak isiXhosa in Marvel’s Black Panther movie?