Interview with Christopher Matschie
Christoph Matschie is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who served as Deputy Minister-President of Thuringia between 2009 and 2014. He was also a member of the Bundestag from 1999 to 2004 and from 2017 to 2021.
Question 1: Why is the development of cities so important for reaching the sustainable development goals?
Answer 1: The majority of the world’s population lives already in cities and the number is growing rapidly. Cities are centres of industrial development; they consume most of resources and they account for 70% of CO2 emissions today. According to many studies, the further growth of the world population will be a growth of the city population.
The fastest urbanisation is expected in Africa. In 2015, around 500 million people lived in cities there. The UN expects the number to grow to 1.5 billion people living in African cities by 2050. This is a huge challenge for African governments and city administrations.
Question 2: How does urbanisation in Africa look like today?
Answer 2: If we look at the present situation, we see 60% of the urban population living in informal urban settlements. They often lack basic infrastructure such as energy supply, waste management, transport, health care or education.
This situation stands not only for bad living conditions but is hampering a needed economic development as well. This way cities can’t fulfil their task as drivers of economic growth and job creation.
Question 3: What is needed to cope with this development?
Answer 3: First, it’s important to be aware, that solutions for sustainable city development differ from country to country and even from city to city. What we can see in general is a huge gap in financing the needed infrastructure.
Second, there is a lack of rules and regulations for city planning in many states.
And third, many cities are not well-advanced in their administrative and planning capacities.
I think, Europe should – in its cooperation with African partners – focus more on these areas.
If we want to support appropriate solutions, it is key to foster planning capacities in African cities. Only in this way, cities can act in a way that fits to their special situation. One possible way for European partners to support this approach is by investing in special training and education for urban planning and administration.
The second step, after cities have developed their urban planning, is finding financial solutions. The German GIZ has estimated that 130 to 170 billion dollars are needed per year per year to close the existing financing gap for infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa – most of it for urban infrastructure.
The industrialised countries should support financing urban infrastructure by cooperating with regional development banks or by developing bilateral instruments for financing.
Last but not least, civil society plays a key role in articulating the needs and wishes of inhabitants for further city development. That’s why it is important to strengthen their role in planning processes. Fostering networks of civil society organisations could help exchange experiences and promote their interests.
