- Future Urban Settlement and its implementation in Africa    709 kb by    Kropman, Niels J. | nielskropman@gmail.com    Short Outline The paper describes a new eco-efficient, carbon neutral urban settlement with attention to community building & services. Next it shows the implementation of this urban unit in Africa and describes its implementation and choices to be made. Abstract The climate is undergoing changes we are only just beginning to understand and comprehend. There is more and more proof we are on the verge of a big change in climate on a global scale. This leads to an increased call for carbon neutrality. Next to the changes in climate we slowly but surely start to acknowledge that the worlds resources are not infinite in their. The knowledge the world’s resources are definitely not infinite, adds to the call for a more eco-efficient urban society. Climate change is a major threat to sustainable growth and development in Africa. Although Africa is the continent least responsible for climate change, it is particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. The effects of climate change threaten the development of the continent both economically as socially. In order to deal with the imminent problems caused by climate change and to reduce carbon emissions as part of the world effort there is a call for more carbon neutral and sustainable urban development. The population on the African continent will continue to grow and the predictions are that by 2050, about 1.766 million people will be living in Africa. All those people will be aiming to achieve more material and immaterial wealth and cities will be growing because of increased urbanisation. This will increase demand for resources immensely combined with the that the continent is a big exporter of resources to other countries. This trend will increase the ecological footprint of the average inhabitant of Africa immensely and adds to the call for a more eco- efficient society and urban environment with extra attention on social sustainability. The paper will first introduce a fictional design of a new urban settlement solely based on the principles of eco-efficiency and carbon neutrality. The future urban settlement will, next to using “green” energy, utilise the landscape, local environment and climate and pay special attention to available services, infrastructure and networks and community development, in order to achieve its main goal: being a fully sustainable city for the future, both ecologically and socially. Next the paper will show the implementation of this fictional new urban unit in a region of Africa (Kenya) and describe and show how it could be implemented and which choices are to be made. Keywords Eco-efficient and carbon neutral sustainable urban design, the future urban settlement, the future urban settlement applied to a region in Africa (Kenya), community building. Case Study presented on the ISOCARP Congress 2010: Sustainable City - Developing World   Click to open the full paper as pdf document   Click to send an email to the author(s) of this paper