By Mutabazi Sam Stewart Urban planning is a complex and multi-faceted field that encompasses a wide range of topics, from land use and zoning to transportation and infrastructure. It is the process of designing and managing the physical development of cities, towns, and other urban areas. Urban planners work to create livable, sustainable, …
By Sam Stewart Mutabazi One of the great architects/ Planner I admire is Constantinos Apostolou Doxiadis the great Greek town planner credited for designing Islamabad, the capital city of Pakistan. I must confess though, one of the reasons why I like him is his name Doxiadis. He studied in depth the science of Human …
Architects do Great things but they are the least recognized profession in the World Read More »
Urban planning or for that matter physical planning is an art and a science of creating better things out of disorder. A planner must have an open mind ready to explore but with insatiable need to come up with beautiful things. If you have a wild mind you are likely to be a better urban …
By Sam Stewart Mutabazi A few years ago, I was invited by an organization in Accra Ghana to speak about Bottlenecks of infrastructure development and specifically Roads. I made little bit of preparations since I thought it would be a “small” meeting. On arrival in Accra I was accorded first class treatment right from the …
How I made the best presentation to the wrong audience Read More »
Kampala is one of the least competitive cities in the world. It’s a lonely city that few people know about. It’s crowded, disconnected and disorganized. It’s closed for business both within itself and for outsiders. Investors who would need to come to the city find it costly to operate their businesses from here. Even when …
My ideas about urban planning and development in third world countries have been scattered. I have not had time to think through the concepts to arrive at solid ideas that would help and contribute to the healthy debate about how poor countries can go about developing their urban areas sustainably. Nevertheless, there are general theories …
The long journey of development in poor countries Read More »
If Kampala is to become a great City, four things it should consider seriously; Plant trees on massive scale, strictly enforce building plans, re-plan and reorganize it’s transport systems and lastly reshape her drainage stems to stop flooding. Without these everything is vanity. It should be common knowledge that every city needs greenery not only …
Kinshasa (DRC) is the largest city in Africa by population size followed by Lagos Nigeria. Nairobi, Kenya holds the tenth population while Kampala, Uganda is the 23rd largest city in Africa with a population of close to 3.5 million people. By it’s mere population, Kampala city is a big metropolis. Currently the city metropolitan area …
Schools require big pieces of land yet land in the city is quite valuable. Depending on the number of children, a school should have adequate space for classrooms, and recreational facilities all of which require a lot of land. There has a been a debate in Uganda with some people arguing in favour of maintaining …
Should we have schools in prime locations in the city centre? Read More »
There were no cities to talk about in Africa before colonialism. Eurocentric writers argue that only a few cities in Africa started to emerge after the external influence of Europeans and Arabs. They say modern cities are a result of colonization. Africa was almost entirely rural and some writers even go a step further to …