Towards urban resource flow estimates in data scarce environments : the case of African cities
Date
2015-09
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Scientific Research Publishing
Abstract
Data sourcing challenges in African nations have led many African urban infrastructure developments
to be implemented with minimal scientific backing to support their success. In some cases
this may directly impact a city’s ability to reach service delivery, economic growth and human development
goals, let alone the city’s ability to protect ecosystem services upon which it relies. As
an attempt to fill this gap, this paper describes an exploratory process used to determine city-level
demographic, economic and resource flow data for African nations. The approach makes use of
scaling and clustering techniques to form acceptable and utilizable representations of selected
African cities. Variables that may serve as the strongest predictors for resource consumption intensity
in African nations and cities were explored, in particular, the aspects of the Koppen Climate
Zones, estimates of average urban income and GDP, and the influence of urban primacy. It is
expected that the approach examined will provide a step towards estimating and understanding
African cities and their resource profiles.
Description
CITATION: Currie, P. et al. 2015. Towards Urban Resource Flow Estimates in Data Scarce Environments: The Case of African Cities. Journal of Environmental Protection, 6(9):1066-1083, doi:10.4236/jep.2015.69094.
The original publication is available at http://www.scirp.org/journal/JEP/
The original publication is available at http://www.scirp.org/journal/JEP/
Keywords
Resource Flows -- African Cities, Data scaling, Service delivery -- Africa, Cities and towns -- Africa -- Data processing, Information resources
Citation
Currie, P. et al. 2015. Towards Urban Resource Flow Estimates in Data Scarce Environments: The Case of African Cities. Journal of Environmental Protection, 6(9):1066-1083, doi:10.4236/jep.2015.69094.