Posts tagged with 'Kigali'
I’ve watched in horror as Europe burns. Ferocious wildfires have swept through Spain, France and now Greece, scorching towns and forests and spewing toxic smoke. Hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes. Many will have little left to return to. European ...
When torrential rains hit Kinshasa in April 2025, the city of 20 million came to a standstill. Floodwaters submerged more than half the city as the Ndjili River and smaller streams overflowed, quickly overwhelming the city’s drainage capacity. Lives were ...
Over the next few decades, Rwanda is positioned to become one of the most competitive investment destinations in East Africa. National targets, such as achieving upper middle-income status by 2035 and high-income status by 2050 (Vision 2050)1, signal the government’s ...
Challenging Discriminatory Cultural Norms to Build Fair, Resilient Communities in Sub-Saharan Africa
Social norms and gender biases are widely recognized as major barriers to the social and economic empowerment of women, people with disabilities and other underrepresented groups, including limiting their participation in governance and decision-making. For instance, in many parts of the world, domestic and caregiving ...
Which neighborhoods are suffering the most from rising urban heat? Where is flooding the biggest challenge? What other cities around the world are struggling with air pollution, and what can we learn from those that have improved the quality of ...
Walking through Nyandungu Eco-Park in Kigali, Rwanda, it’s difficult to imagine that just a few years ago, industrial machinery and bedraggled grasses stood where lush trees and flowers now grow. Like in many wetlands across the city, the incursion of polluting industry ...
As cities try to restore the benefits of natural systems by mimicking how ecosystems function, one option they can use is nature-based solutions (NBS). However, cities often struggle to determine which types of interventions best suit their local context, due ...
Despite accounting for less than 3% of global terrestrial area, cities have had an outsized impact on our approach to planetary boundaries, affecting biodiversity and consumption of materials and energy. Studies show that cities have become responsible for 78% of carbon emissions, ...
Sprawl is a known and widespread challenge for rapidly growing cities across the world. Unplanned, inefficient development encroaches on natural resources and ecosystems, often reaching far beyond established transit networks. Residents of sprawling urban areas often face socioeconomic vulnerabilities and ...
Transforming Transportation 2025 is in the books. After a year of geopolitical turmoil and escalating climate impacts, the transport sector is seeing rapid change on multiple fronts. Across two days of events, leaders in government, business, academia and civil society ...
Africa’s cities, from large metropolises to smaller towns, are increasingly characterized by growing urban sprawl. Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, is expanding by about 2,000 people and 5 hectares (10 football fields) every day, according to a World Bank estimate. Kumasi, an intermediary ...
In a time of polycrises – from economic and political instability to health and environmental emergencies – water is a resource that cannot be relegated to the background. Especially in urban environments, water demand is ever-increasing and in too many ...
Alexandra Township is a 20-square-block enclave in the heart of Johannesburg, South Africa’s northern suburbs. Established in 1902, the township was built to house 750,000 residents. Today, it is home to more than 1.2 million. Despite efforts to increase waste ...
Like many parts of Africa, motorcycles are the most popular form of transportation among Rwanda’s 13.3 million people. Whether they’re commuting to work or school, transporting jugs of water from the local taps or just running everyday errands, people on ...
In Bogotá, Colombia, over 3,000 people die prematurely each year due to exposure to air pollution—namely from PM2.5, a fine particulate matter produced by vehicle exhaust, burning and industrial outputs. Bogotá is not alone: According to 2021 data, of 174 ...
