Transit-Oriented Development and Construction in African Cities

Besides the challenges of the existing vibrant population, the projections on global urban population increment of over 2 billion by the year 2050 with the anticipated rapid migration to cities and the associated rapid development of urbanization will heighten economic, environmental, and social issues (OECD, 2013; World Economic Forum, 2016; Gomez et al., 2019; Yingqun et al., 2019). In the bid to mitigate the existing challenges, emerging technologies, business models, and concept planning are being reviewed. As transportation is crucial to development, a model of public transport that maximizes spatial/residential space, business, and leisure and harmonizes such a symbiotic effect becomes a sine qua non to cities’ urban planning. A typical example of business models/emerging technologies is the inculcation of smart growth into urban development, out of which transit-oriented development (TOD) and infrastructure feature as concept planning. In contributing to social and economic development, therefore, transport infrastructure is considered as a holistic subset of the actual physical network, the vehicles and other means of conveyance, the soft system such as policy and governance, as well as the hard structure that comprises buildings and utilities (Renne & Wells, 2005; Nawaz et al., 2017). Due to its encompassing features, TOD and the building utilities become veritable tools in the concept of sustainable development as they can be used to develop, monitor, redefine, and revitalize settlements by integrating housing and transportation sectors (Jenks, 2005).