1. The Urban Sanitation Challenge:
Strategic Planning for Improvement
Ruth Kennedy-Walker
School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences
Newcastle University, UK
2nd April 2014
2. What I am going to present…
• The current sanitation picture
• Cities of the future
• Urban Planning
• My research focus and interests
13. Patterns of urbanisation
Angles, Schlomo (2011, making room for a planet of cities,
Lincoln Institute of Land Policy
Cities have high population densities
but…
Those densities are declining
14. What does this all mean?
Density declining => Larger urban land cover
= higher infrastructure costs
Urbanisation triggers economic growth => declining household
size = more demand for housing and related infrastructure
Lower income areas often at peripheral of city are
• created devoid of any planning regulations
• have poor access to services
• located in most vulnerable areas
16. Urban Development
Land
Infrastructure
Provision
Housing People
Formal Process
People Housing Land
Infrastructure
Provision
Informal Process
• Planning is dominated by transportation and moving people
• Serving people with basic services has lower priority
• Is this the best solution for Water and Sanitation provision?
19. Research Focus
Transforming waste project started in 2011
Aim is to provide a locally-appropriate solution for sanitation
in peri-urban areas by transforming domestic waste into (1)
cleaner water, suitable for irrigation or for further treatment
to potable water quality; and (2) high-value products,
including nitrogen and phosphate-rich fertilizers.
Title: The Urban Sanitation Challenge: Strategic Planning for Improvement Presenter: Ruth Kennedy-Walker, School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Newcastle University Overview: With 2.5 billion people in the world still lacking access to ‘improved’ sanitation and 1.1 billion people practicing ‘open defecation’ we are facing a huge challenge to increase global sanitation infrastructure provision, both now and for the future. Ruth will begin by discussing the current state of sanitation worldwide, reviewing the typology of the challenges being faced in urban environments and highlighting current planning solutions to those issues that have emerged in the last 30 years. She will then highlight her PhD research based in Lusaka, Zambia and current placement at the South East Asian division of the Water and Sanitation Program, World Bank which looks to understand how new approaches to the urban sanitation challenge can help to achieve access to sanitation at the scale required to make real change.
Title: The Urban Sanitation Challenge: Strategic Planning for Improvement Presenter: Ruth Kennedy-Walker, School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Newcastle University Overview: With 2.5 billion people in the world still lacking access to ‘improved’ sanitation and 1.1 billion people practicing ‘open defecation’ we are facing a huge challenge to increase global sanitation infrastructure provision, both now and for the future. Ruth will begin by discussing the current state of sanitation worldwide, reviewing the typology of the challenges being faced in urban environments and highlighting current planning solutions to those issues that have emerged in the last 30 years. She will then highlight her PhD research based in Lusaka, Zambia and current placement at the South East Asian division of the Water and Sanitation Program, World Bank which looks to understand how new approaches to the urban sanitation challenge can help to achieve access to sanitation at the scale required to make real change.
It saves lives...It saves money...It ensures dignity…No country has experienced sustained growth and improvements in equity without major improvements in sanitation
Target 7c: to reduce by half the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitationTracking is carried out by the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Program using all available statistically significant household survey data (DHS, MICs, WHS and census data)
Many countries of sub Saharan Africa and south east asia have coverage below 50%
Sanitation coverage is improving in almost every developing region. However 27 countries still have more than a quarter of their population practicing OD
Urban-rural disparities in sanitation have decreased however sanitation coverage disparities still persist.
Issue of exclusion- those who are socially and economically marginalised or excluded or those that cannot access standard sanitation. In Africa for example data shows gains in sanitation have primarily concentrated to richest segments which the poorest quintile being 20 times more likely to practice open defecation than the richest.Unequal worldPoor are more vulnerable (level, supply, coverage, land type)
Title: The Urban Sanitation Challenge: Strategic Planning for Improvement Presenter: Ruth Kennedy-Walker, School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Newcastle University Overview: With 2.5 billion people in the world still lacking access to ‘improved’ sanitation and 1.1 billion people practicing ‘open defecation’ we are facing a huge challenge to increase global sanitation infrastructure provision, both now and for the future. Ruth will begin by discussing the current state of sanitation worldwide, reviewing the typology of the challenges being faced in urban environments and highlighting current planning solutions to those issues that have emerged in the last 30 years. She will then highlight her PhD research based in Lusaka, Zambia and current placement at the South East Asian division of the Water and Sanitation Program, World Bank which looks to understand how new approaches to the urban sanitation challenge can help to achieve access to sanitation at the scale required to make real change.
Pictures of lights at night- shows High income CountriesWhat about those in the dark? Low and Middle Income Countries What is happening there.
Map showing urbanisation rates in LAMIC
Cities have high population densities>Density declining> larger urban land cover> infrastructure costs riseWhy (urbanisation is trigger for economic growth>declining household size> more demand for housing and related infrastructureLower income areas often at peripheral of city> created devoid of any planning regulations, poor access to services, most vulnerable areas
Cities have high population densities>Density declining> larger urban land cover> infrastructure costs riseWhy (urbanisation is trigger for economic growth>declining household size> more demand for housing and related infrastructureLower income areas often at peripheral of city> created devoid of any planning regulations, poor access to services, most vulnerable areas
Title: The Urban Sanitation Challenge: Strategic Planning for Improvement Presenter: Ruth Kennedy-Walker, School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Newcastle University Overview: With 2.5 billion people in the world still lacking access to ‘improved’ sanitation and 1.1 billion people practicing ‘open defecation’ we are facing a huge challenge to increase global sanitation infrastructure provision, both now and for the future. Ruth will begin by discussing the current state of sanitation worldwide, reviewing the typology of the challenges being faced in urban environments and highlighting current planning solutions to those issues that have emerged in the last 30 years. She will then highlight her PhD research based in Lusaka, Zambia and current placement at the South East Asian division of the Water and Sanitation Program, World Bank which looks to understand how new approaches to the urban sanitation challenge can help to achieve access to sanitation at the scale required to make real change.
Dominated by transportation (Land use and transport paramount concern for planners)Moving people is more important than service people with basic servicesAssumed all infrastructure will follow roadsMay not be best for WASH systems
More peopleFurther out of the cityPoor do not have title over land and therefore are not part of the planning processTechnology but also behaviourLots of people not served basic services.There are many challenges – water and sanitation are just one of many ‘priorities’ for citiesThere are many cities – and no single answerThe poor usually lose out – so we can play an important role in ‘including’ themThe system as a whole has to work – so we can play an important role supporting ‘big’ infrastructure and still be pro-poorOther sectors may have better entry-points, so we should work with them
Title: The Urban Sanitation Challenge: Strategic Planning for Improvement Presenter: Ruth Kennedy-Walker, School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Newcastle University Overview: With 2.5 billion people in the world still lacking access to ‘improved’ sanitation and 1.1 billion people practicing ‘open defecation’ we are facing a huge challenge to increase global sanitation infrastructure provision, both now and for the future. Ruth will begin by discussing the current state of sanitation worldwide, reviewing the typology of the challenges being faced in urban environments and highlighting current planning solutions to those issues that have emerged in the last 30 years. She will then highlight her PhD research based in Lusaka, Zambia and current placement at the South East Asian division of the Water and Sanitation Program, World Bank which looks to understand how new approaches to the urban sanitation challenge can help to achieve access to sanitation at the scale required to make real change.
This PhD is part of an Engineering and Physical Science Research Council funded project entitled, ‘A Global Solution to Protect Water by Transforming Waste’ which was formed in 2011. The project is in collaboration with the Universities of Glasgow, Sheffield, Cranfield and Ulster, and the Institute of Development Studies, Brighton and it’s focused aim is to provide a locally-appropriate solution for sanitation in peri-urban areas by transforming domestic waste into (1) cleaner water, suitable for irrigation or for further treatment to potable water quality; and (2) high-value products, including nitrogen and phosphate-rich fertilizers. The aim of the wider project is to create an interdisciplinary team that would work together to come up with an innovative solution to transforming waste for people located in such peri-urban location of fast growing cities. This PhD fits into the project by providing a better understanding of the complexities and dynamics within peri-urban cities of low-income countries and how these conditions affect infrastructural choices and the ability of communities Low Income Unplanned Settlements to make sustainable moves up the sanitation ladder. In depth analysis and fieldwork was completed in Lusaka, Zambia to inform the understanding for this project.
Nairobi example- paper just been accepted in special editions of ICE Municipal Engineer. Use least-cost network analysis based on distance to determine optimum location of transfer stations for Kibera based on emptying public toilets.
Sanitation value chain. Zambia have the containment part (not particularly well constructed and devoid of regulation)Important to understand this chain so we can highlight Where are we now, capacity of system and what we need to do to improve?Key concepts of interest are to ensure we have an Enabling EnvironmentTechnologicalOptions and Constraints to those optionsSocial Factors which effect the planning/design/implementation and operation of different options
At these domains trying to understand what the situation in relation to sanitation looks like, history of how it got there and capacity of the system to deal with the sanitation problem.Capacity in terms of technological, economic, managerial, institutional, socio-cultural and environmental capacity. Physical hardware situation and capacity and aligning that to the software components (access factors, social networks, knowledge transfer, existing access mechanisms).Because of the wider project main focus is on decentralised treatment system known as FSM (where our technology would sit). However decided to compare two main low-cost technical solutions condominal/road based and what is best for low income communities in terms of connection to decentralised/centralised/extendedcentralisedsystemLeast cost network mapping solution with Tom Holderness to improve the ‘pre-planning step’ for technical aspect. Idea to develop easily applicable planning tools to highlight the best options for inclusion of the whole value chain and comparable costing for each option. Also transferable to other services- such as solid waste management.
Issue of data as unlike Kibera crowd source data is not available.
At these domains trying to understand what the situation in relation to sanitation looks like, history of how it got there and capacity of the system to deal with the sanitation problem.Capacity in terms of technological, economic, managerial, institutional, socio-cultural and environmental capacity. Physical hardware situation and capacity and aligning that to the software components (access factors, social networks, knowledge transfer, existing access mechanisms).Because of the wider project main focus is on decentralised treatment system known as FSM (where our technology would sit). However decided to compare two main low-cost technical solutions condominal/road based and what is best for low income communities in terms of connection to decentralised/centralised/extended centralised systemLeast cost network mapping solution with Tom Holderness to improve the ‘pre-planning step’ for technical aspect. Idea to develop easily applicable planning tools to highlight the best options for inclusion of the whole value chain and comparable costing for each option. Also transferable to other services- such as solid waste management.
Low cost sewerage, motorised/manual emptying and transportation-Decentralised (local) or Centralised (existing city) systemThree scenarios- technology in a perfect environment, environmental considerations, social considerations (acceptance, planning, operation and maintenance, sustainability)- Capacity, socio-economic factors, perception factors, spatial proximity factors, social proximity factors (networks and access factors, social networks, knowledge transfer, existing access mechanisms)Leastcost network mapping solution with Tom Holderness to improve the ‘pre-planning step’ for technical aspect. Idea to develop easily applicable planning tools to highlight the best options for inclusion of the whole value chain and comparable costing for each option. Also transferable to other services- such as solid waste management.
Many organisations are seeing the positives of non-sewered FSM solutions to address the big gap in sanitation provision for developing countries- especially for urban poor. Bill and Melinda gates, USAid, WSP.WSP have been completing baseline studies to understand the value of FSM and are now undertaking a in depth global study in 4 cities to look at the potential marketability and overall benefits of promoting FSM as a viable option for improving sanitation access. Trying to learn lessons and prove concept.I am currently involved in one of these cities as an intern based in Jakarta, Indonesia but focused on Balikpapan on Borneo. Indonesia 73% of urban population have access to improved facilities (14% OD). Questionability over the quality of these facilities and there ability to not have a negative impact on the surrounding environment.Collecting data to formulate an understanding of what information do we need and how can we better assess what is required to make FSM work for cities within developing countries where service need to be improved, expanded and become more pro-poor.We still have a long way to go to achieve sustainable access to improved sanitation for the world urban poor.Urban sanitation planning methods and processes can aid in improving access at scaleDesire for change from all levels as well as the right enabling environment to make steps up the ladder which include the whole value chain.