Africa City: Leading Climate-Resilient Economic Growth
Pioneering sustainable urban development while driving unprecedented economic prosperity
The Climate-Economy Challenge
Breaking the Traditional Growth-Emission Cycle
Past economic growth was accompanied by increased pressure on the climate through use of oil, coal and gas. As living standards improve, so do energy needs: the use of electricity, cars, heating of homes and more. These energy needs were often met with fossil fuels which emit greenhouse gases and are drivers of climate change.
Unfortunately, existing African cities simply copied the urban design that is common throughout the world, an urban design that encourages car ownership as soon as one is wealthy enough to own one. That is spilt milk that can’t be put back in the glass. The wealthier these African cities get, the greater the greenhouse gas emissions.
Fortunately, Africa still has low levels of urbanization so we have lots of room to limit the damage to the environment by building a new Pan-African city with an environmentally friendly urban design.
Africa City: A Revolutionary Linear Environmental Design
The linear urban design of Africa City proactively prevents economic growth from harming the environment. Its primary means of transportation is an electric mass transportation railway line. The 1 kilometer maximum width of the city was chosen to ensure the entire city remains within walking distance of the rail mass transportation system.
People who want to travel in privacy, door to door, will be able to use cars in Africa City. However, due to speed restrictions on the city’s indoor roads, those needing to commute long distances by car will utilize the train by parking inside specially designed flatbed train cars. This is similar to driving a car into a ferry to cross a river. The cars used inside Africa City will be electric from the start and very likely fully autonomous.
Solar-Powered Infrastructure: Another environmentally conscious decision is to make the city an indoor city whose entire outer façade will function as an on-site solar farm, covering both the roof and outer city walls.
Advanced Sustainable Logistics Systems
The city roof serves another environment-friendly purpose: it functions as a transportation highway for the city’s Drone & Dumbwaiter Delivery system. A dumbwaiter is a small elevator usually found in multistory restaurants, used to move food and dishes to and from the kitchen.
In Africa City, dumbwaiters will be installed inside each home and business to move deliveries to and from their roof address where drones drop-off and pick-up deliveries. The city roof ensures any drone accidents don’t result in drones falling from the sky and harming residents below.
In the age of online shopping, making last-mile deliveries of small products using trucks, cars or motorbikes represents an inefficient use of energy. This comprehensive approach demonstrates our commitment to climate change mitigation.
Climate Resilience Through Strategic Design
- Temperature Control: The indoor city design enables central cooling to reduce extremely high temperatures, ensuring comfortable living conditions even in challenging climates.
- Flood and Fire Protection: The city’s linear design makes it significantly more cost-effective to protect the city from floods and wildfires while providing comprehensive water management infrastructure.
- Water Security: Advanced pump infrastructure will transport fresh water to drought-stricken sections of the city, ensuring consistent water access regardless of external conditions.
- Interior Location Benefits: Following the railway deep into Africa’s interior minimizes damage from rising sea levels on the coast while maintaining connectivity to major ports.
Living Comfortably in Any Climate
You will hardly notice you are living in challenging climatic conditions. Africa City’s design ensures residents enjoy optimal living conditions while the city maintains complete environmental sustainability.
The Future of Sustainable Urban Development
Africa City represents more than just urban planning—it’s a blueprint for how developing nations can achieve economic prosperity while leading global climate resilience efforts.
From climate change mitigation to climate change resilience, Africa City is designed to be the most environmentally friendly while bracing itself for the worst, if global climate change commitments are not met.
Aaron Kalikawe
