CODATU 2015 | Energy, Climate and Air Quality: The Role of Urban Transport Policies in Developing Countries

Imagining Complete Streets for Developing Africa

David O. Nelson, Jacobs Engineering, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Nels Nelson, The Cecil Group, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Eline Bakker, QUEST-Consult, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

with assistance from Helawie Sewnet, Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and Kai Hoffman, GIZ Urban Governance and Decentralization Program, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia


Complete Streets is a design and management approach that plans, designs and maintains streets for safe, convenient, inclusive and comfortable travel and access by users of all ages and abilities regardless of their mode of transportation while also reimagining streets as not just a way to get from here to there safely; but also as places, in and of themselves, serving diverse social, economic, and environmental needs. It is a reaction against North America’s excessive concern for automotive mobility to the virtual exclusion of all other modes. Urbanizing Africa (and other rapidly urbanizing
regions) might adapt the Complete Streets approach and thereby leapfrog 20th century automobile-centered street design. 

The authors review key elements of the Complete Streets approach and review possible adaptations and applications for the needs of rapidly urbanizing areas in developing nations. Complete Streets for African cities must respond to local needs. Considerations for the African context and elsewhere in
the developing world include:  

• Informal sector effects pedestrian areas of city streets and can impinge on the space available.
• Unsanctioned and informal settlements  with improvised public services.
• Low levels of motorization and a wide range of non-motorized conveyances create more opportunities for conflict between motorized and non-motorized travelers.
• Minibuses and tuk-tuks place unique demands on streets as stops and terminals use more curb space than less frequent conventional busses.  
• Large numbers of pedestrians increase concerns about safety at crossings. 
• The choice of facility construction and maintenance techniques and materials affects how easily streets can be maintained.

The authors imagine how African transport planners might expropriate the Complete Street approach for application to challenges  faced in rapidly urbanizing areas of the developing world.

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