Addressing urban sprawl in Douala, Cameroon: Lessons from Xiamen integrated coastal management

Abstract

This paper addresses the dynamics surrounding urban sprawl on the coastline of Douala, Cameroon. Douala is the economic capital, main seaport and the industrial nerve of Cameroon. Also, Douala harbours about 80% of the Cameroon's industries. Due to the centralized nature of economic activities in Douala by the State, urban development is more noticeable here than any other city in Cameroon. The fast developing nature of the city coupled with limited human/physical capital and poor management policies have resulted to intense anthropogenic pressure on coastal resources.This article examines the key actors shaping the urban planning process in Douala and expatiates on the gaps constraining sustainable urban planning in Cameroon. Moreover, Xiamen's socio-economic and environmental outlook before and after the implementation of integrated coastal management (ICM) is discussed. It is showcased that, the delegation of additional powers to local governments to implement new environmental laws and accepting of bilateral and multilateral assistance by the Chinese Central Government served as a crunch since the introduction of ICM. Moreover, the political will bestowed by the Xiamen municipal authorities, the participation and inculcation of relevant participants/stakeholders, the establishment of a multi-agency council and the acquisition of sea-use zoning scheme are all key points that symbols Xiamen's ICM accomplishment. Today, with the successful implementation of ICM, Xiamen has built dual status of a vibrant economy and comprehensive ecological environment.The conclusions of this effort portray that sprawl in Cameroon is caused by inadequate policy implementation, outdated master plan, insufficient information, disparity in resources distribution among the different regions of the State and the gaps expounded by the traditional management. Grounded in the knowledge drawn from Xiamen ICM, the paper recommends the creation of an autonomous coastal interagency in Douala to address the gaps disrupted by sectoral management, and thus, improve coastal management in Cameroon.

Spatial Integration and Urban Aglomeration in the Mamminasata Metropolitan Area

“…Connectivity among these areas and inadequate policy implementation cause differences in resource distribution and disparity in their services based on population grouping (Ngoran and Xue, 2015). However, the facts obtained in the field show that the confluence of mobilization from Makassar city to Maros regency and Gowa regency places the Mamminasata Metropolitan suburbs in crossing line.…”

Bibliometric Analysis on Quantifying Urban Sprawl in Assessing a Comprehensive Meaning of Sprawl : A Review

“…Lack of awareness on sprawl issues from some areas cause the efforts to contain sprawl sometimes resulted in increasing another (Coisnon, Oueslati & Salani, 2014Galster et al, 2001;Gottlieb, 1999;Ngoran & Xue, 2015;Wu et al, 2006). Besides, the analysis of the pattern of urban sprawl publications also indirectly explain why there are so many unintegrated methods and tools to measure sprawl.…”

“…While being a manifestation of development, it is known for its negative environmental and social impacts (Crawford, 2007;Feng et al, 2015). Over the years, urban sprawl concept has been defined in many ways by many different groups with each definition seemingly only serving each particular group's interest (Haase & Nuissl, 2007;Hammer & Witten, 2011;Ngoran & Xue, 2015). As a matter of fact, not all urban growth is considered as sprawl and one person's sprawl can be another person's solution to sprawl (Almeida, 2005;Gottlieb, 1999).…”

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