Services d’eau en Afrique subsaharienne; La fragmentation urbain en question (Water services in Sub-Saharan Africa; Questioning urban fragmentation)

THIS BOOK OFFERS an inter-disciplinary reflection on water provision issues in sub-Saharan Africa. It describes how the policies carried out since the 1980s emphasize the relation between infrastructure, economic development and poverty reduction, granting a strategic role to service networks (such as water and sanitation, electricity, transport, telecommunications) in urban agglomeration. The author questions the impact of these transformations – privatization, liberalization and decentralization – on urban areas, and whether these will in fact contribute to achieving their intended objectives. The advocates of the splintering urbanism theory argue that by putting the accent on efficiency and performance, these reforms have worsened the sociospatial inequalities and weakened urban cohesion. This study demonstrates that the current evolutions also carry the potential to improve infrastructure equipment and service provision in poor suburbs; but they nevertheless require a redefinition of social equity in public services in Africa and a sustained commitment from the local and national public authorities. Field analysis is coupled to the study of French and Anglo-Saxon literature on the subject, and borrows from the economic and political sciences as well as from other world regions to put all the factors at stake into perspective. The study also provides numerous maps and boxes to illustrate the analysis and support the author’s argument.

The book begins by introducing the different approaches to analyzing water networks in urban areas. Chapter 1 then details the reforms of the ten years, 1980–90, that led to the commercialization of water services, and assesses and reports on their mixed outputs; it also looks at the new approaches for dealing with social issues. Chapter 2 explains the splintering urbanism theory, and explores the different driving forces of social cohesion and fragmentation in African cities and towns. Chapter 3 examines the new geographical patterns of the water supply sector in sub-Saharan Africa, their main characteristics and their consequences on the sociospatiality of urban areas. Chapter 4 deals with the decentralization reforms carried out in sub-Saharan countries and their contradictions. It considers the impact of the new regulations on national equity, and how this affects water supply systems at local and municipal level. Chapter 5 is concerned with the unequal spatial and territorial fragmentation of water services, both within and between different urban areas in sub-Saharan Africa. It explains the factors that may increase fragmentation and makes some suggestions for improvement. The book concludes on the different issues raised in the study: if “reformed” water services have not directly or decisively contributed to the urban fragmentation of African cities, they have increased the diversity of interactions between water services and urban spaces, and the risks of threatening urban cohesion. These reforms thus require the creation of new vigilance and regulation mechanisms.