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While Africa remains the least urbanized of developing regions, it had an average urbanization rate of 140 percent from the 1960s to the 1990s, which is 10 times that of OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries and 2.5 times that of the rest of the developing world. Moreover, Africa's rate of rural-urban migration is projected to increase further in coming decades.

Around the globe, economic development and urbanization have tended to go hand in hand, i.e., as the share of a country's population living in urban areas increases, so too does its level of economic development. Sub-Saharan Africa remains a notable exception to this pattern. Indeed, African urbanization is a poverty-driven process compared to the industrialization-induced development that urbanization represents in other world regions.

Water is a driver and mediator of change in the peri-urban zone. Low agricultural productivity, which is often tied to limited water access, is implicated as one cause of rural-urban migration. Land-use change, coupled with particular types of water and sanitation infrastructure investment, shapes the distribution of both public health challenges and poverty in the rural-urban fringe. The rapid increase in waste production and demand for potable water in newly developed areas poses a challenge for institutions responsible for public service provision and an opportunity to innovate with water re-use strategies.

Scholars and practitioners are working on these and many other water-related issues in the peri-urban context but are commonly isolated in disciplinary and institutional silos that offer limited opportunities for exploration and mutual learning. Accordingly, this Uncommon Dialogue is designed to allow participants to share their work and experience with people from very different backgrounds, while encouraging them to move out of their comfort zone into topics and frameworks that are new and potentially synergistic. More broadly, the group will work together to identify opportunities for research-practice partnerships that address critical knowledge gaps around water, health and development at the rural-urban interface.

Water, Health, & Development

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