Beyond the networked city: building innovative delivery systems for water, sanitation and energy in urban Africa

我们的研究将开发和测试改进的系统，为生活在城市地区的边缘化人群提供水、卫生和能源服务。之所以选择这些服务，是因为它们代表了城市人口最基本的需求，是可持续发展目标6(水和卫生)和可持续发展目标7(能源)的重点。我们的工作将支持实现SDG 11(可持续社区和城市)。研究将在塞拉利昂弗里敦和乌干达坎帕拉进行。这两个城市的人口都在迅速增长，贫困程度很高，非正式住区的数量也很多。这些城市目前获得供水、卫生设施和能源的比率很低，富裕地区和贫穷地区之间在获得这些服务方面存在明显的不平等。人口的快速增长导致了社区的建立，这些社区远离现有的基础设施，难以提供服务。因此，边缘化社区的家庭必须从非正式的、往往是“离网”的来源获得水、卫生设施和能源。例如，这包括使用木炭作为能源，挖井或受保护的泉水用于生活用水和现场基本卫生设施。我们的研究将把社会、经济和政治分析与自然科学和工程科学的见解结合起来，以了解如何发展基础设施、管理、金融和治理，以改善水、卫生和能源服务。我们的研究设计在五个相互关联的工作领域。我们将首先对每个城市建立一个透彻的了解。我们将分析城市迄今的发展情况以及未来可能如何发展；我们将确定哪些地区可以获得正式服务，哪些地区可以获得非正式服务；我们将绘制每个城市的危险和风险地图。我们将使用从官方统计数据收集的数据来分析每个城市，在弗里敦，我们将使用来自NASA的遥感数据来绘制城市地图。然后，我们将评估正式的网格服务，使用基础设施的数据关键属性来开发风险图。我们将研究供应商、政策制定者和城市官员对向目前无法获得服务的人提供服务的挑战和机会的态度。我们将通过研究非正式供应商如何提供服务来补充这一点，包括他们使用的技术和他们的商业模式。我们将评估服务的弹性，并研究非正式供应商对如何改进服务的看法，以及他们认为自己在这方面的作用。接下来，我们将在四个被边缘化的社区工作，以了解他们目前如何以及从哪里获得服务，他们支付多少费用，以及他们对服务质量的看法。我们将探讨居住在社区的人们认为什么是改善服务的最佳方式，以及他们认为谁应该提供服务。我们将利用我们从服务提供商和社区收集的关于这座城市的所有数据，制定一套改善对边缘化社区的服务的选项。这将使用德尔福方法，通过讨论就哪些是最好的选择达成共识。我们将让政策制定者、服务提供商和被边缘化社区的成员参与制定首选方案。我们研究的最后部分将在四个社区测试具体的干预措施。我们会进行正式的成果评估，以评估这些方案的成效，并对每个方案进行物有所值的评估。我们亦会制订全港范围的计划，逐步发展各项服务。在整个研究过程中，我们将与当地人、决策者和资助者接触，以确保我们的研究解决他们认为最重要的问题，并最大限度地发挥我们的研究影响每个城市服务发展的潜力。

Our research will develop and test improved systems to deliver water, sanitation and energy services to marginalised people living in urban areas. These services are selected because they represent the most fundamental needs of urban populations and are the focus of SDG 6 (water and sanitation) and SDG 7 (energy). Our work will support the achievement of SDG 11 (sustainable communities and cities).The research will be undertaken in Freetown, Sierra Leone and Kampala, Uganda. The population in both these cities is growing rapidly, with significant levels of poverty and significant numbers of informal settlements. Current rates of access to water supply, sanitation and energy are low in these cities, with striking inequalities in access to these services between wealthy and poor areas. The rapid increase in population has led to communities being established that are distant from existing infrastructure and difficult to serve. Households in marginalised communities therefore have to access water, sanitation and energy from informal and often 'off-grid' sources. This includes, for instance, using charcoal for energy, dug wells or protected springs for domestic water and basic on-site sanitation. Our research will combine social, economic and political analysis with insights from natural and engineering science to understand how the infrastructure, management, finance and governance can be developed to improve water, sanitation and energy services. Our research is designed in five inter-related work areas. We will first establish a thorough understanding of each city. We will analyse how the cities have developed to date and how they are likely to develop in the future; we will identify which areas have access to formal services and which have access to informal services; and will we map the hazards and risks in each city. We will use data collected from official statistics to analyse each city and in Freetown we will use remotely sensed data from NASA to map the city. We will then assess the formal on-grid services, using data key attributes of the infrastructure to develop risk maps. We will research the attitudes of suppliers, policy makers and city officials regarding the challenges and opportunities to extend services to people who don't currently have access. We will complement this by looking at how informal suppliers provide services, including the technologies they use and their business models. We will assess the resilience of the services and research the perceptions of the informal suppliers about how services can be improved and what they see as being their role in this. Next we will work in four marginalised communities to understand how and from where they currently access services, how much they pay and their perception of the quality of services. We will explore what people living communities think would be the best way to improve services and who they think should provide services. We will use all the data we have collected about the city, from suppliers of services and from communities to develop a set of options for improving services to marginalised communities. This will use a 'Delphi' method that uses discussions to build consensus on which are the best options. We will involve policy makers, service providers and members of marginalised communities to develop the preferred options. The final part of our research will be to test specific interventions in four communities. We will undertake a formal outcome evaluation to assess how well these options work and undertake a value for money assessment of each option. We will also develop city-wide plans for the development of services over time. Throughout our research we will engage with local people, decision-makers and funders to ensure that our research addresses the questions they think are most important and to maximise the potential for our research to influence service development in each city.