Democratic Republic of the Congo: Kinshasa Urban Development and Resilience Project
Kinshasa is Central Africa’s largest and fastest-growing urban system. The estimated population of 12 million inhabitants (2016), is largely underserved with infrastructure; it is estimated that only 6.4 percent of the city area has planned and well-serviced built areas. The failure to implement land development and titling procedures pushes the poorest to settle in flood and erosion prone areas increasing their vulnerability to weather and climate related hazards. Many areas of the city are surrounded by hills, leading to rapid precipitation run-off towards low-lying plains bordering the Congo River. Some neighborhoods are regularly flooded and extreme precipitation can lead to loss of life and property.
The Open Cities Kinshasa project will focus on the Kisenso and Matete Townships. Community mapping of flood extents and buildings, roads, and drainage infrastructure in OSM and associated mapping tools will contribute fundamental data layers for i) flood and erosion risk assessment of the project area, with gender-disaggregated variables; ii) flood risk evaluation under different scenarios, including climate change, land use change, and increased population; and iii) the development of early warning systems. The Kinshasa Provincial Ministry of Plan, Public Works and Infrastructure will be the Open Cities Kinshasa project’s primary government counterpart. Faculties from the University of Kinshasa and other partners, as directed by the World Bank, will also work in close collaboration with the project. The project plans to address the challenge of planning, by creating, assembling and disseminating open spatial data on the built environment and infrastructure, thus addressing the lack of updated data for analysis of the impact of disasters on these infrastructures and the population. The team will develop targeted products and tools to help key stakeholders use information that is useful for the prevention and management of potential risks and disasters.