Monitoring slum and urban deprived area in sub-Saharan Africa using geospatial and socio-economic data

It is predicted that over 60% of the urban population in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) lives in slums, and this number is increasing in the coming years. However, issues on urban poverty and slum persistence in SSA cities are ignored and suffered from a paucity of robust evidence for a longtime. As reliable data on where are locations of urban deprived areas and slums, and on how these areas have evolved remain scarce, the scale of urban deprivation and challenges related to slums in SSA cities are underestimated.

This study explores to which extent urban morphology and accessibility of social services could explain urban poverty and slum locations, by using geospatial and socio-economic data, as well as machine learning techniques. Taking four African countries including Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, and Malawi as examples, we mapped slum locations and demonstrate that urban building morphological variables only can explain up to over 78% of slum locations. Our results further showed a declining trend in slum growth in old towns that are compacted in space. However, slums are not representing the most deprived urban area, while outskirts of megacities, middle-sized and small cities showed the least economic well-being, demonstrated by lower GDP and wealth index value; poor road and water access services. Our proposed slum and urban poverty mapping methods and results will be accessible and instrumental for scientists, local communities, policy-makers, and city planners, which will accelerate the process of finding solutions for tackling poverty, better managing public health and infrastructure in developing countries.