{"id":1574,"date":"2016-06-01T15:46:42","date_gmt":"2016-06-01T14:46:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/africa\/?p=1574"},"modified":"2016-10-26T15:41:56","modified_gmt":"2016-10-26T14:41:56","slug":"african-cities-in-motion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/africa\/2016\/06\/01\/african-cities-in-motion\/","title":{"rendered":"African Cities in Motion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Driving once in the middle of Lagos\u2019 traffic hassle<\/strong>, I could feel the driver\u2019s desperation. I told him about people working on the smart cities concept<\/strong>, and how information technology could enhance citizens\u2019 quality of life. I felt then a rather skeptical reaction<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Last week, IESE Cities in Motion Index<\/strong><\/a> (CIMI) was released<\/strong>. My colleagues Pascual Berrone<\/strong> and Joan Enric Ricart<\/strong> are the driving force of the team behind this index, which is in its third edition now. For the first time, Lagos and Nairobi have been included in it<\/strong>. This is one more sign that Africa is more and more in the radar screen<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"New
New infrastructures are transforming Lagos into a smarter city<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Are you surprised if I tell you that the two cities rank in the bottom-5 out of 181 cities?<\/strong> I guess not. What may surprise you, though, is that they rank in the top-third in terms of \u201cpublic management,\u201d one of the dimensions the index considers: Nairobi ranks 42, and Lagos 51<\/strong>. Public management encompasses \u201cactions aimed at improving the administration\u2019s efficiency,\u201d<\/strong>* and it\u2019s understood to be highly correlated with the state of public finances<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Nairobi ranks in the middle-range (101) in terms of \u201cgovernance<\/strong>\u201d which describes \u201cthe effectiveness, quality and sound guidance of state intervention. And so does Lagos (101) in terms of \u201ceconomy<\/strong>\u201d which includes \u201call those aspects that promote the economic development of a territory.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a visitor from the West, I find Lagos to be more challenging than Nairobi<\/strong> \u2013 even if I love the two of them. I have to say that I\u2019m surprised at how high they\u2019ve come out in the index in terms of public management<\/strong>. It may have to do with the indicators used to evaluate this dimension which relate to the<\/strong> tax system<\/strong>, the strength of the public finance system<\/strong>, the city\u2019s international importance<\/strong>, and the prominence of dissenting voices and ideas within cities<\/strong>. I don\u2019t have ready access to the raw data. If the high rank were driven by the latter indicator, I think this would be great news\u00a0for the citizens.<\/p>\n

Any thoughts?<\/p>\n

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Reated posts:<\/p>\n