Planning african rural towns

Monographs of the School of Doctoral Studies in Environmental Engineering Doctoral School in Environmental Engineering

Planning African rural towns
The case of Caia and Sena, Mozambique

Roberta Nicchia

2011

Monographs of the School of Doctoral Studies in Environmental Engineering Doctoral School in Environmental Engineering

Planning African rural towns
The case of Caia andSena, Mozambique

Roberta Nicchia

2011
i

Doctoral thesis in Environmental Engineering, XXIII cycle Faculty of Engineering, University of Trento Academic year 2009/2010 Supervisor: prof. Corrado Diamantini, University of Trento

University of Trento Trento, Italy 2011

ii

―Só a Antropofagia nos une. Socialmente. Economicamente. Filosoficamente. Única lei do mundo. Expressãomascarada de todos os individualismos, de todos os coletivismos. De todas as religiões. De todos os tratados de paz. [...] Só me interessa o que não é meu. Lei do homem. Lei do antropófago [...] A alegria é a prova dos nove. A luta entre o que se chamaria Incriado e a Criatura – ilustrada pela contradição permanente do homem e o seu Tabu. O amor cotidiano e o modusvivendi capitalista.Antropofagia. Absorção do inimigo sacro. Para transformá-lo em totem. A humana aventura. A terrena finalidade.‖

Oswald de Andrade, Manifesto antropófago, 1928

iii

iv

Preface
The present study is part of a wider research and spatial planning activity conducted over the last seven years by the DICA—Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (University of Trento) in the district ofCaia, Mozambique. The DICA, in fact, is involved in a decentralized cooperation program, named ―Il Trentino in Mozambico e il Mozambico in Trentino‖, between the Provinces of Trento (Italy) and Sofala (Mozambique). The Province of Trento acts in Mozambique through the CAM—Consorcio Associaçoes com Moçambique, a consortium of local associations that is responsible for managing the program. Theprogram aims to promote cooperation in different fields, including urban planning and management, between the local communities of Trento and Caia. The public sector reform in Mozambique, in fact, has recently transferred this responsibility from provinces to district administrations without providing them with adequate financial resources and technical instruments. Therefore, the localadministration of the district of Caia asked for the support of the CAM, which in turn sought expert advice from the DICA. In particular, support was required in the drawing up of two master plans for the small towns of the district: POTU—Plano de Ordinamento Territorial e Urbanização da Vila de Caia (2006), and PEU—Plano de Estrutura Urbano da Vila de Sena (2009). By way of the program ―Il Trentinoin Mozambico e il Mozambico in Trentino‖, I had the opportunity to conduct a two-month field research in the district of Caia in the summer 2008. The aim was to draw up a preliminary study for the master plan of Sena, the results of which are discussed in this thesis. Furthermore, I was asked to teach a two-week intensive course on urban management to the technicians of the Spatial PlanningOffice of the district of Caia. This was an important opportunity that allowed me to set the tone of the research, from the very beginning, with the actors to whom it is principally addressed: the local technicians that are responsible for managing the transformations of Mozambique rural towns.

v

vi

ContentsIntroduction….......................................................................................................................1 PART I—Theoretical framework 1. The origin of the debate on small and intermediate urban centres in Third World countries 1.1. Theory of modernization............................................................................................7 1.2. Failure of the theory of modernization and its effects on national and local urban...