Gambia

The Gambia population and housing census 2013 has estimated that the Gambia has a total population of 1,857,181million people in 2013 with an annual estimated growth rate of 3.1% According to the 2013 census, 57.8%percent of the country’s residents live in urban areas from 37.1% in 1993. This means that significant proportion of the population migrates from rural areas to urban centres as people looked for new opportunities and access to urban services. During the last two decade, the population of West Coast Region (WCR) increased from 389,594--- to 688,744– making it the most urbanized region in the Gambia. This makes planning urbanization a priority for the country.

Challenges experienced and lessons learned in The Gambia have shown that the country is experiencing the phenomena of the urbanisation of poverty. With an increase in population from 31.7% in 1993 to 50% in 2003 and 57.8% in 2013urbanization is a major social challenge, and also has major implications on service delivery, not only in the Urban areas but also in large growth centers in the rural areas. Another key trend in urbanisation is the increasing pressure on urban resources such as high price of land and house rents, water and electricity shortage.

Environmentally, rapid urbanisation is also leading to increasing pollution and excess waste generation, which poses risks to the health of residents as well as threatening the environmental sustainability of urban settlements. There is a need to implement differentiated fiscal and infrastructure support to cities so that they are able to better manage these challenges and maintain stability. The challenges to promote stronger urban-rural linkages highlight that development planners and policy makers must increasingly think of the impact of their development interventions in ways that are more integrated and emphasize the importance of analyzing rural and urban economies as a united whole, and municipalities should endeavor to ensure holistic regional Spatial /town planning and promote economic opportunities.

Coordinated and targeted infrastructure provision is also critical for linking the rural areas not only with basic services, but also with higher-level services in health, transport and education. Infrastructure works as a bridge between rural and urban worlds and between agricultural sectors and other sectors of the economy. Again, the significant importance of infrastructure is its role integrating rural economies to larger towns, cities, national markets or trade networks. Lessons from past programmes have demonstrated the importance of coordinated investments by spheres of government as collaboration strengthens the linkages between the various spaces.