tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/maputo-40619/articlesMaputo – The Conversation2023-11-27T14:01:41Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2162052023-11-27T14:01:41Z2023-11-27T14:01:41ZRwanda’s troops in Mozambique have done well to protect civilians – the factors at play<p><a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Rwanda">Rwanda</a>’s involvement in <a href="https://www.ipinst.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/ipi-pub-ppp-rwanda.pdf#page=1">peacekeeping operations</a> for the United Nations (UN) and African Union (AU) has increased since 2004. </p>
<p>The relatively small east African nation is Africa’s most active troop-contributing country and the fourth most active worldwide. It has <a href="https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/troop-and-police-contributors">nearly 6,000 soldiers and police</a> committed to UN peacekeeping missions.</p>
<p>In recent years, however, Rwanda has deployed its army independently of the UN or AU. In 2020, it sent 1,000 troops to fight anti-government rebels in the <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/central-africa/central-african-republic-rwanda/b191-rwandas-growing-role-central-african-republic">Central African Republic</a>. A year later, it sent soldiers to deal with jihadist militants in northern Mozambique, and now has <a href="https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news-feature/2022/03/08/military-intervention-has-not-stopped-mozambique-jihadist-conflict">2,500 troops</a> there. </p>
<p>These two missions aim to confront and eliminate armed enemies of the host state. The operations – which aren’t under the UN and AU protocols – raise questions about the conduct of Rwanda’s army and its counterinsurgency doctrine. Specifically when it comes to avoiding civilian casualties. </p>
<p>Traditional peacekeeping missions have a <a href="https://www.globalr2p.org/improving-peacekeeping-and-civilian-protection/">disappointing record</a> on protecting innocent bystanders. UN and AU forces have been <a href="https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/united-nations-peacekeeping-forces-expelled-mali-drc-somalia-africa-by-adekeye-adebajo-2023-10">criticised</a> for being risk averse and under-resourced in preventing crimes and violence against civilians. </p>
<p>In 2015, Rwanda was one of several countries arguing that the UN should do more to defend civilians in conflict. It sponsored a set of recommendations eventually codified as the <a href="https://r2pasiapacific.org/files/2942/2018_kigali_principles.pdf">Kigali Principles on the Protection of Civilians</a>. They identified various shortfalls that handicap many peacekeeping missions. </p>
<p>I’m a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=ncVlZRkAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate">conflict researcher</a> who has examined Rwanda’s military intervention in Mozambique. In a recent <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09592318.2023.2261400?src=">paper</a>, I used the deployment to evaluate the Rwandan army’s commitment to protecting civilians.</p>
<p>The Mozambique mission is independent of the UN and AU. Therefore, the Rwandan military is less subject to the monitoring that guards against excessive force and abusive practices. As an offensive counterterrorism operation, the mission is also potentially more aggressive and violent than peacekeeping. </p>
<p>Conventional wisdom would predict that an <a href="https://warontherocks.com/2016/02/death-solves-all-problems-the-authoritarian-counterinsurgency-toolkit/">authoritarian government</a> like Rwanda’s would be heavy-handed in putting down an insurrection. But my findings suggest that’s not so in Mozambique.</p>
<p>The Mozambique campaign is unlike the disaster across Rwanda’s border in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). There, Rwanda’s army stands <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/8/4/rwanda-backing-m23-rebels-in-drc-un-experts">accused</a> of backing the <a href="https://theconversation.com/m23-four-things-you-should-know-about-the-rebel-groups-campaign-in-rwanda-drc-conflict-195020">M23 rebels</a> who have committed war crimes and accelerated a humanitarian crisis.</p>
<h2>The Mozambique mission</h2>
<p>The province of Cabo Delgado in northern Mozambique had been struggling with a <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/southern-africa/mozambique/303-stemming-insurrection-mozambiques-cabo-delgado">vicious jihadist insurgency</a> since <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17531055.2020.1789271">2017</a>. Efforts by Mozambique’s security forces and foreign mercenaries failed to stop decapitations, village burnings and attacks on government forces and infrastructure. </p>
<p>When militants threatened <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGB6c-gn5Fw&themeRefresh=1">oil and gas development projects</a> that once promised to lift Mozambique out of poverty, President <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/africa_mozambique-rwanda-armies-retake-key-jihadist-held-town/6209325.html">Felipe Nyusi turned to Rwanda for help in 2021</a>. The Rwandan Defence Forces began to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03932729.2022.2132046">attack</a> Islamic State-aligned militants. </p>
<p>Yet, the Rwandan army has balanced the pursuit of insurgents and the protection of the population. Operations to annihilate insurgents often kill and injure civilians as well. Strategies that focus narrowly on protecting civilians, on the other hand, tend to make <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13698249.2022.1995680">counterinsurgent forces gun shy</a>. </p>
<h2>What worked</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09592318.2023.2261400?src=">My study</a> suggests how Rwanda has been able to hold down civilian casualties while battling insurgents. The Rwandan army was in Mozambique nearly a year before inflicting its first recorded <a href="https://www.caboligado.com/reports/cabo-ligado-weekly-27-june-3-july-2022">civilian fatality</a> – a single curfew breaker in a tense recovered town.</p>
<p>First, Rwandan troops actively patrol and interact with the community to collect information about the local people and the insurgents who threaten them. Rwandan soldiers benefit from their knowledge of Swahili, which enables them to communicate directly with the locals. It helps them tell friend from foe.</p>
<p>The second factor is restraint: a more disciplined use of firepower. As the experience of western armies in Iraq and <a href="https://direct.mit.edu/daed/article/146/1/44/27133/Limiting-Civilian-Casualties-as-Part-of-a-Winning">Afghanistan</a> has shown, maintaining restraint under the persistent threat of ambush isn’t easy. It comes with some risk too. </p>
<p>Other conditions likely contributed to <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/rwandas-military-intervention-in-mozambique-raises-eyebrows/a-58957275">Rwanda’s early success</a> in Mozambique. The insurgents don’t use suicide tactics, for instance. And at least <a href="https://adf-magazine.com/2023/08/insurgents-strike-cabo-delgado-with-remote-controlled-ieds/">until recently</a> they have lacked sophisticated explosives. </p>
<p>Also, portions of the affected area in Cabo Delgado were largely abandoned when the Rwandans arrived. This helped in sorting insurgents from innocents. </p>
<p>Still, these considerations shouldn’t discount the Rwandan army’s achievements. Its record in the <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/central-africa/central-african-republic-rwanda/b191-rwandas-growing-role-central-african-republic">Central African Republic</a> is also consistent with its conduct in Mozambique. There as well, Rwandan forces have attained impressive battlefield results without inflicting substantial civilian harm. </p>
<h2>Rwanda in DRC</h2>
<p>The story is different in the DRC. <a href="https://nationalinterest.org/feature/central-africa%E2%80%99s-strategic-balance-crumbling-206022">A case has been made</a> that Rwanda’s destabilising activities there are motivated by <a href="https://theconversation.com/rwanda-and-drcs-turbulent-past-continues-to-fuel-their-torrid-relationship-188405">strategic interests</a> that don’t apply in Mozambique or the Central African Republic. </p>
<p>This doesn’t explain the mentality of rank-and-file soldiers, though. The army’s record in Mozambique and the DRC suggests instead that Rwandan battlefield behaviour may be conditioned by cognitive framing and service culture. </p>
<p>Studies of the way foreign armies approach missions in places like Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Lebanon have found that <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09636412.2017.1306393">culture and framing</a> often shape how troops perceive their environment, interpret threats and understand their role.</p>
<p>Fighting in eastern DRC may be perceived differently by Rwandan soldiers because it’s so intimately tied to the traumas of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Rwanda-genocide-of-1994">1994 genocide</a>. They may worry about spillover violence affecting stability in Rwanda, or about ethnic discord tearing the army itself apart. </p>
<p><a href="https://direct.mit.edu/isec/article/46/4/48/111176/Soldiers-Dilemma-Foreign-Military-Training-and">Armed forces elsewhere</a> have demonstrated a tendency to prize their own cohesion above human rights concerns in high-stress scenarios.</p>
<h2>The civilian factor</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09592318.2023.2261400?src=">My research</a> suggests the Rwandan army’s actions in Mozambique have been consistent with the core promises of the Kigali Principles. </p>
<p>In response to <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/southern-africa/mozambique/winning-peace-mozambiques-embattled-north">persistent militant raids</a>, Rwandan troops in Cabo Delgado have conducted pursuits across district boundaries. Troops have gone further afield at Maputo’s request. </p>
<p>The presence of Rwanda’s soldiers has also helped to curb the mistreatment of local inhabitants by Mozambique’s police and armed forces. These forces have a history of <a href="https://www.afrobarometer.org/publication/ad687-amid-increasing-insecurity-mozambicans-fault-police-for-corruption-lack-of-professionalism/">corruption</a> and <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/12/04/mozambique-security-forces-abusing-suspected-insurgents">abuse</a>. </p>
<p>The Islamist insurgency in Mozambique, however, has yet to be defeated. A long-term solution will require more fundamental political and social measures, as well as reform of Mozambique’s security services. </p>
<p>Rwandan army operations have demonstrated what a competent African force can do when properly resourced and committed to the mission. It also suggests that soldiers are more effective when empowered to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDsIPgJGKQU">exercise discretion</a> in applying force.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216205/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ralph Shield does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Rwandan forces have been able to keep civilian casualties low in Cabo Delgado despite carrying out a counterterrorism operation.Ralph Shield, Conflict researcher, US Naval War CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1229542019-09-09T13:14:03Z2019-09-09T13:14:03ZWhat must happen for Mozambique to have lasting peace after accord<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291284/original/file-20190906-175700-130zm6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mozambique's President Filipe Nyusi (L) and Renamo leader Ossufo Momade (R) after both signed an agreement to cease hostilities.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">ANDRE CATUEIRA/EPA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Mozambican government recently signed a peace deal with the Renamo opposition party, in time for <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/08/mozambique-president-renamo-leader-sign-peace-deal-190801115411693.html">elections in October</a>. This is the most decisive step so far towards ending a low-intensity yet persistent conflict that began in 2013. </p>
<p>But the peace deal is haunted by at least three important potential issues. These are a splinter group within Renamo, the willingness of the ruling Frelimo to devolve power to the provinces, and how clean the upcoming elections are.</p>
<p>This time, Renamo’s leader <a href="https://clubofmozambique.com/news/mozambique-who-is-ossufo-momade-renamos-newly-appointed-interim-leader/">Ossufo Momade</a> is on board. But not all of Renamo’s soldiers are behind him. Major-general Mariano Nhongo, claiming to be the leader of a faction called the Renamo Military Junta, has said the men under his command will not disarm until Renamo <a href="https://allafrica.com/stories/201908290006.html">elects a new leader</a>.</p>
<p>This splintering in Renamo has its origins in the <a href="https://www.news24.com/Africa/News/mozambique-veteran-rebel-leader-dhlakama-dead-party-sources-20180503-2">unexpected death last May</a> of Afonso Dhlakama, its leader of 39 years. He had led Renamo since the late 1970s, through more than a decade of civil war and tortuous negotiations in the early 1990s followed by <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2018-05-04-mozambique-instability-feared-in-the-wake-of-veteran-renamo-leaders-demise/">20 years of peace</a>. </p>
<p>At the end of July this year some buses were attacked, reminiscent of what happened in 2013, although Nhongo has denied involvement. Four vehicles were shot at in early September on the borders of the Gorongoza district where Nhongo is operating.</p>
<h2>Afonso Dhlakama and Renamo</h2>
<p>So closely identified was Renamo with Dhlakama that even after he left Maputo, claiming not to be safe in the capital, and retreated to his wartime redoubt at Gorongosa in 2012, he was able simultaneously to command the loyalty of a small army of ageing guerrillas and the opposition bench in Parliament. </p>
<p>Groups of veterans from the 1976-92 war began to gather at sites across central and northern Mozambique. A confrontation with riot police in the central Mozambican market town of Muxúnguè in April 2013 triggered a wave of violence that began with Renamo ambushes on government vehicles. It escalated as government forces attacked communities suspected of <a href="https://theconversation.com/old-soldiers-old-divisions-are-central-in-new-mozambique-conflict-62130">harbouring Renamo fighters</a>.</p>
<p>In successive rounds of peace talks, interspersed with periods of violence, Dhlakama made political demands including the devolution of power to provincial level. Party-to-party talks, first with local and then international mediators, proved too unwieldy to make any progress. </p>
<p>Then, when the situation appeared intractable, Dhlakama <a href="https://theconversation.com/mozambiques-unexpected-truce-still-hangs-in-the-balance-71365">started talking to Mozambican President Felipe Nyusi</a>, who is also the leader of Frelimo, by phone from his hideout in Gorongosa. Unrestrained by fractious party colleagues, in a matter of weeks, they made more progress than was made in months at the negotiating table. </p>
<p>Dhlakama’s death did not halt the peace process. Now his successor, Momade, has won the trust of the Renamo politicians, but not all of the old soldiers. Will they raise their weapons once more? </p>
<p>To understand the new peace settlement we have to consider its different components, and what they mean for the Renamo leadership, for the soldiers, and for civilians.</p>
<h2>Renamo soldiers and leaders</h2>
<p>First, there’s a process of granting posts in the police and army to a small number of Renamo soldiers. This only became an issue because two parties interpreted the <a href="https://peaceaccords.nd.edu/accord/general-peace-agreement-mozambique">1992 peace accord</a> differently, but in recent months have reached a consensus. As long as the officers who benefit in this way are chosen from among those who played an important role in the 2013-16 violence, then it makes a continuation of that violence less likely.</p>
<p>The next component of the peace agreement is disarming and demobilising the Renamo men who fought in the recent conflict. This is more complicated, because nobody knows how many of these men there are, or how many weapons they have. </p>
<p>The fighting forces were small and lightly armed – ambush tactics gave them a strategic advantage. Equally, there may be some ambiguities over who was a soldier and who wasn’t: some would travel back and forth between their home villages and the Renamo bases. </p>
<p>Nhongo and his self-styled junta make things still more unpredictable, because it’s unknown how many soldiers will do his bidding – <a href="https://www.chathamhouse.org/expert/comment/hope-peace-and-reconciliation-pope-francis-mozambique">though this is likely not more than 80</a>, and they’re confined to one area. Even when the conflict was at its worst in 2013-14 and 2015-16, it was never certain to what extent the initiative was coming from the soldiers and to what extent it was from the leadership. </p>
<p>This brings us to the question of civilian support.</p>
<h2>Civilian support</h2>
<p>During the 2013 and 2016 violence there was a widespread feeling in central and northern Mozambique that Renamo was fighting for a just cause, namely a better distribution of power and wealth across the country.</p>
<p>Renamo kept this constituency onside by avoiding civilian casualties. Until there is any concrete progress in addressing <a href="http://www.africafocus.org/docs10/moz1009a.php">regional inequality</a> within Mozambique, there will still be some popular support for continued military mobilisation.</p>
<p>Given this combination of errant soldiers and sympathetic civilians, there should be no surprises if there are further sporadic attacks on government vehicles and installations. The government needs to accept the good faith of Momade’s leadership that Renamo as a party does not bear responsibility for such attacks.</p>
<h2>Elections</h2>
<p>The third element of the agreement is political: provincial governors will now be elected in each province, in contrast to the current system in which the central government appoints provincial governors. </p>
<p>Under the new arrangements, Renamo should be able to win some elections at provincial level. Most obviously, this is good for Momade: candidacies for provincial governorship’s will be his to dispense as favours, and provincial budgets will, in theory, be at Renamo’s disposal.</p>
<p>Devolved elections will help address a widespread complaint that central and northern Mozambique are neglected by a distant government in Maputo. The removal of the immediate political motivation for the conflict would make it harder for the soldiers to retain the trust that they have enjoyed in recent years.</p>
<p>However, Mozambican elections have always been <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2016/03/09/mozambique-returns-to-war-as-opposition-claims-electoral-fraud/">tainted by fraud</a>, and it is possible that this could be used to keep Renamo away from provincial government. Also, the lesson of municipal-level government, where there has been local devolution for many years, is that Frelimo can use its control of the centre to constrain the power of opposition parties that get elected locally. </p>
<h2>Prospects for peace</h2>
<p>In short, the political agreement may well keep Renamo’s leaders content for now, provided that Frelimo is wise enough to concede some substantive power to Renamo at provincial level.</p>
<p>Ultimately, age may be the decisive factor in preventing a repetition of the events of 2013-16. The recent conflict was waged by veterans aged 40 and older, some as old as 70. They’re not getting younger, and it’s unlikely that Nhongo can come anywhere near Dhlakama’s ability to mobilise such an unlikely army across much of the country.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122954/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Justin Pearce has received funding from The Leverhulme Trust. </span></em></p>The splintering in Renamo has its origins in the unexpected death last May of Afonso Dhlakama, its leader of 39 years.Justin Pearce, Teaching Associate in Politics and International Studies, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/848722018-04-19T12:43:54Z2018-04-19T12:43:54ZOur favourite cities – by four urban planners<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210080/original/file-20180313-30979-p8wnd2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/132839688@N08/25722656605/sizes/l">B. Lucava/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>More and more people <a href="http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/news/population/world-urbanization-prospects-2014.html">are moving into cities</a>. As growing populations place pressure on urban housing, infrastructure and transport systems, residents, planners and politicians are having to come up with clever solutions to make their cities decent places to live. Yet the quality of a city is not simply defined by the grandeur of its buildings, or the efficiency of its transport system. Here, four urban planners name their favourite cities, and explain what makes them special.</em></p>
<hr>
<h2>Maputo, Mozambique</h2>
<p><strong>Vanesa Castán Broto, University of Sheffield</strong></p>
<p>We do not see cities: we experience them through a multitude of encounters. Trying to explain why I like Maputo is like putting together all those encounters in a unique, yet partial, vision of the city. Not only have I had great times there, but Maputo has taught me most of what I know about the contemporary city. </p>
<p>As <a href="http://online.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/abs/10.3828/idpr.2017.9">my research</a> became entangled with the future of this city, my own success depended on understanding Maputo. Liking Maputo became a necessity. So when I try to explain why I like Maputo so much, it’s impossible to detach the reasons from my own biography. I don’t have a straightforward, bounded picture of the city ready to offer up to others. Instead, I can tell you what I learned there. </p>
<p>Maputo revealed to me how contemporary cities go beyond that absurd dichotomy of the “formal” and “informal” city. In Maputo, city managers talk of the separation between a “city of concrete” – the old colonial city, designed by the Portuguese – and the “city of reed” – the neighbourhoods, or barrios, where most of the population live. The latter often <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13549839.2013.801573">lack basic infrastructure</a> such as water, sanitation and electricity. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209995/original/file-20180312-30969-j449lo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209995/original/file-20180312-30969-j449lo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209995/original/file-20180312-30969-j449lo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209995/original/file-20180312-30969-j449lo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209995/original/file-20180312-30969-j449lo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209995/original/file-20180312-30969-j449lo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209995/original/file-20180312-30969-j449lo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Chance encounters.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/25061723@N00/3364584440/sizes/l">cordelia_persen/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For a while, this way of looking at things made a lot of sense to me. Then I took a liking to walking around the city, as a means of discovery. As you walk Maputo, you experience how the formal and informal cross into each other, to the point where the boundaries become hopelessly blurred. </p>
<p>You may be walking down the Costa do Sol on a Sunday afternoon, watching new hotels being built with <a href="https://www.urbanafrica.net/news/changing-cityscape-maputo/">Chinese capital</a>, while Maputo’s incipient middle classes eat seafood in front of Maputo Bay. Suddenly, without you noticing, you find yourself in a neighbourhood of makeshift huts, where flooding is obviously a routine problem. </p>
<p>Maputo also showed me how the built environment intrudes into people’s lives. I experienced this myself walking around Chamanculo – an historical but under-serviced neighbourhood near the centre. Life in Chamanculo is organised around a few large open avenues. The buzzing economic activity of small traders selling mostly food, drinks, charcoal and kitchenware, and businesses such as internet cafes, hairdressers and local shops is occasionally interrupted by the roaring of a four-wheel-drive car with tinted windows. </p>
<p>These big avenues are connected by small passages in between the houses, which can considerably shorten walking distances. Every time I go to Chamanculo, I study the map, and I tell to myself that this time I will know my way around the neighbourhood. But once I enter, I am lost. I have never had this experience anywhere else in the world. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209968/original/file-20180312-30961-15gdel3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209968/original/file-20180312-30961-15gdel3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209968/original/file-20180312-30961-15gdel3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209968/original/file-20180312-30961-15gdel3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209968/original/file-20180312-30961-15gdel3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209968/original/file-20180312-30961-15gdel3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209968/original/file-20180312-30961-15gdel3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Labyrinthine Chamanculo from above.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2010-10-18_10-55-36_Mozambique_Maputo_Chamanculo_%E2%80%9DB%E2%80%9D.jpg">Hansueli Krapf/Wikimedia Commons.</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I have been lost in Chamanculo numerous times, alone and accompanied, and always experience the same: the streets seem to fold onto me and when I turn back the way I came from, it is completely unfamiliar. I feel both fear and wonder about how the city reinvents itself around me. Unsurprisingly, local residents demand public lighting to increase the security in those areas, and you have to wonder how people – especially women – feel when they have to venture into this labyrinth at night to reach the collective toilet.</p>
<p>Most of all, Maputo has taught me to think of the cities as places of possibility. For example, in Maputo I dropped my obsession with electrification. Talking with people about how electricity and fuels matter to them, I <a href="https://www.developmentbookshelf.com/doi/book/10.3362/9781780449296">realised that</a> people have found many ways to obtain the services they need – whether they have reliable access to electricity or not. </p>
<p>I am not downplaying the tremendous injustices that nearly a billion residents of informal settlements around the world experience every day, because they don’t have access to basic services. But Maputo invites you to think of different ways in which urban life, right across the globe, could be reimagined. For me, this is a comforting thought in a world that seems to be riding towards a <a href="http://www.resourcepanel.org/reports/weight-cities">global resource crisis</a>. </p>
<hr>
<h2>Havana, Cuba</h2>
<p><strong>James Warren, Open University</strong></p>
<p>In Havana, <a href="http://www.temas.cult.cu/articulo/2263/la-habana-toda-vieja">everything is old</a> - so old, in fact, that the city will celebrate its 500th birthday in November 2019. Its age appears magnified by the fact that many of the buildings don’t receive the level of maintenance that they really deserve. Even so, the city has made efforts to preserve and protect what is historic, while <a href="http://www.cubanartnews.org/news/urbanism-preservation-and-planning-ahead-in-habana-vieja/5353">applying new practices</a> such as earmarking income from tourism to rebuild local housing and protect architecturally or culturally significant sites. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210057/original/file-20180313-30979-tn4m8y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210057/original/file-20180313-30979-tn4m8y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210057/original/file-20180313-30979-tn4m8y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210057/original/file-20180313-30979-tn4m8y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210057/original/file-20180313-30979-tn4m8y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210057/original/file-20180313-30979-tn4m8y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210057/original/file-20180313-30979-tn4m8y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Street life.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/franxx/13936719278/sizes/k/">Franx'/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The city’s masterplan aims to ensure mixed land use wherever possible, so housing, shops, offices and institutions can often be found in the same building. This creates dynamic, walkable spaces, where everything you need is nearby, and avoids creating places which are only for specific groups, such as tourists or locals. </p>
<p>From my perspective as an urban planner, it is amazing that Havana has been able to do so much work with such limited materials. But perhaps this was inevitable, since high-quality labour is so readily available. An old Cuban joke goes that half the population are qualified builders, since everyone has to pitch in and work on their own properties. </p>
<p>Like other major capitals, Havana is a collection of many “villages” or smaller cities within a city. At every turn, the streetscapes are different: many municipalities can be identified by their distinctive balconies and doorways. These places are full of life, as people are constantly out on the streets: sitting, chatting, singing, selling, buying, repairing and just living. </p>
<p>The city is open for visitors. You can meander down the Malecón, to the urban greenery of Vedado and beyond. And the historic Habana La Vieja acts as a tourist magnet, while retaining plenty of local life for residents.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209996/original/file-20180312-30972-143z7ia.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209996/original/file-20180312-30972-143z7ia.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209996/original/file-20180312-30972-143z7ia.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209996/original/file-20180312-30972-143z7ia.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209996/original/file-20180312-30972-143z7ia.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209996/original/file-20180312-30972-143z7ia.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209996/original/file-20180312-30972-143z7ia.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Malecón, at dusk.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/pedrosz/34346341604/sizes/l">szeke/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Yet the city still has corners where tourists don’t go, <a href="http://www.soziologie.arch.ethz.ch/_DATA/276/Schmid-Christian-Pena-Jorge_Deep-Havanna.pdf">sometimes called</a> “Habana profunda” (deep Havana). It’s an area where locals live and work, though many still have connections to the city centre through jobs and education. There might not be many tourist attractions there, but the barrios are visually wonderful. </p>
<p>Perhaps unlike the other cities, Havana is a shrinking city. Its population has <a href="https://www.havanatimes.org/?p=118446">remained fairly static</a> for a long time now, due to people migrating abroad, combined with low birth rates. The ageing population is not being replaced, which is some cause for concern. Havana remains the jumping-off point for many younger Cubans making their way elsewhere, or coming from other parts of the country to live in the capital. But more seem to leave than stay.</p>
<p>Despite some poor roads, a stretched waste removal system and somewhat erratic energy and water supplies, Havana retains a warm welcome to visitors, and seems determined to become a better place for all those who live there. I think Havana is what it is due to the resilience of the “habaneros” (Havana locals); always ready for the next hurricane, even as they are picking up the pieces <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-41235494">after Irma</a>. The Habaneros have excellent mobilisation plans and risk reduction systems in place for any situation.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210136/original/file-20180313-30986-bic6wo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210136/original/file-20180313-30986-bic6wo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210136/original/file-20180313-30986-bic6wo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210136/original/file-20180313-30986-bic6wo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210136/original/file-20180313-30986-bic6wo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210136/original/file-20180313-30986-bic6wo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210136/original/file-20180313-30986-bic6wo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dominos in Diez de Octubre.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ashumathura/16643582962/sizes/l">ashu mathura/Flickr.</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Residents seem undaunted, even as <a href="https://phys.org/news/2013-04-cuba-vast-losses-sea.html">the sea encroaches</a> on Havana’s low-lying shores. Yet I am optimistic that somehow Havana can survive the longer-term issues linked to climate change – or anything else that comes their way. As Havana and the Habaneros <a href="http://www.medicc.org/mediccreview/index.php?issue=14&id=167&a=vahtml">grow older</a> together, is there something we can learn from the way that their society is trying to bring all generations together to solve the city’s various planning issues. </p>
<hr>
<h2>Tokyo, Japan</h2>
<p><strong>Greg Keeffe, Queen’s University Belfast</strong></p>
<p>Tokyo is the city of my dreams. For the “gaijin” (foreigner) the first few days are a sensory overload. But, as you settle in, that sense of chaos evaporates and suddenly everything seems to be in the right place. As I travel around on double-decker freeways, driverless bus-train hybrids and monorails in the sky, I appear to have found how a city should be. </p>
<p>Whenever I need to do anything, there’s a convenient way to do it right there in front of me. This is true at any scale, from the city-wide transport system, to finding a hot cuppa – it seems there’s always a vending machine for it, just within reach.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210058/original/file-20180313-30989-1lx71cd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210058/original/file-20180313-30989-1lx71cd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210058/original/file-20180313-30989-1lx71cd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210058/original/file-20180313-30989-1lx71cd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210058/original/file-20180313-30989-1lx71cd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210058/original/file-20180313-30989-1lx71cd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210058/original/file-20180313-30989-1lx71cd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Convenience, at the push of a button.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/napdsp/18021609015/sizes/l">Nate2b/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In fact, Tokyo really is a huge vending machine, where every necessity is there at the touch of a button: even access to nature. It makes me think that a lot of our social and urban problems are actually born out of frustration, because things don’t work well enough, because things we don’t need get in the way of the perfect urban function.</p>
<p>Like all dreamscapes, you can customise Tokyo to your own desires: hanging out in Shinjuku or Shibuya at night, you can dance, eat, drink and party until dawn to the banging tunes of J-pop. This bit of Tokyo is a sort of global portal to the stars; a timeless place without memory or history.</p>
<p>Yet the very next day (with or without a hangover), you may be in the Roji of Nezu – small, narrow alleys that evoke the memory of a life that was frugal and modest. Visiting temples and shrines in utter silence, you can immerse yourself in the wooden world of the Edo period, dating back to 1600. Here, it seems one mile in space can measure a thousand years in time.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210061/original/file-20180313-30965-sh0brk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210061/original/file-20180313-30965-sh0brk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210061/original/file-20180313-30965-sh0brk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210061/original/file-20180313-30965-sh0brk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210061/original/file-20180313-30965-sh0brk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210061/original/file-20180313-30965-sh0brk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210061/original/file-20180313-30965-sh0brk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A glimpse of a temple built during the Edo period.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/93277085@N08/16403635454/sizes/l">ai3310X/Flickr.</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Old and new, fast and slow: just-in-time Tokyo is a city of contradictions. It’s a place where fast-paced culture and introspective meditation work together, creating a space/time warp which feeds not only the physical needs of the population, but also their hearts and souls.</p>
<hr>
<h2>Rotterdam, The Netherlands</h2>
<p><strong>Kaeren van Vliet, Sheffield Hallam University</strong> </p>
<p>Like many other European cities, Rotterdam suffered considerable bomb damage in the Second World War. But its postwar reconstruction took a distinctive path, looking to the future instead of the past – and this continues to give the city a unique character, based on movement, light, energy and progress.</p>
<p>Rotterdam is a city on the move. Trams glide and clang through the city; spotlessly clean barges travel up and down the river taking goods to and from the continent; bright yellow water taxis zoom across the water and cyclists travel rapidly in vast shoals – sometimes to the alarm of slower pedestrians. </p>
<p>In the face of rising sea levels, sinking land and ever fuller rivers, water has to be respected, not resisted. Water engineering is an art – the lakes and canals in the city and its surrounds are connected, monitored and managed. School playgrounds, fields and underground car parks cooperate to prevent homes from flooding. New housing is provided with canals, and some residents are even fortunate enough to be able to keep a boat at the bottom of their garden.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210063/original/file-20180313-30958-rzo8s9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/210063/original/file-20180313-30958-rzo8s9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210063/original/file-20180313-30958-rzo8s9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210063/original/file-20180313-30958-rzo8s9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210063/original/file-20180313-30958-rzo8s9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210063/original/file-20180313-30958-rzo8s9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/210063/original/file-20180313-30958-rzo8s9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The art of water.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jev55/14191667641/sizes/l">jev55/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In this city, there is space for people. Most of the population live in flats or small homes, so there are playgrounds for children, tree-lined waterside walks, seats for resting and city centre parks, which feel like a home outside of home. People are particularly proud of the fronts of their houses, and many have benches for sitting and talking to neighbours. People here seem to trust their neighbours, leaving flowerpots and bicycles out on the street. And there are allotments around the city edge, to escape to on summer evenings or at the weekend.</p>
<p>At night, the city centre is aglow. The lights of the Erasmus bridge and new tower blocks along the Maas link the southern part of the city to the centre. As you cross the bridge, the pavement sparkles like the milky way. The houses in the suburbs are radiant in the nighttime, with large windows offering a momentary glimpse into the home life of the locals. </p>
<p>Nature here seems ordered and managed, water is held in straight courses and trees and grass are kept neatly trimmed. The city ducks seem friendly – the suburban geese, not so much. The landscape is big but predictable, stretching towards an endless horizon. There is light here and, though often pale and grey, the sky is vast. You feel as though you could cycle on forever.</p>
<p>If you look hard, you can find traditional windmills and tulips. But you’re more likely to find ecological prairie planting or vast windfarms rotating in unison, powering the city into the future. Rotterdam reminds me of what planning, landscape and urban design can achieve.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/84872/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vanesa Castán Broto receives funding from the UK Economic and Social Research Council, the British Academy and the Leverhulme Trust. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Greg Keeffe receives funding from EU Framework 7 Smart Cities. He is affiliated with the Royal Society of Arts (Fellow). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Warren and Kaeren van Vliet do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Character, resilience, convenience and sustainability are what make cities great places to live and learn.Vanesa Castán Broto, Professorial Fellow, University of SheffieldGreg Keeffe, Professor of Architecture + Urbanism. Head of School of Natural and Built Environment, Queen's University BelfastJames Warren, Senior Lecturer, Engineering and Innovation, The Open UniversityKaeren van Vliet, Senior Lecturer In Planning, Sheffield Hallam UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/807622017-07-17T14:48:47Z2017-07-17T14:48:47ZMaputo’s residents can now use gas. But dropping charcoal is proving hard<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178235/original/file-20170714-14287-kgz2qi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The benefits of gas improved in Mozambique in June this year when the price halved.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Like many other men and women in Mozambique’s capital, Maputo, Agostinho feels optimistic about the future. After years of living in extreme poverty, he now has his own business and lives with his family in Zimpeto, a growing neighbourhood in the northern outer end of Maputo.</p>
<p>One of the things that has made the biggest difference to him and his family’s life has been improvements in the energy system. In Zimpeto his household is linked to the electricity grid. Agostinho buys electricity through a prepaid system called <a href="http://www.edm.co.mz/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=63&Itemid=67&lang=en">Credelec</a>. Thanks to Credelec Agostinho has <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1468-2427.12314/full">greater control</a> over his electricity spending but prices have gone up and he’s now paying more. Using electricity for cooking is too expensive. </p>
<p>Thus, the game changer in Agostinho’s life has been the arrival of gas. Until last year, the family relied entirely on charcoal for all their cooking needs, a <a href="https://extra.shu.ac.uk/ppp-online/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/communities-urban-energy-mozambique.pdf">common occurrence</a> in Maputo’s low income neighbourhoods. Last year he invested in a new gas cookstove and a gas cylinder. The convenience soon became apparent. The gas stove cooks faster, is cleaner and can be used inside the house. While the cookstove and gas cylinder cost a fair amount, this represents a significant advancement. </p>
<p>The benefits of gas improved further when in June this year <a href="https://noticias.mmo.co.mz/2017/06/preco-de-de-gas-domestico-reduz-em-mais-de-40.html">the price halved</a>. An 11kg bottle that used to cost US$13 (773 MZN) now costs US$7 (446 MZN), making it cheaper than charcoal. In a country where firewood and charcoal account for <a href="https://www.iea.org/statistics/statisticssearch/report/?country=Mozambique&product=balances">77%</a> of the total energy balance, the transition to gas can make an enormous difference to the lives of the poorest people.</p>
<p>The drop in prices came just after Mozambique’s Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Leticia Klemens, and the Vice-President of Shell, Clare Harris, signed a <a href="http://clubofmozambique.com/news/mozambique-government-and-shell-enable-local-use-of-rovuma-basin-gas/">memorandum of understanding</a> for the domestic exploitation of Mozambique’s gas reserves in the Rovuma Basin. This is one of the <a href="http://www.facing-finance.org/en/database/cases/rovuma-basin-mozambique-gas-explorationrovuma-becken-mosambik-erkundung-von-gasfeldern/">largest</a> reserves of natural gas in southern Africa. The announcement of the agreement alone has been sufficient for the government to drop consumer prices.</p>
<p>The agreement follows a public tender to exploit gas reserves for domestic purposes. The government also awarded <a href="http://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFJ8N1E702P">two other projects</a>. In the past, Mozambique’s energy policy focused on generating revenue <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629616300354">through</a> exporting natural resources, such as hydropower and coal, at the expense of developing internal markets. If maintained, these projects will mark a significant departure from previous energy policies. </p>
<p>The one dark cloud hanging over this development is the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/jan/27/mozambique-fabulous-wealth-gas-reserves-pay-nurses-debt-crisis">country’s debt crisis</a>. Many expect that gas revenues will help palliate the consequences of this odious debt, but gas is still <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/be682056-5cc2-11e7-b553-e2df1b0c3220?mhq5j=e2">not flowing</a>. After last year’s scandal, the government is anxious to show that it’s able to mobilise the country’s natural gas reserves to benefit ordinary Mozambicans.</p>
<h2>Difficult transition</h2>
<p>The drop in gas prices was a key theme at a <a href="http://www.britac.ac.uk/sustainable-energy-access-mozambique-socio-political-factors-conflict-laden-urban-areas">workshop</a> with local leaders of some of the poorest neighbourhoods in Maputo. </p>
<p>“People are transitioning to gas”, explained one participant. This transition is clearly visible in Maputo. The charcoal-based urban landscape is disappearing. Gone are the days when there was a charcoal-selling point in every corner, although the charcoal depots remain strong in large markets. As deforestation advances, charcoal is produced farther and farther away, with most coming from the relatively unstable province of Gaza. Charcoal is now so expensive that gas has become a more affordable option for many people. </p>
<p>Yet, for now, charcoal continues to be the <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421517300095">fuel of choice </a> for most households in Maputo. The transition to gas is, as yet, incomplete.</p>
<p>In their discussions, local leaders explained that gas is the new norm in cooking practices but most households have not yet adopted it. A heated discussion emerged about why people continue to use charcoal. Is it because gas cookstoves are too expensive? Is it because people prefer to cook with charcoal through habit? Or are they used to the taste of the meat cooked with charcoal? Perhaps people are unaware of the possibilities of gas and how to use it? Or maybe many families perceive gas to be unsafe? </p>
<p>One neighbourhood leader said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We are just like this, it is difficult to change us! </p>
</blockquote>
<p>He said this to justify the need for civic education. Yet, it’s not people who have to change. Rather, a range of institutional, infrastructural and socio-economic factors determine the possibilities for sustainable transitions to universal energy access. For example, in some neighbourhoods, accessing gas supplies is difficult whereas charcoal sellers will bring charcoal right to the door of households in portions small enough to be affordable on a day-to-day basis. Moreover, households may not provide a safe setting to install a gas cookstove, even when the family can afford it. </p>
<p>The transition to gas is not inevitable. As one of the community leaders in the workshop stated, “accessing energy is a process”. Gas may contribute to improve the lives of Maputo’s inhabitants. However, this depends on a gradual process of adjustment of local practices of energy use, changes in the built environment to fit gas technologies and the development of local energy markets to facilitate access to gas supplies. </p>
<p>*Names are pseudonyms</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/80762/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vanesa Castán Broto receives funding from the ESRC (Grant number ES/K001361/1) and from the British Academy Sustainable Development Programme (Grant number GF160020). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Domingos Augusto Macucule receives funding from the British Academy Sustainable Development Programme (Grant number GF160020) </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shaun Smith receives funding from the British Academy Sustainable Development Programme (Grant number GF160020)</span></em></p>Gas is cheaper, but charcoal continues to be the fuel of choice for most households in Mozambique’s capital.Vanesa Castán Broto, Senior Lecturer Environment and Sustainable Development, UCLDomingos Augusto Macucule, Senior Lecturer in Urban Planning and SustainabilityShaun Smith, Post-doctoral researcher in energy, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.