{"title":"Regional planning: A failed or flawed project for Africa? Taking advantage of big data science on the horizon","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.rspp.2024.100151","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper explores regional planning as an applied field of practice in Africa, where it is observed as a failed project or a flawed endeavour. In theory, regional planning (the practice) is based on regional science (the field of study) from which regional policy and regional development flow. The article advances the argument that Africa did not benefit from regional science in the past due to data scarcity. However, with the advent of big data and the data deluge caused by big data, regional science and regional planning stand to benefit. We argue that with the proliferation of big data, Africa can now tap into its opportunities and correct its ‘ugly’ past regarding regional planning. With big data and artificial intelligence (AI)-tools, coupled with skilled and capable people, Africa can effectively mine data and catch up with global trends in urban and regional planning. The study concludes that there is a need to embrace big data and mine data for African regional science and regional planning to be successful. In addition, the African regional planning project was not a failure, but it suffered a stillbirth due to a lack of data and related infrastructure.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":45520,"journal":{"name":"Regional Science Policy and Practice","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.7000,"publicationDate":"2024-11-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Regional Science Policy and Practice","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1757780224003627","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"GEOGRAPHY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This paper explores regional planning as an applied field of practice in Africa, where it is observed as a failed project or a flawed endeavour. In theory, regional planning (the practice) is based on regional science (the field of study) from which regional policy and regional development flow. The article advances the argument that Africa did not benefit from regional science in the past due to data scarcity. However, with the advent of big data and the data deluge caused by big data, regional science and regional planning stand to benefit. We argue that with the proliferation of big data, Africa can now tap into its opportunities and correct its ‘ugly’ past regarding regional planning. With big data and artificial intelligence (AI)-tools, coupled with skilled and capable people, Africa can effectively mine data and catch up with global trends in urban and regional planning. The study concludes that there is a need to embrace big data and mine data for African regional science and regional planning to be successful. In addition, the African regional planning project was not a failure, but it suffered a stillbirth due to a lack of data and related infrastructure.
期刊介绍:
Regional Science Policy & Practice (RSPP) is the official policy and practitioner orientated journal of the Regional Science Association International. It is an international journal that publishes high quality papers in applied regional science that explore policy and practice issues in regional and local development. It welcomes papers from a range of academic disciplines and practitioners including planning, public policy, geography, economics and environmental science and related fields. Papers should address the interface between academic debates and policy development and application. RSPP provides an opportunity for academics and policy makers to develop a dialogue to identify and explore many of the challenges facing local and regional economies.