Transport Mobility Analysis for Informal Settlements in Dar es salaam, Tanzania

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Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology 2024, 43(3): 84 - 94
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https://doi.org/10.52339/tjet.v43i3.1138
84
Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (Tanz. J. Engrg. Technol.), Vol. 43 (No. 3), Oct. 2024
Special Issue – on “Sustainable Construction (SusCon) for Sub-Saharan Africa - Interdisciplinary Research Training
Workshop for Prospective Decision-Makers", Jan. 16th - 20th 2023, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Transport Mobility Analysis for Informal Settlements in Dar es salaam,
Tanzania
Fatma Mohamed1†, Renalda Lwilla2, Zanele Veronica Mnisih3, Sylvia Munisi4, and Mareike
Thiedeitz5
1,4†Department of Structural and Construction Engineering, University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
2Architectural and Urban Planning Consultancy Firm, Afri-Arch Associates Limited, Tanzania
3Department of Civil Engineering, University of South Africa, South Africa
5Centre for Building Materials, Department of Materials Engineering, Technical University Munich,
Germany
†Corresponding Author: fatmamo@udsm.ac.tz
ABSTRACT
Dar es Salaam is one of the world’s fastest growing cities and is
expected to be the third largest by 2100 with a population of 76 million.
Dar es Salaam city is made of multiple neighbourhoods that are very
diverse in terms of socio-economic status, gender, age and prevalent
activities. One of the biggest challenges facing the city of Dar es
Salaam is urban sprawl due to informal settlements that in turn leads
to very long travel time and hinders equal mobility and accessibility of
labour and goods. This study found that the current mobility vision for
Dar es Salaam city that bases on transit-oriented development can help
to alleviate transit pressure to the current mono-centric city, although
integration of the vision to informal settlements that are the current
majority of the land use is still lacking. The study also found that the
current regularisation strategies of informal settlements provide an
opportunity for urban mobility. However, the resulting mobility
networks are not sufficient to meet the demand of the government
mobility vision. To capture the future rapid population growth in the
city, this study recommends a back-casting strategy that looks on the
future needs of the population including residency vis-à-vis mobility to
establish current new transit corridors passing though redeveloped
informal settlements.
ARTICLE INFO
Submitted: First
Presented on Jan. 18,
2023
Revised: Dec. 11, 2023
Accepted: Feb. 15,
2024
Published: Oct., 2024
Keywords: Informal settlements, Regularisation, Transit-oriented development, Sustainable
mobility
INTRODUCTION
Dar es Salaam is one of the fastest growing
cities in Africa. With a population growth
rate of 6.5% it is expected to reach a
population of over 10 million residents by
the year 2030 and a population of 73.7
million residents by the year 2100; making
it the third largest city in the World after
Lagos (88.3 million) and Kinshasa (73.7
million) (Hoornweg & Pope, 2017). Dar es
Salaam's population has been growing
rapidly, driven by rural-to-urban migration,
natural population growth, and the city's
attractiveness as an economic hub
(Brennan & Burton, 2007). In 2002, the city
had a population of around 2.5 million, and
by the year 2021, it had grown to about 5.7
million (NBS, 2022).

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Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (Tanz. J. Engrg. Technol.), Vol. 43 (No. 3), Oct. 2024
85
As other cities in developing countries
especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, this rapid
population growth has resulted in a city that
shows characteristics of massive urban
sprawl with informal settlements that often
lack access to basic services including
transportation (Magigi & Bie, 2018). A
World Bank report (Lall et al., 2017) shows
that African cities are 29% more expensive,
are more crowded but disconnected leading
to having 40% fewer neighbours to interact
with compared to countries in Latin
America and Asia with similar income.
The dual challenge of informal settlement
leading to urban sprawl, and the lack of a
functioning public transport network
reaching all residents in Dar es Salaam has
led to the need of a sustainable
transformation strategy that can enhance
the living standards of Dar es Salaam
residents. Therefore, the aim of this paper
is to analyse the best practices available in
the country to reduce the effects caused by
informal settlement and urban sprawl.
METHODS AND MATERIALS
This study is based on desk research about
aspects that are relevant to mobility and
informal settlements for the city of Dar es
Salaam. Peer reviewed journal papers as
well as other relevant official public
documents including reports were used to
analyze urban mobility in relation to
informal settlements. Physical observation
of the case study area was also conducted
to verify the study area condition.
DAR ES SALAAM OVERVIEW
Population growth
Dar es Salaam has been experiencing
massive population growth surpassing
expected projections. This is to the larger
extent has been caused by rural-urban
migration (Brennan & Burton, 2007)
influenced by prospective economic
opportunities offered in the city. Currently,
the annual population growth rate of Dar es
Salaam stands at 2.1% and is expected to
continue along the same trend in the near
future (NBS, 2022).
Population data from the National census of
2002 and 2012 shows that the majority of
the population was living within the inner
core of the city in 2002. However, the rapid
change of population to the year 2012 is
seen to be reflected with more people living
towards the outer layer of the city (Figure
1) with population growth rate of up to
more than 200% in some areas. The rapid
urbanization of Dar es Salaam has led to
urban sprawl (Magigi & Bie, 2018) from
the formation of informal settlements.
Population in 2002 at 2.5 million.
Population in 2012 at 4.3 million.
The Project for Revision of Dar es Salaam Urban Transport Master Plan in United Republic of Tanzania
Final Report - Main Text Volume-1 - July 2018
4-2
Source: JST based on National Housing Census 2002, and 2012
Figure 4.1.1 Trend of GRDP in DSM
(2) Regional GDP Growth in DSM
Regional GDP (GRDP) in DSM has grown year by year and maintained the share in GDP of mainland
Tanzania at between 15% and 17%. As shown in Figure 4.1.2, DSM generated 4,174 billion TZS in
2007 and 15,631 billion TZS in 2015, according to the regional GDP at current market price in
National Accounts of Tanzania Mainland 2007–2015, NBS. The share of GRDP in DSM in GDP of
Mainland Tanzania these nine years was between 15.6% and 17.2%. The price of GRDP is a nominal
GRDP including the factor of inflation.
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
GRDP of
DSM 4,174,004 5,329,061 6,484,117 7,368,793 8,807,745 10,402,309 12,259,974 13,711,568 15,631,679
GDP
Mainland 26,770,432 32,248,628 37,726,824 43,836,018 52,762,581 61,434,214 70,953,227 79,718,416 90,863,681
Share in
GDP of
Mainland
Tanzania
15.6% 16.5% 17.2% 16.8% 16.7% 16.9% 17.3% 17.2% 17.2%
Source: National Accounts of Tanzania Mainland 2007 – 2015, NBS
Figure 4.1.2 Trend of GRDP in DSM
0.0%
5.0%
10.0%
15.0%
20.0%
25.0%
30.0%
35.0%
40.0%
45.0%
50.0%
0
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
12,000
14,000
16,000
18,000
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
GRDPofDSM
ShareofGRDP
Billion
Tsh
Sh are inG DP of Main lan dTanza nia
GR DP ofD aresSalaam
The Project for Revision of Dar es Salaam Urban Transport Master Plan in United Republic of Tanzania
Final Report - Main Text Volume-1 - July 2018
4-2
Source: JST based on National Housing Census 2002, and 2012
Figure 4.1.1 Trend of GRDP in DSM
(2) Regional GDP Growth in DSM
Regional GDP (GRDP) in DSM has grown year by year and maintained the share in GDP of mainland
Tanzania at between 15% and 17%. As shown in Figure 4.1.2, DSM generated 4,174 billion TZS in
2007 and 15,631 billion TZS in 2015, according to the regional GDP at current market price in
National Accounts of Tanzania Mainland 2007–2015, NBS. The share of GRDP in DSM in GDP of
Mainland Tanzania these nine years was between 15.6% and 17.2%. The price of GRDP is a nominal
GRDP including the factor of inflation.
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
GRDP of
DSM 4,174,004 5,329,061 6,484,117 7,368,793 8,807,745 10,402,309 12,259,974 13,711,568 15,631,679
GDP
Mainland 26,770,432 32,248,628 37,726,824 43,836,018 52,762,581 61,434,214 70,953,227 79,718,416 90,863,681
Share in
GDP of
Mainland
Tanzania
15.6% 16.5% 17.2% 16.8% 16.7% 16.9% 17.3% 17.2% 17.2%
Source: National Accounts of Tanzania Mainland 2007 – 2015, NBS
Figure 4.1.2 Trend of GRDP in DSM
0.0%
5.0%
10.0%
15.0%
20.0%
25.0%
30.0%
35.0%
40.0%
45.0%
50.0%
0
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
12,000
14,000
16,000
18,000
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
GRDPofDSM
ShareofGRDP
Billion
Tsh
Sh are in GD Po fM ain lan dTanz ani a
GR DP o fDa res Sal aam

Transport Mobility Analysis for Informal Settlements in Dar es salaam
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Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (Tanz. J. Engrg. Technol.), Vol. 43 (No. 3), Oct. 2024
Figure 1: Population distribution and rate of change in Dar es Salaam (JICA, 2018).
Informal settlements
By definition informal settlements are
residential area neighbourhoods where
inhabitants have no security tenure vis-à-
vis the land they inhabit; lack basic services
and formal city infrastructure, where the
housing stock may not comply with current
planning and building regulations (UN-
HABITAT, 2018).
Although informal settlements vary in the
level of informality and the resulting
services provided, Fekade (2000) notes
that, almost all informal developments
including those in South Africa, Peru,
Pakistan, Indonesia, Turkey, and
Cameroon share some attributes including:
i. They are constructed by the
inhabitants without any public
assistance, with an intended aim of
housing themselves, renting it out
or both.
ii. They are more prominent to the
urban poor who are normally more
challenged to follow formal
procedures to access land or
housing.
iii. They are informally financed.
iv. They are built locally using local
building materials, skills, designs
and indigenous technology.
v. They generally are not in
compliance with legal building
codes and standards.
vi. They display diversified housing
units in terms of type and
construction quality.
vii. They are mostly built
incrementally.
However, the informal settlements in
Tanzania especially the ones in Dar es
Salaam are exceptional that they do not
typically adhere to the mentioned
characteristics. There are informal
settlement communities of middle-income
residents constructing housing in
unregulated big plots with superior
construction materials, design and
technological knowhow. The informal
settlements in Dar es Salaam can be
categorized into two groups: homogeneous
informal settlements, which are
characterized by low or middle-income
socio-economic groups, and heterogeneous
informal settlements, comprised of both
low-income and middle-income economic
groups (Kalugila, 2014).
Past records show that informal settlements
began to develop during the colonial period
and continue to be a deep-rooted concern
for Dar es Salaam City development
authorities after a pressing rapid growth
explosion since 1961 (Kombe & Kreibich,
2000a). This is due to rural urban
migration, urban expansion boundaries
extending villages to urban areas, lack of
policy to manage the urban population
explosion as well as inadequate provision
of serviced land for housing (Boshe, 2007).
Other factors maybe urban development
without guidance, less bureaucratic access
to plots in informal settlements, shortage of
surveyed and serviced properties in urban
areas, political economy, uncoordinated
planning and poor planning (Williams,
2022).
Informal settlements come with many
challenges including those related to access
to basic social services including clean
water, solid and liquid waste disposal,
electricity, as well as easy access to
The Project for Revision of Dar es Salaam Urban Transport Master Plan in United Republic of Tanzania
Final Report - Main Text Volume-1 - July 2018
4-4
shown in Figure 4.1.4. Popula tion density at northwestern and southwestern areas of DSM between
20km and 30km had become more than double. Population density at inner city within a 10km radius
also increased, but the change is less tha n 50% and the degree of the change is smaller than
northwestern and southwestern areas between 20km and 30km.
Water area, where DSM port is located, separated the city centre and Kigamboni for a long time.
Mwalimu Nyerere Bridge (Kigamboni Bridge), newly constructed in 2016, improves the access
between CBD and Kigamboni, but encouraging development will be difficult because lowlands are
lying in Kigamboni.
Source: JST based on Population and Housing Census 2002 and 2012
Figure 4.1.4 Change in Population Density from 2002 to 2012
4.1.3 Population Distribution and Density
Population density in DSM as of 2012 was 3,087 persons/km2. Among the five municipal co uncils in
DSM, population density of Temeke Municipal Council is 83.17 persons/ha and the highest, and
population density of Kigamboni Municipal Council is 3.21 persons/ha and the lowest as shown in
Table 4.1.2. As sh own in Figure 4.1.4 above, population density at northwest and southwest areas of
DSM between 20km and 30km had increased more than double for 10 years between 2002 and 2012.
Table 4.1.2 Population Density by Municipal Council
Municipal Council Number of Wards Population (persons) Land Area (km2) Population Density
(persons/k
m
2) Population Density
(persons/ha)
Kinondoni 20 929,681 270 3,443 34.43
Ubungo 14 845,368 261 3,239 32.39
Ilala 26 1,220,611 210 5,812 58.12
Temeke 21 1,205,949 145 8,317 83.17
Kigamboni 9 162,932 507 321 3.21
DSM 90 4,364,541 1,393 3,087 30.87
Source: JST based on Population and Housing Census 2012

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educational and health facilities. The
previous master plans attempted albeit
unsuccessfully to tackle this issue. By 1980
over 70 per cent of the population of Dar es
Salaam City was already living in such
areas (Sawio, 2008). Reduction of this
percentage of informal settlements
compared to the formal has remained a
challenge only to continue to increasing to
the current 75 per cent (Boshe, 2007). By
2013, there were about 100 unplanned
settlements in the city and 75% of all
residential houses in the city were found in
these areas as indicated by Figure 2,
(Rasmussen, 2013).
Physically these settlements are
characterized by single story house types in
various stages of completion, permanency
status and construction material selection.
They generally follow the traditional
Swahili house design and neighbourhood
pattern, a compact layout with an organic
urban fabric (Rasmussen, 2013). Therefore,
the overall spatial feature is characterized
by a highly dense settlement; with increase
in densification closer to the central
business district.
Informal settlements come with many
challenges related to access to basic social
services including clean water, solid and
liquid waste disposal, electricity, as well as
easy access to educational and health
facilities. Another direct consequence of
informal settlements is challenges related
to urban mobility (Kironde, 2019).
Figure 2: Informal settlements distribution in Dar es Salaam (Technical Supplement 5 Informal
Settlements Dar es Salaam City Master Plan: 2012- 2032).
Transport System
Dar es Salaam is a palm shaped city and is
characterized by a mono-centric urban and
administrative structure (Nkurunziza,
2013). The old city which is still the current
central business district (CBD) is located
near the port area. The city has four major

Transport Mobility Analysis for Informal Settlements in Dar es salaam
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Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (Tanz. J. Engrg. Technol.), Vol. 43 (No. 3), Oct. 2024
radial roads connecting the CBD to the
outskirts of the city. Bagamoyo Road
connects the CBD to the north, parallel to
the coastline. This area is mainly residential
area with small centers. On the other hand,
Nyerere road connects the CBD to the
south western part of the city and to the
international airport. Area along this road
was designated in the masterplans as an
area for light industries. Morogoro and
Kilwa roads connect to the north west and
south east respectively (Figure 3).
Figure 3: Arterial roads networks in Dar
es Salaam (TANROADS, 2024).
Intervening areas between these roads were
planned to be developed for residential uses
with hazardous areas deemed unhabitable
within these areas left as open spaces.
However, rapid urbanization coupled with
inadequate urban planning strategies and a
quest for economic opportunities near the
CBD, led to the development of informal
settlements even in the deemed hazardous
areas. These informal settlements
consisting of both middle and low-income
households are scattered all over Dar es
Salaam contributing to urban sprawl and
land underutilization (Lupala, 2002)
challenging mobility and equal access to
services.
The rapid urbanization of Dar es Salaam
has led to increase demand in mobility. In
2017 alone, the total amount of trips in Dar
es Salaam was 8.7 million per day, which is
more than triple the figure found in a survey
of 2007. During the same period, the
population had a growth rate of only 1.9
times, while the traffic demand had a
growth rate of 3.05 times. Car ownership
also had a growth rate of 2.4 times when
compared to the same period (Table 1)
(JICA, 2018).
Table 1: Comparison of growth of population and car ownership for 2007-2017 (JICA, 2018)
Item
2017 Survey
2007 Survey
Ratio
Car
ownership
Population (1,000)
5,782
3,030
1.90
Number of cars
191,825
78,477
2.44
Car ownership ratio
(household)
10.9%
10.0%
1. 09
Number of cars
(1,000 person)
33.2
25.9
1.28
Total trips (1,000 trips/day)
8.674
2.848
3.05
While it is expected that this traffic demand
would continue to increase with the
increase in population, there is a challenge
posed by the informality of settlements that
renders it difficult to provide equal mobility
opportunities within different city areas.
Most informal settlements do not provide
transport accessibility in areas that are not
neighbouring the main road. This brings the

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need of regularization of informal
settlements.
INTERPLAY BETWEEN
URBANIZATION AND MOBILITY
Regularization of informal settlements
Land regularization in Tanzania had begun
since the colonial era during the German
and the British rule, whereas both
emphasized land registration mainly for
colonial settlers, traders and plantation
owners. In contrast, the British recognized
the dual structure ownership of the land,
whereas the dominants acquired large-scale
ownership properties. At the same time, the
majorities under the customary law were
restricted to small-scale landed properties.
After the independence in 1961, the
Tanganyika government neglected the
registration of the land property of the
people to secure their land. It focused on
agriculture advancement through the
Ujamaa Village-lization program. In
contrast, in 1983, the Tanzania government
introduced the National Agricultural policy
that emphasized the private ownership of
land to save the country's economy; as a
result of solving one problem, another
problem occurred that led to rural-urban
migration of people in such vacant land that
were owned irregularly without following
rules (Kombe & Kreibich, 2000).
Tanzania adopted the Delhi Declaration by
the United Nations Conference on Human
Settlement in January 1966, signed by 171
countries worldwide. This emphasized the
security of land tenure as a condition of
sustainable shelter for urban development,
which is to be applied to all, especially the
people living in informal areas. Thus, in
response, Tanzania introduced the land
Regularization scheme through Act No. 4
of 1999 and later in 2000 in the National
Human Settlement Development Policy of
2000 (URT, 1999; URT, 2000).
The Regularization approach used for
Tanzania's informal settlement area is a
community initiative form also termed self-
regularization, where the Tanzania
government allows the residents to
regularize their plots on their initiatives and
resources. In contrast, the government
plays the role of facilitator. The Minister
declares the area for regularization either in
her motion or upon request of the people.
For an area to have a regularization scheme
according to the Land Act of 1999, it should
fulfil the following conditions:
i. The land it occupies has to be
substantially built up.
ii. The area is dramatically used for
habitation.
iii. Many people have lived in the
settlement for a considerable period.
iv. Despite the lack of any security of
tenure, a substantial number of people
appear to be investing in their
houses.
v. People living in the area and their
C.B.O.s wish to participate in a
scheme of regularization.
vi. The area is likely to be declared a
planning ordinance (URT, 1999).
Makongo Juu Settlement Case Study
Makongo is an administrative ward in
Kinondoni district located about 17 km
from the city centre of Dar es Salaam.
According to the census conducted in 2022,
Makongo had a population of 35,567
people (NBS, 2022) and is divided into four
sub-wards: Changanyikeni, Makongo Juu,
Mlalakuwa and Mbuyuni (Figure 4).
Makongo Juu was originally a wild forest
considered inhabitable by the government;
during the 1930s and 1940s, the Greek
settlers established sisal plantations with
locals working as laborers for the
plantations. As a result, they made
settlements in the area to be close to their
workplace.
After the decline of the sisal plantation in
the 1950s and 1960s, people started to clear
the bushes to get land to build their
residential houses, hence resulting in
clusters in settlement from the masterplan
of 1979 designated Makongo as the green
belt until 1985, the area was declared to be
part of the urban as previously it was

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considered to be at the peripheral of the city
(Kalugila, 2014; Burra, 2004; Kironde,
2019).
Figure 4: Makongo Administrative sub-
ward (Kironde, 2019).
Makongo Juu is among the mixed-use
informal settlements found in Dar es
Salaam city with mixed demography of
people of low and middle socio-income.
The ward is neighbouring Ardhi
University, University of Dar es Salaam,
Water Institute and the Lugalo military
barracks, and thus, the area has a mixed
demography including university students,
business-men, former ministers,
politicians, academic professionals, top-
ranking civil servants, and small vendors.
Makongo juu settlement was able to
undergo community-based approach for
regularization since it met all the criteria set
within the Land Act of 1999.
Regularization of Makongo Juu in
Respect to Access Roads
The residents of Makongo Juu came
together and formed a committee for the
regularization of the area. Identification of
ownership found that the plots varied in
size and tenure status including certificates
of title, licenses for residence and sale
agreements. A total of around 3200 plots
were identified (Kironde, 2019).
A land use plan was developed that
conducted minor changes to the boundaries
of the plots to increase accessibility.
Around 35,000 m2 of land area was
contributed by the land owners for access
roads provision where an estimated 110
pieces of roads of various lengths and
widths were contributed to public land
without compromising their underlaying
functionality (Kironde, 2019). Where
individual plots were small (below 90 m2)
and thus difficult to provide access to each
of them, the Unit Title approach was
recommended (Lerise & Silayo, 2017). The
recommended plan avoided demolition of
areas along the major roads, and where
absolute necessary, compensation was
recommended to be handled by
government authorities.
The current accessibility status shows that
while land owners gave their land for
development of road networks, the
resulting condition is a collection of
fragmented roads with different flexibility;
not affording connectivity with areas that
are further inland from the road. Moreover,
the smaller access roads do not have
enough space for proper drainage, while
already increasing the surface runoff of the
area, hence providing cause for land
deterioration.
CONTEMPORARY PUBLIC
TRANSPORT PLANNING
Mobility is one of the most critical factors
to sustainable improvement of informal
settlements (Andreasen & Møller-Jensen,
2017; Evans et. al., 2018; Oviedo et al.,
2021). While informal settlements'
marginal location and municipal
authorities' limited capacity to provide
essential urban infrastructure reinforce
disconnection and exclusion cycles in these
areas (Hill et al., 2014), it presents unique
challenges and opportunities in transport
and infrastructure planning.

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Sustainable development of urban
passenger transport in these regions
requires a comprehensive approach that
considers various factors. This includes the
status of urban transport, demography,
settlement patterns, and the distribution of
stops in city transport routes (Spirin &
Enin, 2022). Additionally, the development
of effective and balanced transport policy
packages, infrastructure, and spatial
planning is crucial to achieve the same goal
of bringing sustainability to urban transit
(Ilchenko, 2021). As national governments
seek to define sustainable development
strategies for the transportation sector, it is
essential to establish appropriate national
policy frameworks (Ni et. al., 2020; May,
2013). Furthermore, the development of
sustainable transportation involves
promoting efficient transport systems while
reducing sub-optimal or harmful effects on
public health, the natural environment,
economy, and urban planning (Szczuraszek
& Chmielewski, 2018).
Under this consideration, the Government
of Tanzania initiated strategies to enhance
public transport networks to attain
sustainability though the reduction of
congestion in the city as one targeted goal.
For this endeavour, the Government
established Dar es Salaam Rapid Transit
(DART), an agency responsible for
overseeing public transit in Dar es Salaam.
Under DART six Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)
routes were planned along the four radial
major roads from the CBD and two ring
roads (Figure 5). The first route running
along Morogoro road for 29.2 km came into
effect from May, 2016. The second route
along Kilwa road is currently (2024) under
construction and expected to be operational
by 2025 whilst Route 3 and 4 are planned
to be operational by 2026.
Figure 5: Transport plan of Dar es Salaam by the year 2040 (JICA, 2018).
The main vision behind this initiative is the
development concept of urban transport as
“Transit Oriented Mega City” since Dar es
Salaam is expected to be one of the mega
cities globally with a population of more
than 10 million by 2040. This vision looks
for the CBD to be connected with sub-
centres and satellite cities through five
radial roads and three circular urban
corridors. This strategy envisions the CBD
to be decentralized, and transform the city
to a poly-centric city, and hence elevating
the mobility pressure to the CBD. Compact
cities are also expected to be developed
naturally along these transit corridors using
Transit Oriented Development (TOD),
providing economic densification of the
city while improving mobility (JICA,
2018).

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Figure 5 shows the expected transport
network in the year 2040. The figure shows
that the major transport roads avoid areas of
informal settlements since the process of
compensation to set for transport networks
can be tedious and costly. Moreover, since
the transport plan is also dependent on
feeder roads that are planned to carry transit
passengers from minor roads to the BRT
main routes, the spatial arrangement of
informal settlements can also be a source of
concern.
INTEGRATION OF TOD IN
REGENERATION OF INFORMAL
SETTLEMENTS
When used effectively, transit-oriented
development (TOD) can be used as a source
of regeneration of information settlements.
However, studies suggest that it is
necessary to consider adapting the land use
and transportation system in determining
the development pattern of the city
(Dargahi et al., 2021). Comprehensive and
detailed plans of the city should be
prepared in accordance with the
transportation planning plans bringing
more affective change when BRT or other
TOD routes passes through them.
However, since areas around BRT targeted
for transit-oriented development can
increase land value and can be a cause for
gentrification, government regulation
intervention has to be prepared for
retrofitting the informal settlement to allow
for equal compensation and benefit of the
TOD development (Kidokoro, 2020).
While formal settlements are generally
identified by distinct ‘buildings’, ‘plots’,
‘streets’ and ‘blocks’ that are combined at
different scales to produce an urban fabric
(Scheer, 2016) and hence the transport
routes such clear distinction is not found in
informal settlements. However, projections
show that 80% of the total building stock
that will exist in developing countries in
2050 have not been constructed in 2014
(UN, 2014), clearly showing a necessary
reconstruction need and an opportunity for
replanning of informal settlements to
integrate development strategies including
TODs.
By definition, the requirement for an
effective TOD is a moderate to higher
density compact mixed-use
development/settlement, located within an
easy five-to-ten-minute walk of a major
transit stop (Alwehab & Al Ani, 2016).
This gives a unique opportunity to create
informal settlements redevelopment plans
that mix residential, retail, office, open
space, and public uses in a walkable
environment (Carlton, 2009) that are
integrated with major public transit routes.
While the current regularisation of informal
settlements plans in Tanzania are
somewhat able to improve the conditions of
a settlement as seen in the Makongo Juu
case study, the integration of these
settlements to TOD strategies are not
visible. The current TOD strategies seem to
avoid passing through large areas with
informal settlements as seen in Figure 5
even though these areas have the largest
portion of inhabitants.
As seen in the case of Makongo Juu which
is found within the four nodes of Mbezi,
Tegeta, Ubungo and Mwenge, the
connection between the area with BRT for
an instance is missing as well as the passage
of major arterial roads. Even in its current
regularized condition, feeder buses to reach
residences within the area have not been
proposed. This might be due to the
disconnection of transport network within
the area and its low population density.
Moreover, whilst it is expected for informal
settlements that are found along the
corridors of BRT to undergo
redevelopment due to the influence of TOD
strategies, redevelopment strategies set by
the government are not yet available to
guide private and public investment.
CONCLUSION
Transit oriented development is one of the
strongest strategies for sustainable mobility
in urban centres. Although the current
mobility vision for Dar es Salaam city that
bases on transit-oriented development can

Mohamed, F., et al., (2024), https://doi.org/10.52339/tjet.v43i3.1138
Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (Tanz. J. Engrg. Technol.), Vol. 43 (No. 3), Oct. 2024
93
help to alleviate transit pressure to the
current mono-centric Dar es Salaam city,
integration of the vision to informal
settlements that are the current majority of
the land use is still lacking. Even though the
current regularisation strategies of informal
settlements provide an opportunity for
urban mobility, they lack strategies to
integrate it with transit-oriented
development vision set by the government.
To capture the future rapid population
growth in the city, a more holistic approach
that capture the future needs of the
population including residency vis-à-vis
mobility is needed. New transit corridors
passing though redeveloped informal
settlements need to be established, and
building and infrastructure current and
future life cycle changes should be
considered.
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