Conventional responsibilities of governments, such as provision of potable water, health services, education services, construction of roads and bridges, traffic control, open spaces and recreational opportunities, are all required services to ensure the wellbeing of citizens. These traditional government roles and responsibilities, which come through community planning and development, require clear short-term, mid-term and long-term comprehensive plans to ensure that growth of municipalities (small or big) and all foreseen challenges are planned for in advance.

Local government authorities of various municipalities (urban/rural) recognize the roles they play in terms of local community planning and development as well as land use planning, which together can shape the future of their communities. This role must be part of the national and provincial strategies. The national and provincial governments play major roles in setting up the national and provincial platforms for the appropriate policy frameworks, taking the greater good and interests of communities into consideration. This may include major and critical issues including the national vision on water resources, environment and climate change, health services, education, recreation, social, economic, etc. Upon recognition of such vision, municipal authorities are obligated to ensure their local planning and development policy
frameworks are aligned with the provincial strategies and policy frameworks. Therefore, in the absence of a national comprehensive planning and development strategies, provincial and local planning efforts would be carried out in
isolated manners and highly fragmented.

Local government authorities must integrate community priorities into the mechanisms that guide how various planning initiatives are proposed, and how decisions are made and implemented. This should be done through local community development plans which would reflect community aspirations and priorities. Community planning and development can influence economic development, housing development, parks and recreation programs, transportation and all municipal services.

In this process, comprehensive planning and development strategies must be undertaken for preparing urban and rural community development plans and growth management studies, which should be prepared in consultation with provincial governments, taking into consideration available regional and local resources.

Provincial governments should make every effort to promote an integrated and strategic approach to community development and land use planning for sustainable communities and growth management. Leading this process should be
the overall arching principles of ensuring strong communities and a healthy environment, along with promotion of social, environmental and economic well-being of all communities (urban/rural).

In Sudan, based on recent available data, the urban population currently constitutes about 40% of the total population, which indicates that Sudan is primarily rural, with large concentration in urban centres. The high rate of urban population and the tendency towards population concentration in large urban centers constitutes one of the biggest challenges facing Sudan and many other developing countries, because it requires heavy investments in infrastructure, housing and social services that could be beyond the financial abilities of local government authorities.

The world is getting more urbanized than ever. By 2050, nearly 7 out of 10 people in the world are expected to live in cities (World Bank, 2019). Unless due emphasis is given to rural planning and development, the question of ensuring stable and  sustainable communities together with food security willstill remain unanswered.

Rapid urbanization has been increasing in Sudan for several decades, and especially during the last three decades, during the period 1989-2019. The desire to leave traditional rural ways of life in search of settlement in urban centres, searching for security and better life,  was due to civil wars which were fueled by tribal conflicts. It is evident that, whatever their reasons for leaving rural areas, the urban poor are living in miserable poverty, and are vulnerable to a range of daily threats to their physical and mental wellbeing (City Limit, 2011). The rapid population growth and influx of rural populations towards urban
centres, together with lack of appropriate planning initiatives, are placing unprecedented pressures on municipal infrastructure, and are creating negative impacts on availability of basic human services in urban centres.

In line with this trend, realizing urban development and growth management through comprehensive rural planning and development should be an urgent policy agenda for the Government of Sudan, because of the ongoing rapid rate of urban population growth and physical expansions of urban centres with noticeable deterioration of quality of life in both rural and urban areas across the country.

It is interesting that in Sudan, although responsibility for delivering basic services has long been decentralized, financial resource management and allocations are controlled by the federal government. In the absence of a meaningful national structure for decentralization of resources, which should be governed through appropriate federal-provincial financial relations, municipal authorities may not be able to act and deliver the required services expected by their local citizens.

More planning resources can be viewed or downloaded as PDFs in the links below.