Roads, Satellites, and the Illusion of Development? Rethinking Infrastructure in Namibia’s Zambezi Region (Nangolo et al., 2025)

by: Pascal Wilden, Svenja Hosbach, Britta Weiskircher (Juni 2025)

“Development isn’t automatic […] It needs coordinated planning, inclusive policies, and local ownership.” - A Conversation with Justina Nangolo about Infrastructure and Development in Namibia -

Fig. 1: Elephants crossing a road in the Zambezi Region (WBNLDC- Hulke, 2018).

Infrastructure – But for Whom?

When we spoke with Justina Nangolo about her recent research, one thing quickly became clear: development is more than just building roads. The paper „ Roads to development? A comparison of development corridors vs regional roads in the Zambezi Region, Namibia“ investigates regional development in the Zambezi region. The resaerch team takes a critical look at large-scale infrastructure projects in southern Africa—especially those that promise to transform entire regions through trade routes and corridors (Fig.1).

“Many governments have invested heavily in development corridors over the past decade,” Nangolo explained. […] But few have looked at what actually happens on the ground.”

Her focus: the Zambezi Region in northeastern Namibia—geographically strategic, environmentally diverse, and politically important. It's part of the Walvis Bay Ndola Lumbumbashi Development Corridor (WBNLDC), a transnational trade route that connects landlocked countries like Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo through Walvis Bay port to international markets.

Figure 2:presents the study area, emphasizing the Zambezi Region as the primary focus. It illustrates a 10 km buffer zone along the development corridor and highlights selected regional roads. Map source: Authors’ own design.

Data from Above, Reality from Below

Using high-resolution data from PlanetScope and the open-access Landsat program, the resaerch team examined land use change between 2000 and 2023 to track regional development. They applied a method called Random Forest classification, an algorithm which uses semi-supervised image classification based on time series to analyse how the land was being used over time. Cropland and built-up land expansion is used as a Proxy for development in the Region. In the Zambezi region, despite increased agricultural activity, development corridors (cf. developmentcorridors.org) often failed to generate widespread local benefits while regional roads seemed more effective.

The Missing Ingredients of Development

Nangolo points that “There’s this idea that once a road is built, businesses will follow, and people will benefit […] but development isn’t automatic. It needs coordinated planning, inclusive policies, and local ownership.” .

Infrastructure alone doesn’t lead to development— it needs skills, capital, or political support and coordinated planning. Land use conflicts (e.g. wildlife conservation vs. agriculture) complicate things even further.

What’s Next?

Nangolo‘s upcoming research aims to combine nighttime data and the results of household surveys to better assess whether development corridors truly generate distributed economic growth or merely serve external interests. Nangolo’s work challenges assumptions about the linear relationship between infrastructure and development. It calls for more nuanced, context-sensitive planning that integrates local needs, supports regional connectivity, and ensures equitable participation.

Reference

Justina Tuulikefo Nangolo, Christoph Hütt, Georg Bareth & Javier Revilla Diez (2025) Roads to development? A comparison of development corridors vs regional roads in the Zambezi Region, Namibia, Journal of Maps, 21:1, 2462302, DOI: 10.1080/17445647.2025.2462302