The horror of nameless streets The graphic by Joseph Murisi highlights the modern standards adopted by various countries in street naming and numbering
The graphic by Joseph Murisi highlights the modern standards adopted by various countries in street naming and numbering

The graphic by Joseph Murisi highlights the modern standards adopted by various countries in street naming and numbering

Hildegarde The Arena

We have all at one point or another got lost and wasted time and resources such as fuel looking for the places we are going to.

“You give a child a name because you want him/her to have an identity. It’s unheard of to have nameless children, and you can’t just end up calling them, ‘you, you!’”

These sentiments were aired recently by a colleague after she got lost in one the capital city’s fairly new suburbs.

Even with the Global Positioning System and Google map she still got lost because the suburb’s streets are nameless and the house numbers are not easy to find, and the numbers are not in order.

We have all at one point or another got lost and wasted time and resources such as fuel looking for the places we are going to.

In the process people expose themselves to dangers such as muggings and/or carjacking just because a seemingly simple thing like giving a street name, putting up street signs, and having houses and/or office buildings clearly marked and numbered is being taken for granted.

A recycling merchant pulls his cart along a nameless street in one of Harare’s older suburbs

A recycling merchant pulls his cart along a nameless street in one of Harare’s older suburbs

How much does it cost, or how much are local authorities losing out because of neglecting this international practice?

And where the streets have names, the street signs are either missing and/or need to be replaced because they are rusty, and do not represent the status of 21st century cities and towns. (See pictures)

In view of this, what do our city, town and district centre maps look like, and what stories do they tell, for as Parag Khanna says in his recently published book, “Connectography: Mapping the Future of Global Civilization”: “What we put on a map has iconic power to shape how people think,” and that “the best maps juxtapose physical geography with man-made connectivity. They are constantly updated snapshots reflecting ground realities and virtual gravities.”

When we have a street name such as 30th Crescent, and house number 20500, juxtaposed to another house number, 5 Kajani Street, Mbare, what meanings do we derive from the two? Are they both acceptable? What do they say about that neighbourhood and the city?

Apart from you and me, who else needs up-to-date maps and proper street signs, and numbering of buildings? How does the current scenario affect the way they carry out their business, especially service delivery?

Every now and again, people need ambulance services. It would be interesting to hear from the different service providers how difficult and/or easy it is to access places, especially in areas where the streets are nameless.

Does it compromise the health delivery service just because the ambulance is moving around looking for the location? Apart from wasting time, we also have to consider fuel consumption and the vehicle’s wear and tear.

The other group impacted by this are the law enforcement agents and the people they serve. How can the Zimbabwe Republic Police give timely and efficient service when it will take them forever to find an address? The same with the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC)?

How do householders and businesses expect them to attend to emergencies when the street names and building numbers are missing?

Different departments from all local authorities are also adversely impacted by these nameless streets and/or unmarked/unnumbered buildings.

Burst water and sewer pipes are sometimes the order of the day. Some council employees attending to a burst water pipe in one residential area on Wednesday morning bemoaned: “So much treated water has been lost, and it is not our fault, although residents would always want to blame us. We are there to provide services, but we ask ourselves why the residents are not naming their streets.

“Sometimes it takes us more than two hours to locate the place because there is no street name or number, and, in some cases, we fail to find the place. In the process, we waste council resources, while the problem remains unresolved,” he said.

If that is the case, what will stop some of them from claiming that they went to the affected place, but could not find it because there are no street names? Meanwhile, they would actually use that time to do their personal business!

What this also means is that in terms of planning, they cannot easily estimate the time it would take for someone to move from Point A to Point B. They could take four hours going and coming from a place that should have taken less time, claiming that they could not find it. If they cannot find the location, it also means that their supervisors will not be able to make follow-ups and ascertain whether the job is actually done.

What this also means is that it is difficult for the local authority, ZRP and/or Zesa to map out problem areas and ensure that the challenges are attended to. In the absence of street atlases that used to be published by the Surveyor-General’s Department, how would the police, for example, know the locations well known for drug deal- ing?

Even socially, people are finding it difficult to ask for directions because they are scared that they are being lied to, and sometimes they are, and end up being robbed.

But the bottom line is, very little money can be spent to come up with standard formats of street naming, and ensuring that we maximise on that small investment.

In next week’s instalment, the writer speaks to some local authorities, councillors, the Department of Surveyor- General, urban planners and members of the general public to hear their views on this issue.

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