African Centre for Cities

African Centre for Cities International Urban Conference 2018
2018-02-01 08:00 - 2018-02-03 17:00 (Africa/Johannesburg) | University of Cape Town, Upper Campus, Cape Town , Western Cape , South Africa
To celebrate the ten-year anniversary of the establishment of the African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape Town, the International Urban Conference draws together leading urban scholars and practitioners from all corners of Africa and the world to take stock of ground-breaking urban research, to explore new avenues for enquiry and collaboration, and to make visible the vibrant state of our broad and heterogeneous field.
The conference takes place from 1 to 3 February 2018, at the University of Cape Town, South Africa.
With nearly 300 individual papers, over 80 panels and close to 20 roundtables, the conference will provide an opportunity to engage with the scale and breadth of African and southern urbanism, which calls for comparative readings of cities, alternative modes of inquiry and new geographies of theory.

THE CONFERENCE HAS REACHED MAXIMUM CAPACITY. REGISTRATION FOR THIS EVENT IS NOW CLOSED.

ACCOMMODATION & TRAVEL
We recommend preferred supplier Flywell Travel for accommodation or travel queries.

Integration & Ideas Festival
2018-07-26 08:00 - 17:30 | Guga S’Thebe, Washington Street, Langa, Cape Town, South Africa
The Integration Syndicate is a three-phase project that started off with a series of nine “episodes” over the course of 2017, which explored the obstacles and solutions to social-spatial integration in the Cape Town metropolitan region. From these episodes, in which a closed group of academics, activists, public and private sector actors participated, five provocations were developed that represent five potential springboard ideas to create and facilitate greater socio-spatial integration.
During the first half of 2018 the five provocations were presented to focus groups of stakeholders for critical input to further shape the ideas. Now the next step is to take these five ideas to a broader audience with a public event, the Integration & Ideas Festival.
Integration & Ideas Festival programme
You are invited to join us for the Integration & Ideas Festival
WHEN: 26 July 2018
TIME: 08:00 to 17:30
WHERE: Guga S’thebe, Washington Street, Langa, Cape Town
RSVP: Please complete the form here to RSVP for this event.
If you have any queries please send an email to integration.syndicate@gmail.com

The Integrated City: Local Cultural Policy and Sustainable Integrated Urban Development
2018-08-17 08:30 - 15:00 | John Martin Room, New Engineering Building, Upper Campus, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
This seminar at UCT’s African Centre for Cities looks to continue a set of dialogues around cultural governance and sustainable urban development in South Africa. It brings two processes together:

The Local Cultural Policy Agenda: South African cities are potential spaces for dynamic change as a result of being the nexus for flows of people and ideas. Culture is increasingly seen as significant in urban transformation. A long-term approach to exploring innovative urban governance frameworks that forward the use of culture has been proposed as a research agenda. These speak to new national frameworks around integrated urban development as well as revisions to the Arts and Culture White paper.
Integrating the Dual City: The African Centre for Cities recent Integration and Ideas Festival continue a interest in the role of culture for sustainable development, putting forward a number of innovative provocations to address the dual city. These included a strong focus on issues related to culture (memory, storytelling and identity), placemaking (densified, dynamic neighborhoods) and relationality (including through mobility, solidarity networks, “hubs”, and the digital space).

The seminar objectives

Further a dialogue between researchers working in civil society and government concerned with the culture and its role in urban transformation.
To test the viability of a specific provocation – the UCLG Agenda 21 for Culture – Culture Actions: a framework for governance that furthers the use of culture for sustainable development in cities – against provocations at the recent festival, and including engaging with practitioners.

To identify possible future paths of inquiry and collaboration amongst researchers based in Cape Town with those elsewhere in South Africa.

WHEN: 17 August 2018
TIME: 8.30 for 9:00-15:00
VENUE: John Martin Room, New Engineering Building, UCT
RSVP: Places are limited. Please send an RSVP email with any dietary requirements to africancentreforcities.rsvp@gmail.com
PROGROGRAMME
8:30-9:00 Registration and coffee
9:00-9:30 Welcome, Introduction and Viewing of Exhibition
Introduction. Providing the input on Local Cultural Policy Agenda, responding to Integration ideas Festival and introducing the UCLG Agenda 21 for Culture Actions.
Speaker: Zayd Minty
9:30-10:30 Cultural Narratives – Heritage, Creativity, Urban Change
Working with memory and notions of heritage, building on local creativity, provide a powerful way to build meaning for citizens and so build sense of purpose. Why is this important for cities and what can we do about it?
Presenters: Naomi Roux (UCT) and Valmont Layne (UWC)
Respondent: Deirdre Prins-Solani (Education, Culture and Heritage Specialist)
10:30-11:00 Tea
11:00-12:00 Place Making and the potential of Socially Engaged Public Practise
There is a growing need for thinking about denser, more livable spaces that are also more resonant and meaningful through socially engaged public art/practices. How can local government make this happen?
Presenters: Rike Sitas (UCT) and Anna Selmeczi (UCT)
Respondent: Brenda Skelenge (Lukhanyo Hub)
12:00-13:00 Cultural Mapping and Planning
The CoCT’s Cultural Mapping and Planning initiative provides an opportunity for communities to revalue their tangible and intangible assets and begin dialogues for community change. How is this relevant for cities?
Presenters: Vaughn Sadie (UCT/DUT) and Laura Nkula-Wenz (UCT)
Respondent: TBC
13:00-14:00 Lunch
14:00-15:00 Closing discussion
Way forward for research, policy and practice agendas and support network. Led by Avril Joffe (Wits)

International Transdisciplinarity Conference 2019
2019-09-10 08:00 - 2019-09-13 17:00 | Unnamed Venue, Gothenburg, Sweden
The International Transdisciplinary Conference 2019, co-organised by the University of Gothenburg and Mistra Urban Futures, takes place 10 to 13 September 2019 in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Our societies are facing critical points in their development, where large challenges are becoming increasingly difficult to handle. Numerous conflicts and complexities are surfacing – to which we can see societies responding with fragmentation, intolerance and exclusion. One way to address such developments is through societal transformation processes that implicitly include a variety of interest groups, stakeholders and organisations. Transdisciplinary research is one approach that focuses specifically on co-producing and integrating knowledge and expertise from a variety of sources, including communities, research, cities and businesses. It is an approach that is driven by the need to create processes where values and transformations towards a more just and sustainable society are openly debated.
The aim of this conference, Joining Forces for Change, is to bring together actors from different professional mandates, disciplines and sectors to engage and discuss practical examples and case studies that approach societal transformation through boundary breaking collaboration. The conference invites practitioners and researchers from government and administrative organisations and agencies, interest groups from community and business, and researchers and students from across the university. The overall focus is on what we can learn from our collaborative experiences, case studies and practices regarding wider societal transformation, methodological innovations and theoretical development. We will specifically search for “sites for change” in terms of spaces, practices and learnings where TD research and co-production play a crucial role.
The conference programme will be structure around three streams:
Societal transformation

What experiences in initiating and fostering transformation processes do we have and what can we learn from them?
How can different theories of change contribute to sustainable transformations?
What forms of organising are needed for our institutions, agencies, companies and universities to handle the necessary transformations, with particular reference to collaboration between different types of stakeholders?
What skills and competences are needed by civil servants, researchers and students to co-design and lead processes that target sustainable outcomes?

Methodological innovation

What does individual and organisational learning in change processes – working on, challenging and transgressing borders – look like?
How can universities promote collaborative learning?
How can different types of transdisciplinary pedagogies, research methods and processes of co-production be developed to more effectively contribute to societal transformations?

Theoretical development

How can we imagine and conceptualise a sustainable and inclusive knowledge economy?
What are the core challenges in transdisciplinary research regarding ontological and epistemological issues – what worldviews and paradigms are challenged and what kind of knowledge is included and produced?
How does TD research engage with systems thinking, scenario planning, design thinking and other holistic theories and practices?

Call for contributions
Contributions from all fields and research cultures are invited, particularly submissions from practitioners and from transdisciplinary teams.
Important dates:
Deadline for abstract submission: extended to 31 March 2019
Notice of acceptance: mid-May 2019

For more information go to the conference website.

Realising Just Cities conference week
2019-10-13 - 2019-10-18 | Unnamed Venue, Sheffield , United Kingdom
The 4th Annual Realising Just Cities Conference takes place in Sheffield, UK from 13-18 October 2019. The conference focuses on lessons, impacts and outcomes since the start of Mistra Urban Futures (MUF) in 2010 but with particular emphasis on the current 2016-19 phase of closer international collaborative and comparative research now ending.
MUF has sought to co-produce knowledge and action to support sustainable urban development across cities in the Global North and South, working through Local Interaction Platforms and other forms of partnership that bring together researchers from different stakeholders in transdisciplinary teams.
The conference is hosted by the Sheffield-Manchester Local Interaction Platform and will include representatives from partner cities in Buenos Aires, Cape Town, Gothenburg, Kisumu, Malmö, Shimla, and Stockholm.
The Week at a Glance

Sunday 13th October, 1830-2030, Welcome Drinks and Reception, Sheffield Winter Gardens. Detailed Programme.
Monday 14th October, 0900-1700, Comparative Project Work, Lunch and Sheffield Walking Tours. Detailed Programme.
Tuesday 15th October, 0815-1800, Open Conference with parallel sessions, Lunch and Conference Dinner. Detailed Programme.
Wednesday 16th October, 0730-2100, Coaches to Manchester field trips and workshops with Lunch and Networking Dinner in Manchester and coaches back to Sheffield. Detailed Programme.
Thursday 17th October, 0900-1700, Board meeting, Some comparative project workshops, Keynote lecture and Lunch. Detailed Programme.
Friday 18th October, 0900-1200, LIP-directors meeting, Some comparative project workshops. Detailed Programme.

This page is only intended for Mistra Urban Futures delegates already associated with our city teams and who have been invited. Not a Mistra Urban Futures delegate? Head over to our Open Conference page, where you can find more information about how you can participate.

Cities of integrity – innovative approaches to tackling corruption and cultivating a culture of integrity, trust and openness in urban development
2020-02-09 14:00 - 16:00 | Hall 2, Room 1, Abu Dhabi , United Arab Emirates
Cities of Integrity project hosts a panel discussion at the World Urban Forum in Abu Dhabi, on Sunday, 9 February 2020 from 14:00 to 16:00.
Urban innovation flows from multiple actors securely, independently seeking opportunities for improvement of their livelihoods, their homes and their social fabric. Urban development that is underpinned by a culture of integrity, transparency and accountability is an essential condition minimising the risks that would otherwise block this innovation and investment. You may plan and wish for a prosperous, inclusive, equitable, resilient or sustainable city but if norms of integrity and openness are corroded by corruption none of these aspirations can be achieved. Our event will provide a platform to raise our shared understanding of the urban corruption risks at hand. We will discuss the latest facts and figures related to the major integrity challenges in urban development, their scale, scope and development over time in the cities of both the global north and south. At least equally important we will take this empirical overview as a point of departure to embark on a joint exploration of the innovative tools and approaches available to build and nurture strong cultures of integrity at the city scale. By weaving together insights and perspectives from urban planners, architects and urban policy-makers on the one side and experts and practitioners on transparency, integrity and governance we will launch an inspirational, interactive conversation around the many practical tools and innovative levers that can be activated to architect and nurture such cultures of urban integrity. Questions to explore with the audience include: what are the major ”integrity vulnerabilities” in urban development? What strategies to promote urban cultures of integrity have been found to be effective so far? What roles can the professional community of urban planners and architects play in addressing these integrity risks? What is a realistic contribution that new technologies can make beyond the hype that surrounds them? What responsibility falls to the private sector and what practical action is already coming from the business side? How can the creativity of urban place-making be harnessed? We will seek to explore these questions not just through a set of inspirational panel presentations but also by tapping into the expertise and creativity of the audience through interactive conversation formats. The aim is to provoke new thinking around these issues and plant the seeds for much needed new partnerships around urban integrity issues that harness the expertise and commitment of a diverse set of urban stakeholders.
MODERATOR
Adi Kumar – Development Action Group, South Africa
PANELISTS
Gilbert Siame – Centre for Urban Research and Planning, University of Zambia
Jennifer Bretana – Hivos, Philippines
Dieter Zinnbauer – African Center for Cities, South Africa and Copenhagen Business School, Denmark
Alex Warnock-Smith – Central Saint Martins, United Kingdom
WHEN: Sunday, 9 February 2020
TIME: 14:00 to 16:00
VENUE: Hall 2, Room 1, Abu Dhabi, UAE

LSX - WP Training
2020-06-13 08:00 - 2020-06-14 17:00, 2020-07-25 08:00 - 2020-07-26 17:00 | UCT, Seminar Room 1 Chemical Engineering, UCT Upper Campus, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa

Southern Africa City Studies Conference
2020-08-30 - 2020-09-01
Since 2009 the Southern Africa City Studies Conference (SACSC) series has provided an interdisciplinary forum for researchers examining urban issues in Southern Africa. We are pleased to announce that the fifth conference in this series will take place from 30 August to 1 September 2020 at the University of the Witwatersrand.
Recent interest in comparative urbanism and southern urbanism, as well as a context of regional and global uncertainty, creates an important opportunity for scholars to engage these and other issues and debates from the vantage of urban experiences in our region. One of the objectives of this conference series is to promote emerging scholars who are residents of Southern Africa working on cities in the region or elsewhere, as well as scholarship on cities in Southern Africa.
The conference is hosted by the Centre for Urbanism and Built Environment Studies, the Gauteng City-Region Observatory, and the South African Research Chair in Spatial Analysis and City Planning, and in association with the other members of an evolving, informal urban studies network currently made up of the following university entities: the National Research Chair in Economic Development of the City of Johannesburg, University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), the Wits City Institute, the African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape Town, Department of Political Studies, University of the Western Cape, the Urban Futures Centre at the Durban University of Technology, the Centre for Development Support at the University of the Free State, the National Research Chair for Sustainable Human Settlements, Nelson Mandela University, the Department of Town and Regional Planning, University of Pretoria, the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Venda, and the Department of Social Anthropology, North West University.
www.sacsc2020.com

Association of African Planning Schools Conference 2020
2020-11-18 - 2020-11-20 | Unnamed Venue, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, United Republic Of
The Institute of Spatial Planning (IRPUD) at TU Dortmund University (Germany), together with the Institute of Human Settlement Studies and School of Spatial Planning and Social Sciences at Ardhi University (Tanzania) hosts the fifth international conference of the Association of African Planning Schools (AAPS) from 18 to 20 November 2020 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Themed Urban Africa in the Twenty-First Century: Current Issues and Future Prospects of Urban Governance and Planning, the conference will be organised along five thematic tracks relevant to current issues and future prospects of urban governance and planning in urban Africa:

Track 1: Localising planning theories
Track 2: Innovating planning education to fit the challenges of climate change
Track 3: Participatory and multi-governance approaches for urban resilience
Track 4: Toward pro-livelihood adaptation and risk management approaches
Track 5: Information and communication technology (ICT) for inclusive spaces

The conference will feature keynote addresses from leading urban and planning scholars including Prof Stefan Greiving (TU Dortmund University), Prof Robert Kiunsi (Ardhi University), Prof Wilbard Kombe (Ardhi University), Prof Garth Myers (Trinity College, USA), Prof Sophie Schramm (TU Dortmund University), Prof Vanessa Watson (University of Cape Town).

RISE Africa Action Festival 2021
2021-05-24 - 2021-05-28
The RISE Africa platform, together with its partners, hosts its first annual event that brings together Africa’s urban thinkers, doers and enablers, including ICLEI Africa’s member cities, subnational and local governments, from 24 to 28 May 2021. The event is planned around celebrating Africa Day, 25 May, and this year’s theme is NEXT URBAN CHAMPIONS*.

See the Curator Statement here, explore the video provocations, or view the RISE Africa 2021 Roadmap.

Explore the full 5-day programme below and register for individual sessions or register below for multiple RISE Africa 2021 sessions at once. With 46 sessions to choose from there is something for every thinker, doer and enabler working toward sustainable urban African solutions!

The titles with both english and french will have two-way interpretation.

Explorez le programme complet de 5 jours ci-dessous et inscrivez-vous à des sessions individuelles ou inscrivez-vous ci-dessous pour plusieurs sessions RISE Africa 2021 à la fois. Avec 46 sessions au choix, il y en a pour tous les penseurs, acteurs et facilitateurs travaillant vers des solutions urbaines africaines durables!

Les titres en anglais et en français auront une interprétation bidirectionnelle

Download the quick PDF guide to sessions here.

Presencing and publishing Urban Studies from Africa
2021-07-16 14:00 - 15:30
Many urban studies journals publish few articles from African-based scholars: how can this be changed?

While in “international” northern-based journals publishing the work of African based scholars seems to remain a challenge for editors, African scholars have organised many dynamic venues for publishing urban and African studies research. We have invited African-based scholars who have been involved in leading these initiatives to share their experiences; and editors working on Western-based journals to respond.
We will hear from four African urban scholars, and then three editors of urban studies journals will respond. French Language translation will be available.
Panelists– Edgar Pieterse (founding director of the African Centre for Cities; Professor of Urban Policy, University of Cape Town)– Saheed Aderinto (founder, Lagos Studies Association; Professor of African History at Western Carolina University)– Nadine Machikou (editor, Politique Africaine; Professor of political science at the University of Yaoundé)– Kingsley Madueke (Centre for Conflict Management & Peace Studies, University of Jos, Nigeria; PhD University of Amsterdam)
Respondents– Vanessa Watson (Global South editor of Urban Studies; Emerita Professor of City Planning in the School of Architecture, Planning and Geomatics and a founder member of the African Centre for Cities)– Liza Weinstein (Editor, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research (ijurr); Associate Professor of Sociology and Chair of the Sociology and Anthropology Department at Northeastern University)– Nik Theodore (Interventions editor of the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research and past editor of Antipode: A Radical Journal of Geography; Professor and Head of the Department of Urban Planning and Policy, as well as the Director of the Center for Urban Economic Development, at the University of Illinois Chicago)
This event is part of the RC21 annual conference is the main international urban sociology conference. It brings together scholars in urban sociology and neighbouring fields to discuss developments in urban social theory, methods and empirical research and stimulate discussion and cooperation by offering a variety of formats (plenary lectures, paper sessions, author meets critics sessions, roundtables and panels, walkshops, etc.). This years’ edition takes place from 14 July until 16 July 2021 and is hosted by the University of Antwerp (Belgium). The 2021 conference centers around ‘Sensing and Shaping the City’, focusing on how citizens experience the fragmentary, unequal and contradictory realities of global urbanity.

REGISTER HERE

UCT SDG Summit | Circular Economy Pre-Summit Workshops
2021-08-31 14:00 - 16:30
The Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Town is convening an international summit on how the SDGs can best be realised in the African context with an eye on the role of science and mission-driven partnerships.

In the build-up to the Summit, a series of workshops are being organised around seven themes, of which the Circular Economy is one.

READ THE CONCEPT NOTE HERE

WORKSHOP 1 | 17 August, 14:00 to 16:15

The first workshop will explore the definitional debates around the circular economy with an emphasis on the state of macro scholarship and policy positions adopted by select African governments and civil society actors.

Speakers

Prof Ester van der Voet – Leiden University & UN International Resource Panel
Dr Willi Haas – BOKU, Vienna
Bezawit Eshetu – African Circular Economy Network
Reniera O’Donnell – Higher Education Lead at Ellen MacArthur Foundation

Register here

WORKSHOP 2 | 31 August, 14:00 to 16:15

The second workshop will be an exploration of circular economy applications through case studies with an eye on research questions and issues.

Speakers

Prof Christina Trois – University of KwaZulu-Natal
Kirsten Barnes – GreenCape
Paul Currie – ICLEI Africa
Sudhir Pillay – Water Research Commission
Prof Harro von Blottnitz – University of Cape Town

Register here

These workshops are open to all who are involved in Circular Economy related work and research.

UCT SDG Summit | Circular Economy Pre-Summit Workshops
2021-08-31 14:00 - 16:30
The Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Town is convening an international summit on how the SDGs can best be realised in the African context with an eye on the role of science and mission-driven partnerships.

In the build-up to the Summit, a series of workshops are being organised around seven themes, of which the Circular Economy is one.

READ THE CONCEPT NOTE HERE

WORKSHOP 1 | 17 August, 14:00 to 16:15

The first workshop will explore the definitional debates around the circular economy with an emphasis on the state of macro scholarship and policy positions adopted by select African governments and civil society actors.

Speakers

Prof Ester van der Voet – Leiden University & UN International Resource Panel
Dr Willi Haas – BOKU, Vienna
Bezawit Eshetu – African Circular Economy Network
Reniera O’Donnell – Higher Education Lead at Ellen MacArthur Foundation

Register Closed:

WORKSHOP 2 | 31 August, 14:00 to 16:15

The second workshop will be an exploration of circular economy applications through case studies with an eye on research questions and issues.

Speakers

Prof Christina Trois – University of KwaZulu-Natal
Kirsten Barnes – GreenCape
Paul Currie – ICLEI Africa
Sudhir Pillay – Water Research Commission
Prof Harro von Blottnitz – University of Cape Town

Register Closed:

These workshops are open to all who are involved in Circular Economy related work and research.

UCT SDG Summit | An Urban Lens on the Achievement of the SDGs
2021-09-09 10:00 - 16:00
A Masterclass alongside the UCT SDG Africa Summit 2021The ACC Masterclass will be structured in three parts, comprised of 75min each. The first session will unpack the political and institutional backstory in ensuring that there was an SDG to address the imperatives of urbanisation, and connections were drawn with other SDGs. The second session will focus on the complexities and contradictions of implementing the SDGs when it is a nexus issue such as urban food security. The analytical focus will fall on the challenge of effective inter-governmental coordination and alignment across scales and sectors. The third session will focus on the practical policy tools that are being deployed at city-level to track the implementation of the SDGs at the local level, considered against the national reporting system of the South African government. This raises institutional questions about fostering a shared perspective when municipal officials remain deeply commitment to sectoral specialisms, as well as issues about alignment and meaningful societal engagement in tracking government performance in delivering on stated commitments. Across the three sessions participants will be exposed to the cutting edges of the interface between applied research and policy implementation.

Session 1 | The genesis of SDG 11: Getting the urban onto the agenda10:00 to 11:15Edgar Pieterse (ACC) in conversation with Aromar Revi (Indian Institute for Human Settlements) and Monika Glinzler (International relations, Department of Human Settlements)

By some estimates, getting the urban question right is a precondition to achieve up to 70% of the overall SDG agenda. However, until the last hour before the finalisation of the seventeen SDGs, there was great doubt that an explicit urban goal would be included. This session will pull the curtain on the backstage advocacy arguments, evidence and diplomatic work that was conducted to secure an urban perspective across the SDGs. It is a given that the multilateral system is not perfect, but for those on the frontlines of policy mainstreaming, it is indispensable and a permanent site of struggle.

Session 2 | Teasing out the tensions: SDGs as a national imperative, and SDG 11 as a city-level goal11:30 to 12:45Gareth Haysom (ACC) in conversation with Jane Battersby (University of Cape Town) and Julian May (University of the Western Cape)

The urban food lens offers a unique scalar perspective bringing the tensions and opportunities presented at the intersection between zero hunger (SDG 2), and sustainable cities (SDG 11), as well as health and well-being (3), education (4) and gender equality (5). The session will engage in both the challenges presented at these intersections between nexus and scalar issues, while attempting to engage the complexities and contradictions of implementing and measuring the SDGs when it is a nexus issue such as urban food and nutrition security, and what this might mean in context, but equally, effective inter-governmental coordination and alignment across scales and sectors.

Session 3 | Lessons towards SDG localisation and indicators14:00 to 15:15Andrew Tucker (ACC) in conversation with Alexis Schäffler-Thomson (Pegasys) and Natasha Primo (City of Cape Town)

It is a given that the SDGs will only find full expression if they become the focus of local action, established within enabling national parameters. There is great potential in using indicator frameworks and monitoring systems to establish productive alignment between national and local governments. This session will share research findings and potential of using local level indicator frameworks to track and reflect on policy efforts to implement the SDGs, whilst being mindful of the statistical challenges of generating local level data. The empirical reference point will be South Africa and Cape Town.

African Infrastructure Futures Conference: Urban research, debates and priorities
2022-11-21 07:30 - 20:00
The African Centre for Cities, along with its hosting partners, convene the African Infrastructure Futures Conference from 21-23 November 2022, in Cape Town, South Africa. The conference is curated as follows: Day 1 will adopt a more traditional academic conference format and Day 2 and 3 will focus on the substance of policy and practice debates.
THE ACADEMIC CONFERENCE | 21 November 2022
The one-day Academic Conference programme will kick-off with a keynote presentation by Prof Dilip M Menon, Centre for Indian Studies in Africa, Director, and Mellon Chair in Indian Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. The presentation is entitled Drowning Cities: Thinking urbanism in the age of global warming.
Three parallel sessions are structured along four thematic tracks:
TRACK A – Design/Resilience
Session 1: How Africa’s marginalised urban majority reframes the sustainability agenda
Session 2: Resilience as a concept, infrastructural practice, and/or (re)imagination
Session 3: Redirecting urban trajectories through speculative design practices and dispositions
TRACK B – Power/Governance
Session 1: Power and politics from urban peripheries
Session 2: States and possibilities of urban infrastructure policymaking
Session 3: Plural governance regimes: urban politics beyond the state
TRACK C – Networks/Frontier
Session 1: Finance as & of infrastructure: reframing financial and fiscal frontiers
Session 2: Platformed cities and citizen
Session 3: Enduring and emerging spatial imaginaries: from SEZs to ring road
TRACK D – Everyday/Hybridity
Session 1: Infrastructure’s multiplicities-circulations, adaptations, and composites
Session 2: Everyday socio-infrastructural encounters in African cities
Session 3: Decaying, caring and repairing urban infrastructure
The day will conclude with a panel discussion entitled Propositions of the Present: Closing Reflections on the Potentials and Pathways for Urban Infrastructure Scholarship from Africa.

DOWNLOAD THE PROGRAMME
The Academic Conference has reached capacity.

African Infrastructure Futures: Building Common Purpose for Urban Success
2022-11-22 - 2022-11-23
The African Centre for Cities, along with its hosting partners, convene the African Infrastructure Futures Conference from 21-23 November 2022, in Cape Town, South Africa. The conference is curated as follows: Day 1 will adopt a more traditional academic conference format and Day 2 and 3 will focus on the substance of policy and practice debates.
POLICY CONFERENCE | 22-23 November 2022
The starting point of the two-day policy conference will be to establish a shared sense of urgency about the effects of dysfunctional urbanisation amidst an unfolding climate emergency that threatens to destroy infrastructure, livelihoods and inter-generational mobility. The voices of youthful African climate activists will set the scene.
Next, we get concrete by defining in precise terms what the sustainable infrastructure opportunity is to forge a unique African pathway to address urbanisation and broader green growth imperatives.
Then, we locate the sustainable urban infrastructure imperative within the larger pan-African vision and programme for a common market and more diverse economies, but all aligned with commitments in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) for carbon reduction and imperatives of green industrialisation as promoted by UNECA. This is to acknowledge that cities can’t make progress without national government buy-in and leadership.
On the back of definitional clarity and macro implications, the discussion will shift to questions of financing sustainable infrastructure and divesting from unsustainable technologies. There’s been a proliferation of discussions about the infrastructure gap. Instead of rehearsing those arguments, we focus on three examples of attempted innovation and ask DFIs what it will take to mainstream these initiatives across Africa.
However, it would be a grave error to suggest that mainstreaming sustainable infrastructure approaches is simply a matter of technical competence and political will. It demands mindset change within society and leaders because too many Africans remain enamoured by visions of future urbanity that are carbon copies of Dubai, Singapore and Shanghai. To insinuate this dimension into the conference we’ll host a TED-style talk by one of Africa’s leading architects, which will serve as a reminder that our challenge is not simply to provide infrastructure but to create cities filled with opportunity, beauty and cultural resonance. Cities are always civilisational projects.
Sound data is essential for evidence-based policy making and transparency fuels accountability and performance. The conference will explore the role of research, data, learning and intelligent feedback loops in forging partnerships to drive increased investment in sustainable infrastructure.
Lastly, given the unique conditions that confront African cities, it is essential that we invest in the creation of “city-level innovation ecosystems” to support the transition from unsustainable to sustainable infrastructure and urbanism.

DOWNLOAD THE PROGRAMME

The Conference has reached capacity.
