Events

From 20 to 21 March 2013, the Association of African Planning Schools (AAPS) took part in the inaugural meeting of the African Urban Research Initiative (AURI), held at the Hilton Hotel in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

From 5 to 7 February 2013, a group of AAPS members took part in a workshop meeting on collaborative studio teaching projects in Cape Town, South Africa. The workshop focused on the opportunities, challenges and practicalities of organising planning studios in partnership with local informal communities and NGOs such as Shack/Slum Dwellers International (with whom AAPS has a Memorandum of Understanding).

AAPS Project Coordinator Dr Nancy Odendaal travelled to Durban (South Africa) recently to give input to a Women in Informal Employent: Gloablizing and Organizing (WIEGO) workshop on occupational health and safety and informal work.

The following presentations made at the AAPS 2012 all-schools conference are available for download. Unfortunately some presentations cannot be uploaded due to formatting and size constraints.

See photographs of the proceedings and group dinner of the AAPS 2012 conference, held in Nairobi, below.

See photographs from the AAPS 2012 conference’s field trip to Kibera and Huruma settlements in Nairobi below.

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International Planning History Society (IPHS)

Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning, University of Lisbon, Portugal

International Conference

On 11th July 2012, the University of Nairobi’s School of the Built Environment, in collaboration with its partners, organized a regional conference to explore approaches and share lessons on sustainable up-scaling of informal settlements upgrading in East Africa.

The Department of Construction Management and Quantity Surveying at the University of Johannesburg (South Africa), in collaboration with the College of Architecture and Planning at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (Ghana), will host the 2nd International Conference on Infrastructure Development in Africa (ICIDA 2013).

From the 3rd to 5th October 2012, the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Lagos will host its Second International Conference, themed ‘Urban Transitions in a Dynamic World’.

The rapid pace of urbanisation across the globe has lead to substantial challenges in the planning and development of cities. With 50% of the world’s population now living in urban areas, urban planners need to create sustainable, liveable cities and provide for adequate infrastructure to solve the problems of congestion, air pollution and ageing infrastructure that could potentially limit a city’s growth. Asian cities in particular are focusing on restructuring and revitalising their urban environments, blending in sustainability elements to ensure their efforts towards maintaining economic growth do not compromise long term liveability for their inhabitants.

From the 3rd to 5th October 2012, the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Lagos will host its Second International Conference, themed ‘Urban Transitions in a Dynamic World’.

The third World Planning Schools Congress (WPSC) was held in Perth, Australia, from 4 to 8 July 2011. This was the third WPSC event held in a decade, following the 2001 and 2006 congresses held in Shanghai and Mexico City respectively.

From the 3 to 5 May 2011 a congregation of 14 African academics and UN-Habitat staff deliberated on cities and climate change in the context of planning education in Africa.

From 9 to 23 July, 2011, Les Ateliers Internationaux de maîtrise d’oeuvre urbaine will host an international workshop dedicated to the urban planning and design of Bamako, the rapidly growing capital city of Mali. The theme for the workshop is ‘New Urban Centralities’.

From 28 to 30 March 2011, the African Centre for Cities (ACC) hosted delegates from Indian, Kenyan, Brazilian and South African higher education institutions to discuss the potential for comparative case research between the four countries.

From 28 to 30 March 2011, the African Centre for Cities (ACC) hosted delegates from Indian, Kenyan, Brazilian and South African higher education institutions to discuss the potential for comparative case research between the four countries.

The Association of African Planning Schools (AAPS) hosted its second bienniel conference on African planning education from 5 to 8 October 2010, in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The conference sought to consolidate the AAPS agenda around the revitalisation of planning education on the continent.

AAPS hosted a panel discussion on African planning education at the South African Planning Institute (SAPI) ‘Planning Africa’ conference, held at the Durban International Convention Centre, South Africa, from 12 to 15 September 2010.

In preparation for the upcoming AAPS 2010 conference on planning education (to be held from 5 to 8 October in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania), a background paper has been prepared to inform debate around planning curricular reform in Africa.