Recently the Africa Research Institute (ARI) teamed up with AAPS members to produce a series of publications related to planning education in Africa. We are pleased to announce that the first publication of this series is now available.
The publication is entitled ‘Who Will Plan Africa’s Cities?’, and is authored by AAPS Co-Chair Vanessa Watson and Chair Babatunde Agbola.
You can download the publication by clicking HERE.
The synopsis is as follows:
Africa’s cities are growing – and changing – rapidly. Without appropriate planning, they will become increasingly chaotic, inefficient and unsustainable. In many countries, planning legislation dates back to the colonial era. It is ill-equipped to deal with contemporary urban problems. A shortage of urban planning and management professionals trained to respond to urban complexity with progressive pro-poor approaches exacerbates urban dysfunction.
As planning educators seek to train students for employment within the existing system, the urban and rural planning curricula of many planning schools are as outdated as planning legislation. Some African countries have no planning school. The reform and revitalisation of planning education – and legislation – could contribute significantly to sustainable and more equitable urban development in sub-Saharan Africa.
