The University of Zambia (UNZA) recently launched the Centre for Urban Research and Planning (CURP), an exciting new urban research initiative seeking to promote community-based approaches to research and settlement upgrading.
CURP is an interdisciplinary research initiative focusing on the dynamics of Zambia’s urbanization and spatial planning. CURP was formed to fill the information and knowledge gap that has been created over the years in Zambia due to the lack of dedicated and coordinated research on urbanization and planning topics.
The Centre has been established to undertake cutting-edge applied research to provide accurate and reliable information on different aspects of Zambia’s cities, towns and regions. It places particular emphasis on defensible and policy-relevant research to inform a sustainable human settlements development discourse in Zambia and the region.
CURP also seeks to provide technical support for the newly introduced MSc Spatial Planning programme at the University of Zambia. This programmed was launched in 2013 based on a curriculum developed collaboratively between UNZA and AAPS.
The projects and activities of CURP will seek to build upon the partnership established between UNZA and People’s Process on Housing and Poverty in Zambia (PPHPZ). As part of this ground-breaking agreement, UNZA and PPHPZ committed to jointly planning studio projects for the MSc Spatial Planning programme, and to allowing PPHPZ staff and residents of informal settlements to give inputs and lectures to students.
For more information on the Centre’s approach, contact details and current research projects, please visit the CURP website.
Watch videos of the MSc Spatial Planning programme at UNZA below:
Further reading on the UNZA planning programme from the AAPS news archive:
- Photos of AAPS visit to the University of Zambia, Lusaka (October 2011)
- Groundbreaking agreement signed by UNZA and PPHPZ (December 2013)
- University of Zambia secures Comic Relief research grant (July 2013)
