News

The Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Lagos (Nigeria) will host the upcoming International Conference of Urban and Regional Planning (ICURP14) from 6 to 8 October 2014.

As part of the establishment of a new Master of Spatial Planning degree at the University of Zambia (UNZA) in Lusaka, the University has been building links with Slum/Shack Dwellers International (SDI) and its local affiliate, People’s Process on Housing and Poverty in Zambia (PPHPZ).

Recently the Africa Research Institute (ARI) teamed up with AAPS members to produce a series of publications related to planning education in Africa. All three publications are now available for download, free of charge, from the ARI website.

Over the past five years African planning law expert Stephen Berrisford (Adjunct Professor at the African Centre for Cities, University of Cape Town) has led an AAPS project to promote planning law reform on the continent (click HERE to read about past work).

The ICLEI Local Climate Solutions for Africa 2013 Congress (LOCS2013), held in Dar es Salaam from 30 October to 1 November 2013, concluded with delegates adopting the Dar es Salaam Communiqué prepared by African Mayors and subnational leaders.

AAPS recently acted as an endorser of the Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI) Africa 2013 congress on local climate solutions, held in Dar es Salaam from 30 October to 1 November 2013. AAPS contributed to a congress session on climate change and planning education. Prof A.C. Mosha of the University of Botswana participated in the session on behalf of AAPS.

On 23 and 24 September 2013, UN-Habitat and the University of Nairobi co-hosted a workshop to explore ways of increasing mutual collaboration between UN-Habitat and AAPS members in Kenya, and to create a forum for the schools to formulate how they may promote AAPS objectives in Kenya.

Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) invites applications for a full-time tenure track position (open rank) in historic preservation with a specialization in preservation planning.

The Departments of Land Management and Architecture at the Polytechnic of Namibia recently undertook the site analysis phase of an informal settlement upgrading studio, in collaboration with the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia (SDFN) and the Namibia Housing Action Group (NHAG).

The former AAPS project coordinator, Dr Nancy Odendaal of the University of Cape Town, recently authored a paper reflecting on the intellectual approach and project work of AAPS over the past half decade. This paper was published in R. B. Estudos Urbanos e Regionais, which is the journal of ANPUR, the Brazilian planning schools association.

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.

Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI) Africa, together with the City of Dar es Salaam, will host a world-class congress from 30 October to 1 November 2013, to identify and showcase innovative solutions and opportunities to the challenges of rapid urbanization, and realistic responses to climate change at the local government level.

Congratulations to the new Master of Spatial Planning programme staff at the University of Zambia, and particularly to incoming staff member Gilbert Siame, who played an important role in helping to secure a generous Comic Relief grant for a research project on informal settlement upgrading in Lusaka.

AAPS Project Coordinator Dr Nancy Odendaal recently attended the Global Planning Education Association Network (GPEAN) Governing Council meeting, held in Recife (Brazil) from 17 to 19 May 2013. The meeting preceded the Brazilian Planning Schools Association (ANPUR) conference held in the same city.

Another joint AAPS-SDI studio is currently underway in Dar es Salaam, where students from Ardhi University are working with the Centre for Community Initiatives (CCI), local community members and federation leaders on two informal settlement upgrading projects. The targeted settlements are Maganga and Kombo.

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.

In concert with the initiation of a new Masters in Spatial Planning programme in 2013, the University of Zambia (UNZA) has submitted a proposal to Comic Relief for a community-led slum upgrading programme based in Lusaka.

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).

The Research and Capacity Development Branch of UN-Habitat is responsible for the preparation of the Global Report on Human Settlements (GRHS), a UN General Assembly-mandated report published every two years which provides one of the most authoritative reviews of urban trends, conditions and policies.

The Community Architect Network (CAN), with support from ACHR, has produced a handbook entitled ‘Comprehensive site planning: Transform community to better living place for all’. It is one in a series of ACHR ‘Handbooks for Housing By People’, and provides useful resources for planners, architects and urbanists interested in community-based approaches to practice and education.