News

Within the framework of its strategy for building comparative knowledge on Africa produced from within the African continent, the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) invites proposals from researchers based in African universities and centres of research for the constitution of Comparative Research Networks (CRNs) to undertake studies on or around any of the themes identified as priority research themes within the framework of the Council’s strategic plan for the period 2012 to 2016.

Those working on ICT, infrastructure and economic development will find the 2012 version of the World Economic Forum’s Global IT report to be a great source of information about African performance in terms of ICT and ‘network readiness’.

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.

Text and Pictures by Peter Kasaija (Makerere University)

In partnership with SDI and AAPS, the departments of Geography, Geoinformatics and Climatic Sciences (CAES), and Architecture and Urban and Regional Planning (CEDAT) of Makerere University undertook a reality studio involving final year urban and regional planning students (as well as an architecture student) among local informal settlement communities in Uganda.

The fourth African Ministerial Conference on Housing and Urban Development (AMCHUD) took place in Nairobi earlier this month, with the theme, ‘Territorial planning, basic services for all and the impacts of climate change in Africa’.

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 School of Architecture, Planning and Geomatics at the University of Cape Town (South Africa) is seeking to appoint a convenor for the urban design programme, known as the Master of City Planning and Urban Design (MCPUD).

Cities Alliance recently published a short online article introducing the AAPS toolkit for case study research and teaching.

The journal Regional Development Studies would like to encourage article submissions in the areas of human security, environmental management, disaster management, and local and regional economic development.

AAPS is pleased to welcome its latest member, University of Malawi, The Polytechnic, located in Blantyre.

The Durban University of Technology has advertised a Junior Lecturer Post (JL28) in the Department of Town and Regional Planning on 22 January 2012.

In December 2012, the AAPS convened a small workshop on the relationship between informality, infrastructure and spatial planning, in Lagos, Nigeria. Participants visited the area of Makoko on a field trip.

The AAPS editorial board responsible for making recommendations of exemplary African planning research to the International Editorial Board of the GPEAN publication Dialogues in Urban and Regional Planning, volume 5, has made its final submission.

The AAPS secretariat is delighted to announce the latest member of the Association: the Faculty of Architecture and Planning at Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM) in Maputo, Mozambique.

The World Bank, in collaboration with Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO) has produced a study of home-based enterprises in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

AAPS Project Coordinator Nancy Odendaal and General Secretary James Duminy traveled to Lusaka from 18 to 21 October 2011, to meet with faculty staff of the University of Zambia (UNZA).

Prepared jointly by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) in partnership with the Urban Design Lab of the Earth Institute, Columbia University, the Guidelines for developing eco-efficient and socially inclusive infrastructure provide practical tools for city planners and decision-makers to reform urban planning and infrastructure design according to the principles of eco-efficiency and social inclusiveness.

The 2011 World Risk Report is now available for download (click here).

The report should prove useful for those working in the field of climate changes, urban governance and disaster planning.

The AAPS Steering Committee and secretariat has great pleasure in welcoming the 44th member of AAPS: Benue State University (BSU), located in Makurdi, Nigeria.