Africa: South Africa Is Short of 2.6 Million Homes - Vienna's Approach to Social Housing Offers Useful Lessons

South Africa faces a housing backlog of at least 2.6 million units, for more than 12 million people. The state supply of new, subsidised housing has declined over the past decade… Read more »

Africa: Designing Cities - Should We Build From Scratch or Keep History Alive?

Cities are often described as living archives of human memory. Walk through an old neighbourhood in an Islamic city like Fez in Morocco or Cairo in Egypt, and you can see layers of… Read more »

Africa: China Is Helping Build Africa's Cities, but Its Approach Sidelines Local Urban Planners and Residents

As African cities experience some of the fastest urban growth rates in the world, China has become a major bilateral financier for urban infrastructure. Read more »

Africa: Africa Needs 50 Million New Homes, but Building Is Bad for the Environment - How to Finance 'Green' Solutions

The future of housing raises some serious environmental concerns. Construction has been linked to 39% of global carbon emissions, and the concrete industry alone is responsible for… Read more »

South Africa: What Does a House Mean to You? We Asked Some Women Who Head Households in South Africa

South Africa's new democratic government inherited a 1.5 million housing backlog in 1994, which it has been struggling to close. The current national deficit stands at 2 million. Read more »

South Africa: South Africa's Addressing System Is Still Not in Place

"Turn right after the first big tree; my house is the one with the yellow door." In parts of South Africa, where settlements have grown without formal urban planning due to rapid… Read more »

Congo-Kinshasa: Soil Erosion Is Tearing DR Congo Cities Apart - What's Causing Urban Gullies, and How to Prevent Them

In fast-growing cities like some in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), heavy rains are carving huge scars into the land. Known as urban gullies, these deep erosion channels… Read more »

Kenya: We Created a Support Programme for Schools in Nairobi's Informal Settlements - What We Learned

Access to school is considered to be better for children who live in urban areas than in rural areas in countries such as Kenya. But research shows that this access doesn't… Read more »

Africa: Africa's City Planners Must Look to the Global South for Solutions - Johannesburg and São Paulo Offer Useful Insights

For decades, the dominant theories and models in urban studies have been built from the experience of a small set of mostly western cities. Other urban contexts, particularly those… Read more »

Africa: 2 in 3 Africans Will Live in Cities By 2050 - How Planners Can Put This to Good Use

Africa's population is projected to nearly double by 2050, with 80% of that growth being concentrated in urban areas, leaving two out of three Africans living in cities. This… Read more »

Nigeria: How Hot Is Your Home? Nigerian Study Explores Comfort Levels in Buildings

Global standards for heating comfort are largely based on cooler, northern hemisphere climates. How relevant are these benchmarks in low-cost housing in warmer African regions? Read more »

South Africa: Smart Cities Start With People, Not Technology - Lessons From Westbury, Johannesburg

African cities are growing at an incredible pace. With this growth comes a mix of opportunity and challenge. How do we build cities that are not only smart but also fair, inclusive… Read more »