Development and Planning in African Cities: Exploring theories, policies and practices from Sierra Leone

In the next 35 years, Africa will need to accommodate almost 900 million new urban dwellers. Hundreds of smaller cities are doubling in size every 20 years, half of Africa’s urban dwellers live in informal settlements in precarious conditions, and 75% of these are younger than 35.

Our course will explore African cities through the lenses of spatial justice and social diversity, challenging myths and assumptions about urban development and demonstrating how different processes interact and shape the development of a city.

Week 1: Introduction to development and planning in African cities

• What is development? What is planning?
• Normative crosscutting lenses: spatial justice and social diversity
• Urban change and the evolution of planning

Week 2: Urban land & informalities

• Diversity of meanings, values and functions of urban land
• Formal and informal urban land markets and tenure systems
• What are urban informalities? Economic and spatial dimensions of informality

Week 3: Governance & planning

• Devolution of powers and fiscal autonomy
• Scales: city-level, metropolitan, regional
• Participatory planning (planning from below)

Week 4: Urban risk, vulnerabilities & infrastructure

• Understanding urban risk and coping/adaptation strategies
• Urban health
• Co-production of urban infrastructures.