AAG Annual Meeting, 8 - 12 February 2027, New York, USA
[https://www.aag.org/events/aag2027/ ]
Virtual Session
African Urban and Regional Planning: Challenges and Innovations
Session Organizer & Chair: Carlos Nunes Silva (Geographer, Lisbon, Portugal)
CALL FOR ABSTRACTS
The key challenges in African urban and regional planning stem from an unprecedented rate of urbanization, which is far from being accompanied by the institutional and financial capacities of most African cities. By 2050, around a quarter of the world population will live in Africa and of this nearly 64% of the continent’s population is projected to live in cities, which is expected to make worse the current urban planning and local governance deficits.
Population growth outpaces infrastructure capacity and city budgets, a process made worse by the continuous influx of residents coming from rural areas seeking better socio-economic opportunities. This leads to a continued expansion of informal settlements, which means that a large part of the urban population lives in slums, without basic urban services. Uncontrolled sprawl leads to continued peripheral expansion, with critical agricultural land being replaced by low-density urban space.
Local governance and urban planning deficits are another key challenge with which cities in Africa are confronted. Outdated legal frameworks, namely colonial-era master plans and zoning laws ill-suited for modern African realities, and planning theories that ignore indigenous knowledge on human settlement organization, do require urgent rethinking and reform.
We welcome theoretical and empirical studies about the challenges and innovations on, but not limited to, the following themes:
o Spatial planning systems: multi-level frameworks, planning tools, and practices
o Hybrid forms of spatial planning: formal and traditional modes
o Citizen participation in urban planning
o Land tenure and urban land policy: formal laws and indigenous land rights
o Informal urbanization and planning
o Affordable urban housing and planning
o Transport in urban and regional planning
o Integration of climate change adaptation into urban and regional planning
o Nature conservation in urban and regional planning
o Planning in metropolitan areas
o Regional Planning and cross-border cooperation
o Urban data for sound urban and regional planning
o Digitalization of the urban and regional planning system
We are also interested in hearing about historical accounts of urban and regional planning in Africa, in both colonial and post-colonial periods.
Studies of cities, municipalities, regions and countries, including individual or comparative research, are encouraged. This includes academic research or firsthand presentations from academics, planners, or policymakers working on innovative modes of spatial planning (urban and regional planning) in African countries.
The Session is organised as part of the 'African Urban Planning Research Network (AUPRN)'.
The session is sponsored by the AAG Specialty Group on Africa, the AAG Specialty Group on Urban Geography, and by the AAG Specialty Group on Development Geographies.
The session is endorsed by the IGU Commission Geography of Governance.
Selected papers are expected to be published in a special issue of a peer reviewed international journal.
Abstracts are welcome from AUPRN members and other colleagues with relevant work. This Session offers a chance to share research and experiences on urban and regional planning in Africa.
Kindly submit a 200-word abstract to Carlos Nunes Silva (cnsulisboa@gmail.com) by October 10. The AAG abstract submission deadline is October 15, 2026.
Inquiries should be sent, by e-mail, to:
Carlos Nunes Silva
Lisbon, Portugal
E-mail: cnsulisboa@gmail.com
Web: https://sites.google.com/view/cns-ulisboa/home