The future of cities from a global South perspective

#01 / Special Report

An Unstoppable Force

Special Report #01

Where do we go from here?

Edgar Pieterse of the African Centre for Cities on what needs to happen next. … Read more

by Edgar Pieterse

An Unstoppable Force

Special Report #01

Financing the future:

African cities will struggle to attract long-term investment unless they can demonstrate consistent financial capacity, says Trevor Manuel, South Afri … Read more

by Trevor Manuel

An Unstoppable Force

Special Report #01

The housing crisis is everywhere

Executive Director of UN-Habitat Anacláudia Rossbach says the housing crisis has gone global—and her organisation’s new strategy is designed to meet t … Read more

by Anacláudia Rossbach

An Unstoppable Force

Special Report #01

Cities must lead Africa’s energy transition

How African cities address their energy needs as they grow will determine their future, and that of the continent, say Jakkie Cilliers and Alize le Ro … Read more

by Jakkie Cilliers and Alize le Roux

An Unstoppable Force

Special Report #01

Turning carbon into currency

World Resources Institute colleagues Obadiah Mungai, Fikresilassie Aklilu, Emmerentian Mbabazi, and Charity Mwangi argue that Africa’s urban transform … Read more

by Obadiah Mungai, Fikresilassie Aklilu, Emmerentian Mbabazi, and Charity Mwangi

An Unstoppable Force

Special Report #01

A new generation, for the next

Talib Ahmed Bensouda became mayor of Kanifing, Gambia, at 29, so he knows a little about what the city’s youth want. Listening to their demands is vit … Read more

by Talib Ahmed Bensouda

An Unstoppable Force

Special Report #01

Ethiopia unleashes its cities

Ethiopia’s Minister of Urban and Infrastructure Development, Chaltu Sani believes Ethiopia’s radical urban policy reforms—granting cities autonomy ove … Read more

An Unstoppable Force

Special Report #01

Fighting fires, and (constantly) bailing water

Manuel De Araujo, mayor of Quelimane, is no shrinking violet. As an opposition leader of a prominent Mozambican coastal city under siege from extreme … Read more

by Manuel De Araujo

An Unstoppable Force

Special Report #01

Rebooting the global finance system will pay dividends

The continent’s Public Development Banks must play a key role in changing how African cities are financed, says Zeph Nhleko, Chief Economist of the De … Read more

An Unstoppable Force

Special Report #01

Staring anew, (almost)

The mayor of Shaggar City, Teshome Adugna, on what it takes to build a new city on the outskirts of Addis Ababa, virtually from scratch. He spoke to … Read more

by Teshome Adugna and Edgar Pieterse

An Unstoppable Force

Special Report #01

Gender bias is stifling progress

As the first female mayor of Lusaka, Chilando Chitangala, has found entrenched gender biases are a constant barrier to fulfilling her mandate. Being a … Read more

by Chilando Chitangala

An Unstoppable Force

Special Report #01

Set the cities free

United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN Habitat) colleagues Oumar Sylla (Director for the Regional Office for Africa) and Emmanuel Makaka (Reso … Read more

by Oumar Sylla and Emmanuel Makaka

An Unstoppable Force

Special Report #01

Data: The infrastructure Africa cannot afford to ignore

George Kibala Bauer, Senior Director at GSMA—a global organisation for mobile operators and the broader mobile ecosystem—sheds light on the existentia … Read more

by George Kibala Bauer

An Unstoppable Force

Special Report #01

Lagos: Restless City

Lagos is an ever-changing mix of ambition, chaos, and grit, building towards a future it can barely contain. In the city’s shiny high rises and sprawl … Read more

by Jesusegun Alagbe

An Unstoppable Force

Special Report #01

Breathe easy

Collecting evidence, building connections, and collaborating: these are the three main ingredients of a movement of young fitness-enthusiasts-cum-citi … Read more

An Unstoppable Force

Special Report #01

Beyond “participation”

Activist and planner Regina Opondo has spent years agitating and organising against gender discrimination in Kenya. It’s gruelling work, but she is in … Read more

by Regina Opondo and Julia Hope

An Unstoppable Force

Special Report #01

Why African cities are failing their youth

South Africa’s Human Settlements Minister, Thembisile Simelane, believes African countries are chronically unprepared for rapid urbanisation—and it’s … Read more

by Thembisile Simelane and Edgar Pieterse

An Unstoppable Force

Special Report #01

Young, gifted and stuck

Young people across Africa are struggling to get a start in life because our cities are failing them, says Nolita Mvunelo, Club of Rome Programme Mana … Read more

by Nolita Mvunelo

An Unstoppable Force

Special Report #01

The future is worth fighting for!

Lawyer, youth leader, and human rights activist Namatai Kwekweza believes that the future isn’t fixed, and can still be written. Young people need to … Read more

by Namatai Kwekweza

An Unstoppable Force

Special Report #01

The AI hype train is coming to Africa

I know tech lies when I see them, having come of age during the “Africa Rising” era. We need to focus on what will really help our young people. We ne … Read more

An Unstoppable Force

Special Report #01

What African cities offer to the world

Here is a direct provocation. Too many cities on the African continent continue to be organised around the interests of commodity-extracting multinati … Read more

by Anton Cartwright

An Unstoppable Force

Special Report #01

A reality check, for the world

Africa is heading toward a demographic explosion that will reshape the world. What should global leaders … Read more

by Luísa Dias Diogo

An Unstoppable Force

Special Report #01

Harnessing An Unstoppable Force

Tau Tavengwa and Edgar Pieterse on how cities across Africa got here. … Read more

by Edgar Pieterse and Tau Tavengwa

#11 / Emergence

Between the hammer and the rubble

Deen Sharp investigates “urbicide”—the destruction of entire cities, the use of the built-environment in oppressive militarisation, and the developme … Read more

Searching for the contours of an Arab World

Is it the Middle East or West Asia? The Arab world or the Muslim one? Or is the “region” better distinguished by oil-producing states versus non-oil, … Read more

Building an Architecture of Necessity

In mid-2021, Palestinian architect and educator Omar Yousef spoke to compatriot and fellow architect, Mahdi Sabbagh about designing for uncertainty an … Read more

by Mahdi Sabbagh

A Fading Jewel

“Everyone keeps talking about the future of Joburg,” photographer Mark Lewis said on a recent phone call, “but if something is not done urgently, … Read more

by Tau Tavengwa

A city in crisis

At a generative and powerful roundtable discussion, author, journalist, and this issue’s contributing editor, Ferial Haffajee, was joined by co-host A … Read more

by Ferial Haffajee & Alicia Thompson

Joburg: What’s to be done?

Edgar Pieterse examines the factors contributing to Johannesburg’s series of infrastructure crises and the political context that’s enabled it to dete … Read more

by Edgar Pieterse

Architecture is Science Fiction

Michael Awake spends the day with artist Olalekan Jeyifous and dives under the mesmerising surface of his synthetic Afro-futuristic imaginings. … Read more

by Michael Awake

Foundational shifts

We face a foundational transition that is shifting us from an age defined by a reliance on an abundance of fossil fuels into one where we will experie … Read more

by Dark Matter Laboratories

Mediation and negotiation as spatial practice

Picture a bustling urban marketplace in Alexandria or Tunis. Traders in stalls haggling and adapting to each customer’s demands. Constantly making … Read more

by Insaf Ben Othmane and Omar Wanas

After Hours

With its thriving nocturnal economy, London can be a cornucopia of post-modern fantasies and pleasures, or a breeding ground of anxiety. The latter ta … Read more

by Cosimo Campani

A roof over our heads

Sheela Patel foregrounds the realities of slum dwellers in thinking about climate change resilience and financing for urban development … Read more

by Sheela Patel

Finding your own vocabulary

For over 40 years, the relentlessly sunny city of Dubai has expanded and densified at a dizzying rate. Almost constant construction is evidenced in th … Read more

by Wael Al Awar

Nigerian cuisine is ready for prime time

On a summer’s late-afternoon at Skylight, a rooftop bar in East London’s Tobacco Dock, the young, fashionably underdressed, mostly white clientele who … Read more

by Tau Tavengwa

Power and permanence

At a glance, the pretext for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s controversial decision to replace the country’s old Parliament building seems strai … Read more

Nairobi: the curious case of the city in the sun

Twenty years ago when I first came to work in Kenya’s capital, I could drive myself around Nairobi easily. I had the hang of the streets, though many … Read more

by Charles Onyango-Obbo

Lagos: When the metro comes to town

Everyone on the platform held their smartphones and digital cameras aloft on the mild September morning when I took my inaugural ride on the first-eve … Read more

by Jesusegun Alagbe

You can’t go home again

The horror creeps in at 40,000 feet, somewhere above Matadi. On the overnight flight from Cape Town to London, this is the point where you wake up and … Read more

The Dangote Dilemma

In May 2023, the Dangote Oil Refinery, with a capacity of 650,000 barrels per day, was commissioned in Ibeju-Lekki, on the outskirts of Lagos. The wor … Read more

by Mathias Agbo Junior

Fleeing Khartoum

Riyadh was very busy, with a lot of life and movement,” Khartoum resident Haneen El recalled. “The streets were filled with restaurants, fast food tru … Read more

by Mukanzi Musanga

Vukosi Marivate: Finding Africa inside the machine

While the rest of us speculate about ChatGPT and Midjourney, the University of Pretoria’s Vukosi Marivate is facilitating the development of an altern … Read more

by Tau Tavengwa

Adanech Abebe: The mayor

Ferial Haffajee spoke to Ethiopian attorney and politician, Adanech Abebe. With a population of 5.4 million in a city growing by the minute, Addis Aba … Read more

by Ferial Haffajee

Dr Dixon Chibanda: Re-thinking (mental) health infrastructure

Enlisting the wisdom and skills of community elders, Dixon Chibanda’s innovative approach to mental healthcare in Zimbabwe is spreading across the co … Read more

by Tau Tavengwa

Benjamin de la Peña: Decolonise mobility!

Across cities in the global South, “informal” transport—a misnomer—meets peoples’ needs like no new, large-scale, institutionalised transit system has … Read more

by Tau Tavengwa

Claude Borna: From the ground up

Kim Gurney speaks to Claude Borna about how Benin is building a knowledge-based digital economy brick by brick in Sèmè, City of Innovation. … Read more

Renzo Guinto & Tolullah Oni: Health in everything!!!

Tau Tavengwa spoke with global health scholars Renzo Guinto & Tolullah Oni. Originally from the Philippines and Nigeria respectively, and both traine … Read more

by Tau Tavengwa

Chatpong Chuenrudeemol: On designing for context

Returning from the USA to Thailand, architect Chat Chuenrudeemol talked to Tau Tavengwa about letting go of his Ivy League studio education to develo … Read more

by Tau Tavengwa

Lobi

Visual artist and photographer Sammy Baloji was born in 1978 in Southern Congo’s mineral-rich Katanga province. … Read more

by Mpho Matsipa with Tomi Seyi Laja

A Fading Jewel

“Everyone keeps talking about the future of Joburg,” photographer Mark Lewis said on a recent phone call, “but if something is not done urgently, there might be no future.”

by Tau Tavengwa