Sub-Saharan Africa’s demographic boom will radically change the urban environment. Cities are expanding at fast rate, and they need plans. Kigali, Dar es Salaam, Nairobi, Accra, Arusha, Maputo, just to name few, are all undergoing major revision of the old Master Plans for their cities. Stunning, supermodern, high-rise glass buildings appear in green and neat streets. Eco-self-sufficient smart cities, reminding in their images new Asian and Gulf urban environments (Dubai, Singapore, Shanghai, Masdar), are the new target for the planning authorities. Projects include new areas of development, densification processes, and redevelopment of old areas through vertical expansion and change in program (business districts, office and retail). These plans do not consider the reality of these cities, inhabited in large part by low-income earners that occupy informally the city lands. Slum upgrading processes, community enhancement programmes, climate change projects, are, on the other side, some of the numerous projects that consider consolidated areas of the cities, where most of the people live and work.  The two planning approaches strictly refer to top-down strategy approach (first) and bottom-up inclusive approach (second).

The course main aim is to study how cities and metropolitan areas change in Global South contexts. It seeks therefore to build a critical sensibility to urban planning theory, urban design methodologies and skills, and their localised application in a variety of international contexts. The course aims to study form, formation and functioning of cities in rapid urbanizing contexts, by observing the processes of regeneration, growth, and management.

The course allows students to develop a common vocabulary and a set of concepts that can be used to analyse, understand, and study the dynamics of urban areas in the Global South.

Objectives and Methods

From the methodological point of view the course includes a series of lectures that provide students with a comprehensive view on the most important literature on the subject of urban design in development contexts; it intends to analyse a series of case studies in Sub-Saharan Africa in order to examine challenges, scenarios, scale of the projects, and the different design approaches to be compared.

 The course will:

1. Develop the necessary techniques and methodologies to analyse case studies;

2. Introduce concepts of urban design and planning that reinforce development opportunities in the Global South context;

3. Help to understand that urban design and planning ambitions are influenced by a wide variety of factors: physical, economic, political, social, and cultural.

The assessment for the course will be based on an individual exercise and an oral exam. Marks will be awarded for the individual exercise that incorporate a critical understanding of theory and an oral exam that will be based on the course contents and on the presentation of the individual exercise. An evaluation of students’ engagement in the course including lectures, and seminars will be integral to the final mark.

Students that won't be able to attend the course will be evaluated through an oral examination based on the bibliography. It is recommended to write an email at the beginning of the course to discuss about the bibliography if not attending the course.