SLURC successfully host UCL and Njala University course 'Development and Planning in African Cities' in Freetown
June, 2018

Between the 11th and 16th of June, we hosted a course entitled ‘Development and Planning in African Cities’. This course was a collaboration between the Development Planning Unit, of University College London, and Njala University.

The course included:

• An introduction to urban planning in African cities, using analytical lenses including spatial justice and social diversity, and challenging existing myths surrounding the topic .
• Governance and urban planning at different scales, including how ‘bottom-up’ organisation influences planning
• Urban land including urban land markets, the diversity of tenure systems, and taxation of land
• Urban informality across different sectors, and understanding of the limitations of the formal/informal dichotomy
• Urban risk and vulnerability, its impact on health, and the effects of a changing climate
• Infrastructure and its influence on the well-being of residents
• A field trip to see how these and other issues manifest in Freetown

Interest in the course was huge, with over 8 applications for each space on the course. We were incredibly impressed with all of the participants, who came from a range of professional and educational backgrounds and showed incredible passion and desire to contribute positively towards Freetown’s future development.

All of the lecture slides from the entire course, expert contributions and extra readings are available to view online and download here.

If you would like to be made aware of future courses and would like to be kept updated on the development of our upcoming Massive Open Online Course, or MOOC, that will cover similar topics to this course then please follow us on social media, or visit us at 63 Upper Brook Street, Freetown.

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