Participatory Futuring for Informal Settlements and Booming Towns – Learning from African Cases
The African Centre for Cities (ACC), Kounkuey Design Initiative (KDI), and Ardhi University invite you to an interactive participatory futuring workshop at the World Urban Forum 13 in Baku, Azerbaijan. In fast-growing African cities and “booming towns”, informal settlements absorb much of urban growth, but upgrading decisions are often made without the residents most affected. The central challenge is not only technical. It is also about governance and sequencing. Tenure insecurity, fragmented mandates, limited resources and short political or project cycles make it hard to align housing, services, public space and climate adaptation into a coherent pathway. Drawing on applied learning from diverse African cases including Embu (Kenya), Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), and Cape Town (South Africa), this WUF Academy learning workshop introduces participatory futuring approaches that help residents, practitioners, and local governments co-produce visions for the future that they can align their efforts towards building sustainable and resilient cities. It brings a rare cross-practice team including community-centred practice (KDI), Tanzania-based experience (Ardhi University), and African urban studies (ACC). Date: Wednesday, 20 May 2026 Time: 09:30 - 11:30 Venue: Multipurpose Room 12 (please refer to WUF13 programme for location) Facilitators and panelists: Edgar Pieterse / Director, African Centre for Cities Vera Burachi / Executive Director and Managing Principal, Kounkuey Design Initiative Martin Magidi / Researcher, African Centre for Cities Wacera Thande / Senior Coordinator Business Development, Kounkuey Design Initiative This WUF13 Academy event is organised by ACC and KDI, with support from the Institute for Human Settlements Studies (Ardhi University).
