African Urban Institute


is a think tank that researches on urban development in Africa. It conducts research in urban development with three thematic areas: sustainable cities, prosperous cities and inclusive cities. Its focus areas include, urban mobility, land use planning, housing, environmental planning and urban governance. Its stated mission is to "Unlock urban development in Africa through better ideas and research." As a non-profit organisation, African Urban Institute describes itself as independent and non-partisan.

Publications

African Urban Institute produces a biennial State of African Cities report. It also publishes discussion papers, briefing papers and ViewPoints which are regular commentaries on urban development in Africa. The African Urban Institute Press publishes books and journals from the institute's own research as well as publishing work from other authors. The books include, Dystopian Cities: How the Tyranny of Specialists Destroy African Cities, Cape to Cairo: To Race to Sustainable Urban Transport in Africa.

Programs

In 2018 the African Urban Institute established the African Urban Case Studies Initiative, an online repository of urban development case studies across Africa which seek to promote intra-continental policy transfer on urban development. African Urban Institute also converne a biennial Timbuktu Forum on Urban Development, a high-level forum that brings various urban development stakeholders to discuss urban development issues in Africa. Named after the ancient Malian city, Timbuktu, the Timbuktu Fellowship is awarded to early career urban development practitioners as fellows and to senior practitioners as senior fellows. The collaborations of the two seek to promote knowledge exchange between the young generation and the old.

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