Next Practice Urbanization – an International Building Exhibition in Africa!

At this event the booklet "Building Cities for the Future - An exploration of possibilities for an Internationale Bauausstellung (IBA) in Africa" will be launched by the African Centre for Cities (ACC) and the GIZ. We are living at a decisive turning point. Urbanisation is developing at a historically unprecedented speed and scale, especially in Africa and Asia. The growing need for affordable housing will be a huge challenge for the decision-makers at various levels of government. The current decade will decide whether we will manage to set global and local development on  a just and sustainable track or whether we will continue to follow fossil development paths that will make social, economic and ecological life unviable. 

The need for investments and infrastructure to meet the rising demands of rapid urban growth in Africa and other parts of the world, alongside the imperative to retrofit existing cities, is pressing and considerable. Whether these will be integrated into effective and future-oriented urban planning and provide new perspectives for the largely poor and informal urban population is, however, uncertain. The continent’s challenge and opportunity lie in building future cities that minimize both ecological and social risks.

The approach of “Internationale Bauausstellungen” (IBA - German for International Building Exhibition) holds the potential of stimulating cross-sectoral and anticipatory planning approaches linked to the implementation of innovative urban regeneration on the ground. IBAs have been among the most influential instruments of innovative urban development in and outside Germany for over 100 years. In situations that demand urgent socio-economic change, IBAs develop model-built solutions for future-oriented cities.

The IBA-booklet offers insights on how IBAs function as an interesting urban governance instrument. It is based on the results of the GIZ project „ International Building Exhibition (IBA) Africa - Building Cities for the Future". The aim of this project is to develop possibilities, explore preconditions and topics for an IBA-inspired innovation approach in urban development in Africa, together with executives and stakeholders from Cape Town and Addis Ababa, and in exchange with German IBA experts and practitioners. The IBA guide is intended to serve as an inspiration for how the IBA approach could be applicable for African cities. At this event the experiences gained of these explorative processes will be presented and discussed in the context of future inclusive and climate-friendly urbanization in Africa. The IBA concept and existing examples are briefly presented at the beginning. The presentation of the document and explanatory film  (Building Cities for the Future – What Is an IBA? - YouTube) will be followed by an open dialogue between the project partner Prof. Edgar Pieterse, Director of the ACC, representatives of African cities and members of the IBA Expert Council to discuss the contribution IBAs can make to the implementation of the SDGs and the NUA in cities.