Disruptive Housing Solutions for a Resilient and Sustainable Urban Future in Africa

WUF’12 is a strategic event that would cover global critical urban and territorial challenges. Our consortium of experts and researchers aim to address the pressing housing challenges through the prism of practice and innovation in the context of Africa. Accordingly, the complexities of urbanization and its impact on housing in this continent would shed light on the rich experiences and best practices in Canada, China and Africa. As Canada and China are two contrasting and diverse contexts, their housing challenges would be a showcase on how housing solutions are devised in order to transpose and contextualize their best practices in another global context namely that of Africa. The housing solutions ought to be disrupted within the scope of urban planning processes, urban governance, technological shifts, and community empowerment.
Hence, providing affordable, accessible, and quality housing requires an integrated, multi-scale, multi-stakeholders, and multi-sectorial engagement in order to shift the housing paradigm through new innovative urban and territorial mechanisms. It is to demonstrate that contemporary urbanisation is not merely a demographic shift but needs to be oriented to generate more housing solutions than exacerbate the housing crisis. Therefore, while housing has been often considered only a burden of cities, it can be transformed to be part of a sustainable urban transition in Africa. It is also an investment sector that cannot be undermined when it comes to enabling African cities to be more sustainable, affordable and prosperous. Hence, our event is meticulously designed to shed light on these integrated challenges while fostering a robust discourse on solutions that are as diverse as they are innovative.
Canada's housing policy emphasizes affordability and inclusivity, contrasting with China's innovative urban housing methods. Africa showcases noteworthy affordable housing examples, offering lessons for global housing challenges. Our event aims to explore these paradigms, guiding nations in addressing urban housing dilemmas.
Our panels delve into sustainable, scalable housing models, financing options, informal practices' impact, and technology's role in design and management. We highlight the synergy between policy, finance, tech, and community engagement, fostering resilient, inclusive urban ecosystems.
Co-organized by "UN-Habitat/UM6P International Centre for Territorial Innovation and Smart Urban Performance", our event, "Disruptive Housing Solutions for a Resilient and Sustainable Urban Future in Africa," aligns with WUF12's theme, emphasizing housing's role in resilient development. We localize SDG 11, focusing on inclusive, safe cities.
By blending global insights with local actions, we offer adaptable urban solutions, showcasing successful interventions, embodying WUF12's mission of local actions for global sustainability, and empowering participants to address housing challenges sustainably.