The Wits-TUB-UNILAG-UBRAN Lab at WUF 12 in Cairo

The World Urban Forum in Cairo was a busy week for the Wits-TUB-UNILAG Urban Lab. Next to a number of speaking engagements for our PIs Taibat Lawanson, Mfaniseni Sihlongonyane, Marie Huchzermeyer and Philipp Misselwitz, the project organised a successful Urban Library book launch event. The event, entitled "Everyday urban practices in Africa - Disrupting global norms: Universities linking local realities and global policies" was moderated by Prof Fana Sihlongonyane and took place on the evening of the first day of the WUF. It began with a brief introduction to the recently published book "Everyday urban practices in Africa" by the Urban Lab's Scientific Coordinator, Dr Nadine Appelhans. Drawing on the book, Prof Taibat Lawanson, who also co-leads the African Research Universities Alliance's Centre of Excellence on Urbanisation and Habitable Cities, reflected on the role of universities in creating and gathering knowledge, but also in disseminating it and informing policy. She emphasised that 'Everyday urban practices in Africa' provides an example and strategy for amplifying, contextualising and translating knowledge from communities' everyday practices to serve as a corrective to dominant urban policy norms. Professor Marie Huchzermeyer's statement then broadened the discussion on the role of universities and researchers, highlighting their role in critiquing policies, pushing boundaries, building alliances and advocacy, as well as the challenge of balancing normative stances without compromising on the academic rigour of the work. As the final speaker, Dr Olajide Babatunde (Special Advisor eGIS and Urban Development, Lagos State Government) provided a practitioner's perspective on the potential impact on the ground of adopting development strategies in line with global policy norms while neglecting the everyday experiences of people, illustrating this with powerful examples from Lagos. In the discussion that followed, participants raised questions about the implications of the book's findings for the SDG monitoring process, as well as for planning practice and the challenge of connecting these processes to the everyday experiences of urban dwellers.