Esther Thontteh Urban Lab, University of Lagos

George Kwadwo Anane CUBES, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg University of Energy and Natural Resources, Sunyani, Ghana

Lagos, Nigeria – The vibrant heart of Africa’s largest city served as the dynamic setting for the 2025 Wits-TUB-UNILAG Urban Lab Summer School, an interdisciplinary doctoral workshop dedicated to exploring Inclusive Urban Futures. Held from Monday, May 26 to Saturday, May 31, 2025, at the Arthur Mbanefo Digital Resource Centre (AMDRC) at the University of Lagos (UniLag), this week-long programme brought together postgraduate students, academics, policymakers, and practitioners across Africa and beyond. The event provided a lively platform for interdisciplinary dialogue, academic exchange, and community engagement centred on addressing urban inequality and fostering sustainable development in African cities.

A Collaborative Vision for Sustainable Urbanisation

The Summer School is an essential part of the Wits-TUB-UniLag Urban Lab, a trilateral collaboration between the Technical University Berlin (Germany), the University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa), and the University of Lagos (Nigeria). Funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and supported by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, the initiative embodies international cooperation aimed at fostering sustainable and inclusive urban development, particularly within the rapidly urbanising African context.

The opening ceremony highlighted the international importance of the gathering. It was attended by distinguished guests, including the German Consul General in Lagos, Mr. Weert Börner, and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Resident Representative in Nigeria, Mr. Gerald Heusing. Professor Taibat Lawanson, the Principal Investigator of the Urban Lab at the University of Lagos, welcomed attendees and reflected on the Urban Lab’s 5-year journey and its key milestones, such as the launch of new master’s programmes in urban management and Ph.D. in Sustainable Urbanisation at UniLag. These initiatives mark a vital shift towards multidisciplinary and African-led urban scholarship supported by global best practices.

Delving into Urban Realities: Key Discussions and Activities

At the centre of the Summer School were stimulating discussions and lectures that established a solid theoretical foundation for sustainable urban futures. The programme included thematic plenaries, doctoral writing workshops, urban planning sessions, and immersive field visits. Scholars and practitioners examined urban issues from academic, practical, and entrepreneurial perspectives, discussing topics such as informality, exclusion, participatory planning, and inclusive regeneration. Additional discussions addressed critical issues like urban poverty, precarity, and spatial injustice, highlighting four key frameworks: urban management, implementation tools, conceptualising African urbanisation, and the complex relationship between urban advocacy and urban punitiveness.

A particularly insightful aspect of the programme was a field trip to the Redemption City, an emerging Christian church city on the edge of Ogun State. This “City of God,” spanning over 2,500 hectares, serves as a living laboratory for urban innovation, showcasing inclusivity, sustainability, and environmental awareness within its large community. This visit offered a unique perspective to examine sustainable urban features in a rapidly developing context. Another pivotal aspect of the programme included field visits to three informal communities in Lagos: Oworo, Abete (Ijora-Badia), and Bariga (Ebute Ilaje). These immersive experiences offered direct insights into socio-spatial marginalisation, grassroots resilience, and community-led innovations through transect walks, interviews, and focus group discussions. The field data collected was used for students’ group presentations aimed at policy reflections, reinforcing the value of community-centred urban solutions.

Towards a Resilient and Inclusive Lagos

The 2025 Wits-TUB-UniLag Urban Lab Summer School was more than just an academic gathering; it was a crucible of ideas, a platform for collaboration, and a testament to the power of interdisciplinary inquiry in addressing the complex challenges of urban development. The program nurtured a new generation of urban scholars and practitioners committed to shaping inclusive and just African cities. Through joint research, teaching, and academic exchange, the initiative continues to strengthen Africa’s capacity for sustainable urban transformation. The comprehensive overview presented in these blogs serves as a crucial first step in disseminating the knowledge generated and inspiring continued action towards urban environments where everyone can thrive.

Diverse Voices, Shared Futures: The Postdoc Blog Series

A key outcome of the Summer School was a series of reflective blog articles written by the participating postdoctoral fellows and master’s students, offering diverse perspectives on inclusive urban futures through their research. These articles highlight their innovative approaches to inclusivity and sustainability. In this engaging collection of blog posts, the writers provide insightful commentary on reimagining urbanisation trajectories in African cities, with a particular focus on Lagos. The blogs examine policy-practice issues within the broader field of urban planning.

In the first blog, Fazlur Bolaji Jegede of the University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Oyo State (UI), makes a case for inclusive urban futures. He discusses the current challenges of urbanisation in Lagos, the roles of different stakeholders, and the city’s future. The second blog commentary by Adedayo Isaiah Adeyemo of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, joins the discussion on sustainable urban futures. He reflects on the theme of the Summer School. He discusses the many informalities embedded in Lagos; his blog attempts to bridge the gap between theory and practice by raising key urban and sustainability issues. The third blog by Chukwuemeka Orji of Nnamdi Azikiwe University highlights the various areas in the city that create exclusions and underscores the need to work towards urban inclusivity. The fourth blog article by Esther Akiode of the University of Ibadan explores informality through the lens of the 15-minute city perspective. She emphasises the importance of making the city accessible to all its residents through targeted policy interventions. The fifth blog article by Tamarabrakemi M. Akoso of the University of Lagos discusses urban sustainability and inclusivity through the lens of the Sustainable Development Goals. She outlines several strategies that could ensure sustainable urban futures in rapidly urbanising African cities such as Lagos. The sixth blog by Christopher Choji of the Centre for Housing and Sustainable Development, University of Lagos, delves into reclaiming public spaces for urban justice. Thus, by reclaiming public spaces, the author offers insight into strategies for planning urban futures through inclusive spaces. In the seventh blog, Abe Andrew Igila of the University of Lagos discusses land tenure and how land titling can ensure sustainable urban futures for people living in informal settlements in Lagos. The writer argues that land is at the centre of access to space in the city, and by ensuring tenure security, informal settlement residents can be integrated into urban futures. In the eighth blog, Abiola Mohammed of the University of Ibadan poses the question: Does National Mean Inclusive? His interrogation utilises the concept of the Redemption City of God to highlight the injustices that arise in so-called inclusive spaces. He questions the true meaning of urban inclusivity and recommends that planners seek total inclusion of urban residents. In the ninth blog post, titled “Osai Onyinyechi’s Gift of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka,” the author delves into the concept of “Exclusivity within Inclusion.” The author examines the housing initiatives undertaken in the Redemption City of God and assesses their inclusivity measures. The author also discusses potential exclusionary factors that may arise during the implementation of these initiatives. This is followed by the tenth blog post by Joy Oyiza Obadoba, at the University of Lagos, who discusses various research tools and their significance in analysing diverse aspects of inclusive futures. Abe Teniola Deborah of the Obafemi Awolowo University, in the eleventh blog, examines urban development gaps in Nigeria and strategies to address the various planning challenges. She explains how faith-based organisations could feature in this course. The twelfth blog is by Hadiza Kabiru Mado of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria. She contributes to the inclusive urban futures discourse, narrating how faith-based organisations could provide a silver lining to sustainability efforts. In the thirteenth blog, Odunayo Timileyin John delves into sustaining different urbanisms, the challenges and the way forward, drawing on the experience of the Redemption City of God in Nigeria. Akinleye Iyabobola Olafunke of the University of Lagos writes blog fourteen on the question of how procurement of construction works could contribute to inclusive urban futures.

Mpumelelo Sibanda, a master’s student at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, concludes with a blog post that delves into the housing challenges faced by flood-prone slum areas in Lagos. The post examines the potential for urban inclusion to address these issues and explore how it can be achieved in such urban interfaces. The commentaries encompass a diverse range of perspectives, exploring various facets of urbanisation within an African city context. The blogs underscore critical urban challenges and propose avenues for constructing resilient and sustainable urban futures within African cities.

WE MOURN OUR DEAR COLLEAGUE TAKI SITHAGU

Our dear colleague and friend Taki Sithagu passed away on October 13. We are deeply saddened by this terrible loss. The School of Architecture and Planning at Wits published the following Tribute to Taki:

The School of Architecture and Planning and the Wits-TUB-UNILAG Urban Lab are devastated by the news of the untimely passing of our dear colleague Taki Sithagu. With her background in urban and regional planning, experience of teaching and practice and a keen interest in countries beyond our borders, Taki was appointed to a lecturer position that involved international collaboration. For the past eight years, Taki ably coordinated the Wits side of a long-term DAAD and BMZ-funded collaboration with TU Berlin, to which University of Lagos was added in 2021. As our counterparts at TU Berlin and University of Lagos and the colleagues at DAAD attest, Taki shaped the collaboration with her academic curiosity, passion for students, quick grasp of bureaucratic processes, sharp wit, kindness and down-to-earth collegiality. Taki enjoyed the travel that the collaboration required, often with large cohorts of students, whose minds she helped open to worlds beyond South Africa. The collaboration, in which Taki played such a central role, culminates in the hosting of the African Urbanisms Conference in John Moffat Building 23-26 October 2024. With a heavy heart, the conference team resolved that what was in many ways to have been Taki’s conference will now be a celebration of what Taki brought to Wits and our partners.

Beyond the collaboration, Taki taught courses in housing and urban management and in recent years contributed to a UCL-Wits teaching partnership on forms of urbanisation that have remained under the radar of formal planning. The students were fascinated and excited by Taki’s passionate teaching. Alongside her roles at Wits and raising a growing family, Taki was progressing with a PhD registered at PLAAS at UWC. Her supervisor has posted a tribute that speaks to the remarkable academic we have lost. Taki was a real scholar-in-the-making with one of her recent publications in a Special Edition of the journal, Transformation, an important and nuanced commentary on the changing role of traditional councils in South Africa. She was emerging as an authority on the subject, with the promise of much more to come. Her passing has deprived us of a critical voice in this poorly researched area. She was taken from us far too early.

Taki is survived by her husband Jimmy Malavela, her parents and three children.

Wits University's communication office published a reflection of the African Urbanisms Conference under the university's research news. You can find the article here

The Wits-TUB-UNILAG Urban Lab host an Urban Library Event at this year's World Urban Forum in Cairo. Please click here to find more information. The event takes place on Tuesday, November 5, 6pm.

The registration for the African Urbanisms Conference is now open and will close on September 27. The conference will take place in-person at Wits University's School of Architecture and Planning in Johannesburg. You can register here via eventbrite.

The call for scholarships for the masters programme in Urban Studies in the field of Urban Management at Wits is now open to South African citizens and permanent residents is now online. Due date to apply for admission into the MUS (UM) is 30 September 2024. The due date to apply for the scholarship is 31 September 2024. Further information can be found on the website of the School of Architecture and Planning