Just Urban Transition in African Cities: British Academy Funded Writing Workshop

Faced with a polycrisis of climate change, high levels of urbanisation, youth unemployment, and poor governance, African cities find themselves at the cusp of transition. The key question for many African cities is how to shift towards low-carbon economies, climate resilience and reduced resource consumption, whilst delivering infrastructure that prioritises the needs and aspirations of low-income communities (Culwick Fatti et al., 2023).

The workshop is funded by the British Academy, and constituted through a partnership of Cardiff University, the African Studies journal and the Governing the Just Urban Transition project based at the University of the Western Cape’s Politics and Urban Governance Research Group. The workshop will support emerging scholars who are studying, theorising and exploring the ways that African cities are driving towards Just Urban Transitions. The workshops will enhance African scholars’ capacity for publication in high-impact journals and guide promoting their work on other platforms, through providing ongoing support so that young African scholars make their work known on the global stage.

The workshop took place in January 2026. Find out more here.