Forum Südliches Afrika, 21. November 2024: Challenges and opportunities for Cities in Southern Africa

The presentation will take a look at the dynamic of urbanisation within Southern Africa. A process that has not created jobs or gained meaningfully from the urban dividend with housing and job informality being the dominant characteristics. It will review urbanisation across five systems that underpin any city: Governance, citizenship, the economy, the environment and services. It will review the competing visions of the world class city vs the inclusive city and give some indication of what the urban future holds.

Julian Baskin qualified with a Masters in Town and Regional Planning from the University of KwaZulu in 1984.  After managing some slum upgrading projects in Mocambique, he returned to South Africa in 1990 and worked on the Phola Park settlement upgrading plan and later in Durban, where he set up a housing delivery department and was responsible for the mass delivery of affordable housing.  In 2004 became the Director of the Alexandra Renewal Project. Since 2009 he works as a Senior Slum Upgrading advisor for the Cities Alliance.