Call for Papers – African Perspectives 2026 (Basel, 26–28 August)

Call for Contributions — Panel at “African Perspectives on Global Transformations” (Basel, 26–28 August 2026)

Mapping African Approaches to Urban Planning: A Critical Overall Effort

Together with Elvira Pietrobon and Domenico Patassini, we are pleased to invite contributions to our panel “Mapping African Approaches to Urban Planning: A Critical Overall Effort”, part of the African Perspectives on Global Transformations conference taking place in Basel from 26–28 August 2026.

Panel Focus

This panel seeks to critically map emerging schools, artists, architects, and research centers shaping contemporary African urbanism and the evolving processes of “urbanity in the making.”
To explore these dynamics, we propose three interpretive metaphors widely used in scholarship on African cities:

• The Black Swan – highlighting shocks of alterity and the emergence of unexpected urban transformations.

• The Grey Rhino – emphasizing overlooked risks, systemic pressures, and structural vulnerabilities in urban systems.

• The Elephant in the Room – exposing blind spots, denials, and contradictions within dominant planning and governance frameworks.

Together, these metaphors offer a critical lens for understanding complex urban challenges and the distinctive contributions of African approaches to planning.

Purpose and Contribution

We invite contributions—conceptual or empirical—that apply or expand these perspectives to analyze:

• innovative urban practices

• evolving planning cultures

• transformations in higher education and capacity-building

• context-specific and forward-looking strategies for African cities

• the global relevance of African planning perspectives

This panel also contributes to the development of the forthcoming Routledge volume:

African Approaches to Urban Planning: Towards Novel Alignments of Urban Practice, Planning Cultures, and Higher Education. In summary, the text seeks to identify selected practices, evaluating how their originality reflects specific planning cultures and contributes to the renewal of higher education programmes in thefields of architecture and planning. The interplay between practices, planning cultures, and education can support the identification of proactive strategies relevant both within the African continent and beyond.

Convenors

• Elvira Pietrobon (IUAV – Venice)

• Domenico Patassini (IUAV – Venice)

• Alessandra Manzini (Cergy Paris University)