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The 12th session of the World Urban Forum (WUF12), held from 4–8 November in Cairo — a bustling metropolis of 22 million — put a spotlight on pressing urban issues resonating with Africa. As the world’s most rapidly urbanising continent, Africa faces unique challenges around resource constraints and climate resilience.
The forum serves as a platform for addressing urbanisation challenges, including housing, land use, urban planning, governance and public participation. This year, WUF12 homed in on ensuring affordable housing, transforming informal settlements, rebuilding sustainably and enhancing climate resilience — crucial topics for a continent grappling with rapid urban growth.
Under the theme ‘It All Starts at Home: Local Actions for Sustainable Cities and Communities’, the five-day event featured six key dialogues: Housing Our Future, Cities and the Climate Crisis, Stronger Together, Financing Localisation and Localising Finance, Putting People First in a Digital Era and The Loss of Home.
These themes aligned closely with African priorities, as seen in the inaugural Africa Urban Forum, held in Addis Ababa in September, where African leaders and development partners set the stage for WUF12.
WUF12 opened with a focus on housing, a cornerstone of urban development, and a mounting challenge for Africa, where slum populations are growing across countries struggling to keep pace with urbanisation.
Currently, Africa is the least urbanised continent, but with its population expected to surge from 1.5 billion to 2.5 billion by 2050, sustainable urban solutions are becoming increasingly urgent. Urbanisation rates have climbed rapidly — from 36 per cent in 2010 to a projected 50 per cent by 2030 and 60 per cent by 2050.
Another discussion focused on the intersection of climate change and urbanisation, especially relevant to Africa. As a resource-limited continent facing disproportionate climate impacts, Africa’s cities are climate vulnerability hotspots.
Research shows that shifting climate patterns — rising temperatures, droughts, floods and extreme weather — disrupt urban livelihoods, particularly for those in poverty-stricken slums. "Cities are feeling the effects of climate change, but women are often hit hardest," said UN-Habitat Executive Director Anacláudia Rossbach.
Extreme weather patterns are also taking a toll on economic sectors vital to urban life, including agriculture, water resources, coastal areas and public health. A report by the Economist Intelligence Unit warned that by 2035, Africa’s 100 largest cities will drive growth, housing 21 per cent of the continent’s population, but face serious climate risks, including rising sea levels, storm surges, flooding and droughts. “These climate risks will weigh heavily on the future prosperity of African cities, and addressing them will require concerted action by policymakers, businesses and households,” the report states.
Africa currently hosts three megacities — Cairo, Kinshasa, and Lagos. By 2050, an additional seven African cities, including Dar es Salaam, Nairobi, Khartoum and Johannesburg, are expected to join this list, each housing over 10 million residents.
Projections by the World Bank indicated that Abidjan will cross the 10-million mark by 2040, with Ouagadougou, Addis Ababa, Bamako, Dakar, Ibadan and Kano following by 2050. By then, 14 African cities will have reached megacity status, driving the continent’s urban population beyond one billion by 2042.
These emerging megacities are becoming economic and innovation hubs. Jessica Thorn, an environmental sciences expert and ARISE fellow at the University of Namibia, emphasised the need for comprehensive urban planning. “In many African cities, urban growth outpaces the ability to provide serviced land and housing,” she explained. "This leaves informal settlements to form in vulnerable areas — low-lying regions prone to flooding or steep slopes far from commercial and transport hubs."
Thorn added that without proper sanitation, these areas become breeding grounds for pathogens, infrastructure deteriorates under climate impacts, food prices rise due to supply disruptions and essential services like transportation are strained. “All these factors contribute to growing inequality,” she observed.
WUF12 underscored the importance of collaboration among development partners and innovative local financing models for urban development.
Established in 2001 by the United Nations to examine the impacts of rapid urbanisation on communities, economies and climate change, WUF has been held biennially, with its first session hosted in Nairobi in 2002. This year, Africa hosted the forum’s 12th session, with a record 37,000 delegates — 74 per cent of whom were from African nations. Participants ranged from academics and government officials to private sector representatives and international organisations.
As Africa’s cities continue to expand, the outcomes of WUF12 signal a growing recognition of the continent’s specific urban challenges and a need for sustainable, inclusive solutions.