For long, we have turned a blind eye to a rising global crisis: more than 1.600 million people are without access to proper housing. This issue is especially salient in Sub-Saharan Africa, the region with the world’s highest poverty rate where one third of its urban population living in informal settlements. It is as high as 90% in countries such as South Sudan and Central African Republic.

At the Navarra Center for International Development (NCID), we want to tackle this issue with state-of-the-art tools and evidence-based research to assist in decision-making to se- cure a better future for people in these developing cities. Re- search on this area is long over- due as it a cornerstone to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

NCID will celebrate next Friday 9th of November its first workshop on urbanism: NCID Workshop on Urban Issues in Developing Countries. The event will gather three renowned urbanists with different backgrounds such as Prof. Reinhard König of Weimar University; Prof. Belén Gesto of Instituto de Cooperación en Habitabilidad Básica (ICHaB) and the Director of Spatial Collective, Primoz Kovaçic. The workshop will take place at the ICS Conference Room at the University of Navarra in Pamplona, and it will gather architects, urbanists, economists, and journalists, amongst others.

The event will kick-off with some introductory words of the NCID Director, Luis Ravina. König will start at 09:45 with his presentation Artificial Intelligence for Urban Planning in Africa. He will be followed by Prof. Gesto one hour later who will deliver her presentation Urban expansion, challenges and responses from the basic habitability approach. Kovaçic will close the event with his presentation Digitally Enabled Collective Action in Nairobi’s Informal Settlements.

Access to the event is free but there are limited seats. To register for the event please fill in the following form. The workshop will be entirely in english. Media outlets are welcomed to the conference and will be able to interview the speakers shortly after their presentations if needed.

If you wish more information please contact David Soler (dsolerc@unav.es).