Timetable & learning outcomes

Course content is delivered remotely and will provide participants with a critical and complementary analysis of the evolution of African cities over the past 20 years, as well as the challenges and opportunities for the next ten years in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda. The program consists of 5 half-day sessions of distance training and covers a wide range of topics, including:

Theme 1: Cities, food and nutrition

› Nutritional status comparison

› Urban nutrition and food consumption

Theme 2: Cities and pollution

› Lung health and air pollution

› Pollution measurements

› Urbanization, pollution and transport

Theme 3: Sustainable cities, environment

› Environmental living conditions, water and sanitation access, flood risks, heat wave risks, etc. in urban sub-Saharan Africa

Theme 4

› Governance / rural and urban health policies / land and informal housing

› Production, jobs and income in African cities: informal sector, networks and policy innovations

› Socio-economic stratification in African cities: emerging middle classes and persistent vulnerability

Tentative program

Please note: sessions will take place between 13.00 and 18.45 CEST each day. Some self-guided work may be required throughout the summer school.

Expertise upon completion 

Throughout the course, participants learn in a variety of ways thanks to:

› Lectures and discussions with experts on major development issues for African cities over the next ten years;

› Multi- and interdisciplinary discussions and debates on diverse policy and development sectors (health, land, food security, urban governance, technology, climate and environment, etc.) and on interventions towards reaching the SDGs in these fields;

› Collaboration within a multidisciplinary group on a multidisciplinary project (health, demographics, economics, political approaches) that addresses a key topic for African cities in 2030. 

Participants will have access to the most recent data and knowledge, as well as fresh insights into public policy processes, development challenges, and multidisciplinary interventions aiming to reach the SDGs in African contexts. They will also have the opportunity to interact and connect with the experts, researchers and professors present.

A certificate of participation will be awarded to students upon completion of the course.