General Information

The Africa Union of Architects (AUA) Urban Thinkers Campus is a thematic regional campus to be held as part and parcel of the triennial Congress of the AUA. It is to be hosted in conjunction with the Uganda Society of Architects, Kampala Capital City Authority and Ministry of Lands Housing & Urban Development, Uganda.

It shall be comprised of a focus group of five member countries from eastern Africa i.e. Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya and Sudan, who shall provide speakers and case studies, with the rest of Africa providing delegates from various constituent groups to debate, learn and discuss the pertaining issues.

Objectives

- Raise awareness on the causes of urban slums under specific sub-themes like rural-urban migration, refugee migration, disaster / war migration but also to debate solutions from community knowledge and heritage. 400 delegates are expected to attend the campus.

Tentative program

There shall be a welcome plenary on day one at which the Campus agenda shall be introduced and its objectives highlighted to the delegates. Additionally there shall be a session at which the wider Urban Sprawl context is discussed.

Breakout sessions on day two with at least three constituency groups from the different countries shall identify and clarify sub-theme issues, feeding from and into the regional case studies.

These groups so far include:

1. Research and academia

2. Local authorities, governments and parliamentarians

3. Professionals, private sector and foundations.

A Plenary debating, and drafting session on day three shall be aimed at identifying sharing and documenting crux issues, outcomes and recommendations. An after event media engagement session shall take place, at which the campus outcomes shall be publicized.