EVENT SUSTAINABILITY REPORT
SEMINAR SUMMARIES AFRICAN CAPITAL CITIES SUSTAINABILIT Y FORUM
FACILITATOR ERIC NOIR WROTE THE FOLLOWING REPORT
Speaker: Councillor Kgosientso Ramokgopa, City of Tshwane Topic: Opening and Welcome Speaker: Jean Pierre Elong Mbassi, UCLGA Topic: Enhanced Cooperation among African Cities Speaker: Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma: African Union Topic: Agenda 2063: Towards a sustainable urban future Speaker: Tlou Ramaru, Department of Environmental Affairs Topic: Sustainable development goals and post-2015 development agenda Speaker: Seana Nkahle, GBCSA Topic: Advancing the green building movement in Africa Speaker: Chris Wray, Gauteng City Region Observatory Topic: The potential of an African urban observatory and mapping the way forward Speaker: Erky Wood, GAPP Architects and Urban Designers Topic: Sustainable urbanism Speaker: Peter Newman, Curtin University Perth Topic: Climate change: The good news The high rate of urbanisation in Africa poses several challenges to cities’ development with rampant urban sprawl, infrastructure often unable to cope with development speed, while simultaneously posing numerous social challenges and environmental damages. At the same time, major cities provide substantial driving economic forces that keep countries competitive at the global level. Addressing the sustainability imperative at the city scale is a difficult concept to grasp, multifaceted, highly complex in its implications, spanning a broad range of expertise and role players. Seemingly impossible to implement thoroughly due to the broad diversity of stakeholders, the fragmented nature of ownership of the land, and the greatly diverging and often conflicting interests of the various objectives at the core of true sustainability,
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Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma: African Union
economic prosperity, social equity and environmental stewardship, the task is overwhelming and requires high levels of leadership, innovation and excellence to achieve. To this end the programme, which was extended over days two and three, offered delegates a series of technical sessions - see reports following on below. In some cases members of the Mayoral delegations accepted invitations to take the stage and/or share their experiences from the floor with technocrats and practitioners in the context of these more practical and case study oriented sessions, adding richness and diversity of perspective to the engagements. The African Capital Cities Sustainability Forum, hosted in 2015 by the City of Tshwane, established commonalities and problems faced by major cities in Africa while showcasing and sharing successful
initiatives towards the emergence of truly African, original and appropriate answers in addressing the sustainability imperative at the urban scale. This inaugural event is the first of an initial series of three annual conferences, which explored the nature of the challenges, showcasing successful initiatives throughout Africa. OUTCOMES The major outcome of the first African Capital Cities Sustainability Forum was the dedicated gathering of about 15 African capital cities under one roof for a period of three days, allowing networking and sharing of ideas. The second major outcome is the signing of the 2015 Tshwane African Capital Cities Sustainability Forum Declaration, which confirmed by attending delegations the success, needs and
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