Kisumu, Kenya’s 3rd largest city, is hosting the 9th Africity Summit which brings together 3,500 mayors and local elected officials from Africa, from May 17 to 21, 2022.
Article written by
Posted
Reading time : 1 min.
Kisumu, a Kenyan city of 600,000 inhabitants, is hosting the 9th Africities summit from May 17 to 21, 2022. This pan-African conference brings together several thousand mayors every three years to advance local governance, decentralization and reflect on the continent’s urbanization.
Dozens of ministers, academics, NGOs, companies… will also take part in this event. The official theme of this conference is “the role of intermediary cities in Africa in the implementation of the UN’s 2030 Agenda and the African Union’s Agenda 2063”.
Intermediate cities are defined as follows: a population between 50,000 and one million inhabitants. There are 1,348 on the continent where they contribute 40% of GDP, according to an Africapolis study. They could occupy “a strategic place in urbanization in Africa”. According to demographers, they should absorb nearly two out of three new urban dwellers by 2050.
“Intermediate cities in Africa have a key role to play in achieving urbanization and climate adaptation.”
Jean-Pierre Elong M’bassi, Secretary General of the United Cities and Local Governments of AfricaIn a press release
The African continent, the poorest in the world with South Asia, is according to experts hit by unprecedented population growth and urbanization, further aggravated by global warming.
The emergency will not allow classic responses and African cities will have to invent local responses that will not be those found in Europe or Asia. We therefore understand that this theme must be at the heart of global agendas and sustainability strategies for the planet.