Amb. Gifty Nyarko Urges Inclusive, Climate-Resilient Urban Development in Africa
At the inaugural Global Scholarship for Sustainable Built Environment Research Conference (SURE_BUILT), held from September 4–5, 2025, at the University of Johannesburg, Ambassador Gifty Nyarko, African Ambassador for Inclusive Urban Governance and Climate-Resilient Development, called for a radical shift in how African cities are researched, planned, and built. Speaking to scholars, engineers, architects, urban planners, policymakers, and development partners, she urged a move toward African-led, inclusive, and community-centered approaches to urban development. “The question is not whether Africa is urbanizing — but whose knowledge is shaping that urban future, and whose voices are being left behind,” she said. Nyarko warned that African cities remain disproportionately vulnerable to climate change, inequality, and exclusion, which cannot be solved through fragmented disciplines or externally imposed frameworks. She emphasized that true resilience requires dismantling hierarchies in knowledge production and shifting from “research for communities” […]