Dean's Lecture Series: Building the Engine - Industry and the African Urban Agenda

The next generation of Sub-Saharan Africa’s green and inclusive cities is just around the corner, but only if designers embrace the opportunity. Can small-scale entrepreneurship drive new sustainable housing, or will the overburdened sector fail to meet the challenge of climate change? In our second Dean’s Lecture of the year, African housing and sustainability expert, Fatou Kiné Dieye, unpacks the future of the green construction sector. The region’s immense demand for materials and buildings mirrors Australia’s own challenges with urban design and equitable housing. Fatou shows how small-scale initiatives by local communities and small builders can offer more resilient and inclusive solutions than those of traditional large-scale developers. Focusing on practical innovations in materials and construction technologies, this public lecture showcases design solutions that are derisking investment in sustainable construction across Sub-Saharan Africa.