Blogpost from workshop organiser Heba Elhanafy, Chief of Staff at African Urban Lab. The AUL is a research centre at the African School of Economics-Zanzibar focused on rapid urbanization across Africa. She shares the purpose and outcomes of the curriculum planning workshop held 8-9 June 2026 at Ardhi University, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The workshop was funded by the IJURR Foundation Majority Regions Workshop scheme.
Published: 26.06.2026
Participants at the UCCC workshop at Ardhi University, Dar es Salaam.
Purpose and structure
On 8-9 June 2026, the University Coalition on Curricula for Cities (UCCC) convened a two-day workshop at Ardhi University in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, to finalize the UCCC Gap Analysis and turn the findings into a practical reform agenda for urban planning education in East Africa. The workshop brought the process from diagnosis to implementation by reviewing the report, validating priority gaps, and agreeing on concrete interventions for partner institutions.
The workshop was structured in two parts. Day 1 was a closed founders session for The Africa Urban Lab at the African School of Economics-Zanzibar, Ardhi University, Makerere University, and Kenyatta University. It focused on finalizing the Gap Analysis Report, confirming the most urgent curriculum gaps, and identifying short- and long-term interventions. Day 2 was a stakeholder validation workshop with invited regulators, professional bodies, city institutions, practitioners, and other partners. Its purpose was to test the relevance, feasibility, and adoption pathways of the proposed next steps.
Who participated and what was discussed
The workshop included university faculty and curriculum leads, professional and regulatory bodies, municipal and government representatives, and UCCC coordination support. Participants included Fawcett Komollo of the Kenya Institute of Planners; Elias Mjema of the Tanzania Planners Registration Board; Derek Muhwezi of the Physical Planners Registration Board of Uganda; Emelda B. Doto of Ubungo Municipal Council; Mariana Bahiture from the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements in Tanzania. It also included UCCC founders; Heba Elhanafy, Chief of Staff of the Africa Urban Lab; Brenda Kujuju, UCCC Research Assistant; Jackson Kago of Kenyatta University; Hakimu Sseviiri of Makerere University; Deodatus Patrick Shayo of Ardhi University; and Dr. Fredrick Magina of Ardhi University.
Discussions focused on the curriculum areas most in need of attention. Six priority gaps were confirmed: urban governance and informality; urban economics and urban finance; advanced digital and analytical tools; African and Global South curriculum content; applied pedagogy and assessment; and formal practice and policy linkages. Across these areas, participants emphasized that reform should not only add new topics. It should also improve sequencing across years, strengthen applied exercises, update readings, build African case material, and connect teaching more directly to professional practice.
Outcomes and next steps
The workshop confirmed that UCCC should move beyond a diagnostic report and produce tools that institutions can use directly. These include curriculum frameworks, African case studies, faculty training, short courses, public lectures, studio briefs, practitioner exchanges, and benchmarks for curriculum review.
Several short-term actions were agreed. A cross-institutional public lecture series will address shared priority gaps through expert and practitioner speakers. A training-of-trainers programme will support faculty capacity in areas such as urban economics, finance, informality, governance, digital tools, AI, and applied pedagogy. UCCC will also support the development of African case studies that show both successful and difficult planning outcomes, so students are exposed to realistic implementation challenges. Institutional commitments were also clarified. UCCC will contribute to Ardhi University’s new Master of Sustainable
Urban Development, especially around urban economics and governance. Kenyatta University will use its current review window to strengthen existing courses with urban economics, informality, political economy, updated references, and practice content. Makerere University will integrate the UCCC learnings into relevant courses, including Regional Development Planning, Cartography, and Photogrammetry. The longer-term pathway includes developing priority-gap frameworks, short courses, curriculum reform packages, professional recognition routes, curriculum harmonization, a case-study bank, and practitioner exchange or refresher training models. Key follow-up milestones include the 20 July 2026 convening to define the UCCC framework structure and begin scoping the Urban Economics and Finance framework; the 1 August 2026 meeting to plan training-of-trainers, case-study development, short-course demand mapping, and publication timelines; and November 2026 to launch the public lecture series.of UCCC actions so that curriculum reform becomes a sustained process rather than a one-off discussion.
By the close of the workshop, participants had validated within UCCC members and the professional bodies and practitioners the main curriculum gaps and agreed on a practical implementation pathway. The next phase will depend on disciplined follow-up, continued collaboration across universities and professional bodies, and the institutionalization of UCCC actions so that curriculum reform becomes a sustained process rather than a one-off discussion.
Workshop moments
Photo 1: Small-group work on priorities and next steps. Photo 2: Founders and partners reviewed the Gap Analysis. Photo 3: Plenary discussion supported validation and refinement. Photo 4: Stakeholder validation brought practitioners, regulators, and universities into the discussion.
More information about the University Coalition on Curricula for Cities (UCCC)
Heba Elhanafy, Chief of Staff, AUL
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