ACDI Seminar: African Cities and the Climate-Health Nexus

This seminar welcomes Dr Amy Weimann (African Centre for Cities) and Professor Susan Parnell (University of Bristol), who will be exploring a framework for strengthening governance arrangements to support implementation for the development of healthy and sustainable cities.

Abstract: Africa’s population is on track to nearly double by 2050, increasing by over 900 million people in just three decades – the equivalent of North America and South America’s current populations combined. Cities and urban areas will absorb 80% of this growth. As cities continue to grow, densify and sprawl – with many located along coastlines – increasing urban populations will be faced with climate-related urban exposures that threaten health, including air pollution, flooding, and heat stress. Cities and their local governments are therefore central to action for overcoming vulnerabilities at the climate-health nexus for a significant portion of the African population. This seminar will briefly unpack the intellectual genealogy that foregrounds our work on developing a framework for strengthening governance arrangements to support implementation for the development of healthy and sustainable cities. This framework is particularly designed with cross-sector agendas in mind, including those relating to climate change, urban health, and age-friendly cities and communities. Using Accra (Ghana) and Freetown (Sierra Leone) as case studies, we will then discuss examples of interventions that aim to address climate-related health challenges in African cities through the lens of the framework.