Urban Planner

City and regional development planning

What this life looks like

You design the cities of Africa's future. Urban Planners determine how land is used, where infrastructure is built, how communities are arranged, and how cities grow — decisions that affect millions of people for decades. Africa is urbanising faster than any other continent, with an estimated 1 billion new urban residents expected by 2050, making urban planning one of the continent's most urgent and impactful professions.

What she actually does

You develop spatial development frameworks and land use plans, assess development applications for compliance with planning regulations, consult communities on planning proposals, coordinate infrastructure investment planning with engineers and utilities, prepare environmental impact reviews, develop housing strategies, design public spaces, and advise governments on urban growth management.

Where you can work

Sector	Places in Africa
Local Government	City of Lagos Planning Authority, Nairobi City County, City of Johannesburg, Accra Metropolitan Assembly
National Government	Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (Nigeria), DHLGH (SA), national planning commissions
Consultancies	AECOM Africa, SMEC Africa, WSP Africa, Stantec Africa — planning and infrastructure consultancies
Development Finance	UNHABITAT, Cities Alliance, World Bank Urban Development, African Development Bank urban programmes

Why it matters in Africa

African cities are growing at extraordinary speed — Lagos, Kinshasa, Dar es Salaam, and Nairobi are among the world's fastest-growing urban areas. Decisions made now about how these cities develop will determine whether hundreds of millions of people live in well-planned, liveable cities or in unplanned informal settlements without services. Urban planners who understand African contexts are urgently needed.

Your pathway in

Study Urban and Regional Planning, Architecture, Environmental Studies, or Engineering at university
Pursue a master's in Urban Planning — Wits University, University of Cape Town, and universities in Nairobi offer strong programmes
Register with your country's planning profession body (SACPLAN in SA, NITP in Nigeria, etc.)
Build GIS (Geographic Information Systems) skills — spatial analysis is central to modern planning
Gain practical experience in local government planning departments or urban development consultancies

Skills you will need

Spatial analysis and GIS
Land use planning
Community consultation
Development regulation
Infrastructure planning
Environmental assessment

A woman in this field

Aurelia Bengoa

Cameroon

Aurelia is an urban planner and architect who has worked across Cameroon and Central Africa on urban development projects addressing housing, public space design, and infrastructure for rapidly growing secondary cities. She has collaborated with UN-Habitat and the World Bank on inclusive urban development projects that centre the needs of women and informal sector workers. She speaks internationally on African urbanism and the planning challenges of rapid urbanisation.

Study the UN-Habitat African cities data — their State of African Cities reports document the scale of urbanisation and planning challenges
Map the area where you live — identify what is planned versus unplanned, where services exist, and where they are missing
Research what the City of Kigali, Rwanda has achieved in urban planning — it is one of Africa's most admired examples of planned urban development
Look into architecture and urban planning degree programmes at Wits University, UCT, or the University of Nairobi