About African Urban Research Initiative

The African Urban Research Initiative (AURI) is a pan African interdisciplinary and applied urban research network. Our membership is comprised of universities, think tanks, research institutions and practitioner agencies concerned with urbanisation and its impacts across scales on the African continent.

The AURI network emerged in 2013 at the African Centre for Cities out of a sustained engagement with policy actors and Africa-based research centres seeking to reach a shared understanding of the scope and implications of the urban transition in Africa. Building on the idea that research and knowledge management are central to evidenced based policy making and urban knowledge co-production, AURI was established.

The project is driven by the premise that unless an active network of durable knowledge institutions, focused on applied urban research and capacity-building, is urgently established, most African cities will not be in a position to understand their urban development dynamics, let alone address them effectively. Stakeholders of AURI recognise a necessity for research centres in Africa to be networked, order to exchange knowledge, know-how, and expertise, and thereby foster a foundation on the continent of credible and resilient institutions rooted in local realities but engaged with broader trends.