Kenya: UON Urban Planning Curriculum Changed Little in 44 Years, World Bank Says

What the report says

A World Bank report on higher education and urbanization in Sub-Saharan Africa has drawn attention to the University of Nairobi’s urban planning training, citing a 2015 review that found only limited changes to the school’s master’s curriculum between its launch in 1971 and 2015. The finding appears in the report, Managing, Financing, and Governing Sub-Saharan Africa’s Rapid Urbanization, which looks at whether universities are preparing enough qualified professionals for fast-growing cities.

According to the material cited by Capital FM and distributed by AllAfrica, the review was conducted by UN-Habitat. The report does not show that the curriculum stayed unchanged after 2015, and the university’s published programme information indicates that revisions have been made, though no timing is given in the article.

The World Bank uses the example to argue that expanding the number of planners, architects and engineers is not enough if professional training does not keep pace with urban development needs. The report also points to a shortage of urban specialists across the region, and it cites older research suggesting many Sub-Saharan African urban plans did not adequately account for population growth. In Nairobi, the university says its planning programme is designed to prepare graduates to address urbanisation, population growth and resource-use challenges.