Smart Cities Lab 2025: Re-imagining Smart African Cities: Concepts, Practices, and Implementation

As part of the Africa-US Cities Project, ACSUS is excited to launch the Africa-US Smart Cities Lab, connecting African and US perspectives to foster the development of smart cities rooted in African realities while leveraging global frameworks and technology.

The Lab aims to:

• Facilitate collaboration between universities, think tanks, governments, international organisations, private sector players, and civil society.
• Advance knowledge on smart city concepts, focusing on human security, digital technology applications, urban facility security, healthcare and education linkages, and sustainable urban planning.
• Connect policymakers, practitioners, and funding agencies interested in advancing smart cities in Africa.

Learning Outcomes

By participating in the Lab, you will:

• Analyse smart city concepts from an Africa-US perspective.
• Review the policy contexts under which smart cities are established and managed.
• Explore innovative alternatives for funding and financing smart cities.
• Learn how to set up and manage digital technologies in city management.
• Incorporate sustainable environmental management into new and existing cities.

The Lab will also host an Urban20 session aligned with South Africa’s G20 Summit in November 2025.

Frameworks Guiding the Lab

The Lab will draw from:

• The South African Smart Cities Framework (Department of Cooperative Governance)
• The South African Local Government Association Smart Cities Development Majority Framework
• UN-Habitat Smart Cities Guidelines

Partners

The Africa-US Smart Cities Lab will be hosted in partnership with:

• South African Cities Network
• Itana Smart City
• Wits School of Governance
• Waterfall City Management Company
• G20

Who Should Attend?

We expect 120 participants including policymakers, urban planners, researchers, practitioners, private sector leaders, funders, and civil society actors who are interested in advancing smart, sustainable African cities.

Please note that the event will run from 1-3 October 2025