Partnerships in Planning Education: The Association of African Planning Schools (AAPS)

Abstract

The training of city and regional planners in Africa has historically been influenced by the varied colonial constructs of what planning is, and what it should do. A control-oriented conception of planning together with ill-founded assumptions of the institutional capacity of the state has had profound influences on what happens in the lecture hall and beyond. In this chapter we reflect on the evolution of the Association of African Planning Schools (AAPS), a network of over 50 planning schools on the Continent, and its efforts to revitalize planning education. Following a discussion of the three dimensions of its work (communication, working on shared projects and events), we focus how AAPS work engaged in partnerships with organizations external to the network. The notion of ‘knowledge networks’ is central to understanding this phase of AAPS’s work. Connections with like-minded organizations, which operate at regional and global scales, have assisted with learning and exchange of ideas. The most important of these has been the global exposure through memberships of GPEAN (Global Planning Education Association Network), joint curricular initiatives, and Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with SDI (Slum Dwellers International) and WIEGO (Women in Informal Employment Globalizing and Organizing) and more recently, partnership with the GLTN (The Global Land Tools Network) of UN-Habitat. Expanding AAPS’s work beyond the confines of its membership has enabled access to further funding, new projects, and extending its sphere of influence beyond the educational realm. This is critical in ensuring that curricula reform is accompanied by policy shifts and innovative practice.