When South Africa took over the annual presidency of the Group of Twenty (G20), a bloc of the world’s major economies, in December 2024 it created a valuable opening for Africa on the global stage.
Among the meetings feeding into the summit, the Urban 20 (U20) mayors’ gathering in September 2025 stood out – a moment when the continent’s cities, long marginalised in global urban policy, stepped forward to help shape it.
Johannesburg offered a fitting, if uneasy, stage. It wrestles with crumbling infrastructure, power cuts, dry taps, potholes and expanding informal settlements – a reminder that urban growth without more equitable service delivery deepens inequality.
The city hosted leaders from municipalities worldwide to discuss how to finance cleaner energy, housing and data systems. The resulting U20 Communiqué, reflecting many African priorities, called for more inclusive, climate-resilient cities.
Whether those aspirations will translate into results remains to be seen, but the process revealed something durable. Africa is taking charge of its own urban agenda, through collaboration, and on its terms. Behind the speeches, lies a revolution in how universities, city networks and civil-society organisations are generating and applying knowledge about urban change.
Read the rest of this article on Nature Africa where they cite infrahub.africa and interview both Edgar Pieterse of African Centre for Cities as well as Blake Robinson of Utrecht University.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d44148-025-00373-1
