Humanizing Urbanization: Housing, Livelihoods, and Sustainable Cities in a Changing World

Monday, July 28 at 9:00 am to Wednesday, July 30, 2025 at 5:00 pm

Hybrid event
University of Ottawa , Ottawa , ON , K1N 6N5
Meeting link to follow

The 6th International Conference on Canadian, Chinese, and African Sustainable Urbanization (ICCCASU) will place housing at the forefront, recognizing its essential role in fostering inclusive, equitable, and resilient cities.

Organizers invite scholars, policymakers, and students to attend as well as contribute. The deadline to register and submit an abstract is June 30, 2025.

See the call for papers here.

Organizers: Azrieli School of Architecture & Urbanism, Carleton University (Associate Professor Benjamin Gianni, Associate Professor Menna Agha, and Adjunct Professor Allan Cain), University of Ottawa, McGill University, UN-Habitat

Theme: Urbanization is reshaping societies, presenting both opportunities and challenges. For the past decade, the International Conference on Canadian, Chinese, and African Sustainable Urbanization (ICCCASU), in partnership with UN-Habitat and other global partners, has served as a vital platform for discussing sustainable urban growth.

By addressing key issues such as shortages of affordable housing, infrastructure development, climate resilience, and cultural preservation, ICCCASU has provided valuable insights from Canada, China, Africa, and beyond.

ICCCASU6 will place housing at the forefront, recognizing its essential role in fostering inclusive, equitable, and resilient cities in this evolving context. Despite technological advancements, cities continue to face significant endogenous and exogenous challenges. From Beijing to Nairobi, Ottawa to São Paulo, affordable housing remains a pressing issue, highlighting the need for adaptable and innovative solutions.

The conference will showcase innovative approaches to urban development. The goal is to promote people-centered strategies that enhance quality of life, celebrate cultural vitality, and advance climate resilience in an evolving global landscape.

About ICCCASU: Founded in 2014, the International Council on Canadian, Chinese, and African Sustainable Urbanization (ICCCASU) was launched as a joint initiative in partnership with the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) and several leading universities in Canada, China, and Africa.

As an international think tank, ICCCASU brings together researchers, academics, and representatives from government and industry for in-depth discussions on cities and urbanization, aiming to promote the dissemination and implementation of the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the New Urban Agenda adopted in 2016.

Moving beyond the traditional models of North-South or South-South cooperation, ICCCASU fosters an international triangular dialogue among African countries, Canada, and China, which together account for over 30 per cent of the world’s urban population.

To date, ICCCASU has organized five conferences in these cities: Ottawa, Canada (2015); Yaoundé, Cameroon (2017); Chengdu, China (2019); Montreal, Canada (2021); and Nairobi, Kenya (2023).

Over the past ten years, ICCCASU has successfully mobilized thousands of academics, researchers, professionals, and local populations and trained hundreds of city officials from more than 50 countries to contribute to building sustainable and inclusive cities.