Our second seminar in the current CIB President’s seminar series will be on Mainstreaming Innovative Building Technologies for Climate Resilience and Sustainability in Informal Settlement Upgrading Programmes. Our invited speaker is Sijekula Mbanga, coordinator W110 – Informal Settlements and Affordable Housing, and will be hosted by CIB Vice President Ron Wakefield. It will be held on 2nd December 2025.
Abstract
The present world is confronted with several social and environmental challenges such as social inequality, climate change, population growth, rapid urbanisation, and depletion of resources. Climate change is already having significant impacts globally. These impacts are experienced most acutely in developing countries where infrastructure and population are often more vulnerable, and resource and capacity for adaptation are limited. The global trend of rapid urbanisation has seen more than half of the world’s population of 7 billion people, by today, living in cities.
According to the United Nations Habitat Programme about 1 billion of urban dwellers live in slums across the world, and this number is projected to increase to 3 billion by 2030. Informal settlements are characterized by poor housing conditions, lack of basic services such as water, sanitation, energy supply and waste removal. Technology is the knowledge applied to solve practical problems. Technology is the key driver of the aggregate economic growth, with this realised through productivity improvements. There is thus a global growing interest in understanding the links between innovation and inclusion to address the Sustainable Development Goals and achieve inclusive forms of economic growth.
This presentation examines the important links between informal settlement and slum upgrading programmes and adoption of innovative building technologies to mitigate impacts of climate change and yield habitable household and community environments, with people as active participants in the process of changing their living spaces.
Biography
Sijekula Mbanga is a Full Professor, and a Chair for Human Settlements based at Nelson Mandela University in South Africa. He holds a Ph.D. in Public Administration obtained from Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, in whose thesis he focused on integrated development planning and management, examining the theory and practice of alignment in intergovernmental planning for development, utilising Provincial Growth Development Plans as a case for scrutiny.
His research interests are on affordable housing, informal settlements, green and sustainable human settlements, urban space production and innovative building systems. He has strong collaborative links with academia and housing professionals in Africa, USA, UK and EU member countries. Sijekula serves in Boards of Urban Planning Journal, the Institute of Human Settlement Practitioners South Africa, the National Home Builders Registration Council, and is a reviewer for various housing, urban planning, construction, higher education and built environment journals. He is a Coordinator for CIB W110 on Affordable Housing and Informal Settlements.
