TUT takes housing and human settlement matters to international spaces

Community engagement and architecture activism come together at the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) to bring housing, human settlements and building industry matters to national and international platforms.

The TUT delegation at WUF 13, comprising doctoral candidate Aldon Plaatjie, Prof Amira Osman, and Research Assistant Louis Oosthuysen.

This year, the TUT team led by Prof Amira Osman, Chairholder of the South African Research Chair Initiative (SARChI), presented papers and exhibited at the 13^th session of the World Urban Forum (WUF 13), the foremost conference on sustainable urbanisation and human settlements hosted by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat).

WUF 13 – held in Baku, Azerbaijan, from 17 to 22 May 2026, under the theme, “Housing the world: Safe and resilient cities and communities” – brought together policymakers, researchers, urban planners and civil society to discuss and collaborate on urban development. The six-day biennial conference was attended by 57,000 delegates from 157 countries.  

TUT – through the research conducted by the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation and the National Research Foundation (DSTI-NRF) Chair in Spatial Transformation (Positive Environment in the Environment), under the auspices of the South African Research Chair Initiative (SARChI), presented two papers at WUF 13 and also showcased an exhibition of a student’s work. Prof Osman was accompanied by Louis Oosthuysen, Research Assistant to the Chair and doctoral candidate Aldon Plaatjie.

On 21 May 2026, Prof Osman presented on innovative building technologies, focusing on our TUT’s community engagement projects and on timber panel building experiments in South Africa and other areas. In her presentation, she zoomed in on the TUT WIKIHOUSE, developed under the guidance of Leon Pienaar, Lecturer in Architecture and Industrial Design and produced by students at the University’s workshops.

Prof Osman shared lessons from the Zanzibar Cycling Master Plan, a project concluded by the DSTI-NRF Chair in Spatial Transformation for the City of Zanzibar and funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB) on 22 May 2026. She ended her speaking duties at WUF by presenting a provocation titled “Are smart cities a dumb idea?” intended to, through some humour, inspire dialogue about context-specific technical solutions that respect community, culture and climate.

Prof Amira Osman, the DSTI-NRF Chair in Spatial Transformation (Positive Change in the Environment), presented at two sessions at WUF 13.

TUT’s exhibition – which was on African borders, migration and the destruction of heritage and home – was a beautifully conceptualised and executed project related to Plaatjie’s studies. It was well received by visitors from various nationalities visiting the stand.

It is the third time that TUT has participated in WUF. In 2022 (WUF 11) in Katowice, Poland, Prof Osman conducted numerous sessions and hosted a dialogue with then Minister of Human Settlements, Mmamoloko Kubayi and the South African Institute of Architects. At WUF 12 in Cairo, Egypt, in 2024, among other activities and invited speeches, TUT showcased an exhibition.

– Corporate Affairs and Marketing

TUT exhibition at WUF 13 focused on African borders, migration, and the destruction of heritage and home.