Practical information
A "Les Jeudis de l'Ifri" videoconférence around Alain ANTIL, Director of Ifri's Sub-Saharan Africa Center, and Sina SCHLIMMER, Research Fellow at the Sub-Saharan Africa Center.
By 2050, the population of sub-Saharan Africa will double and more than 50% of it will live in cities. How to provide and finance the urban infrastructure necessary to accommodate more than 500 million urban dwellers who will reach African cities? To what extent does this urbanization put Africa's traditional partners (Europe) in competition with emerging players (China, Russia, Gulf States).
Chair : Thomas Gomart, director of Ifri.
This debate is for corporate members only. It will be conducted in French.
Speakers
Find out more
Land Governance in the Outskirts of African Cities. Socio-Economic Challenges of Growing Peri-Urban Land Markets
Between 2020 and 2050, Africa’s population is expected to double, and the continent will be home to 2.5 billion people. Almost half of this population will be living in urban agglomerations. Metropolitan cities, such as Lagos, Nairobi, Dar es Salaam or Abidjan will host several tens of millions of urban dwellers. Peri-urban areas are most affected by the cities’ expansion and undergo important social, political, and economic transformations.
Other events
France-Ukraine Forum 2026
More than four and a half years after the start of the full-scale war launched by Russia against Ukraine, the 2026 France-Ukraine Forum will bring together policymakers, experts, academics, and civil society representatives from both countries to discuss three main topics: the formats and conditions for a lasting diplomatic settlement; Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic integration, encompassing both the EU accession process and closer ties with NATO; and the societal transformations of postwar Ukraine, as well as its prospects for reconstruction.
The EU in a World of Economic Warfare: Trade, Geopolitics, and the Battle for Economic Sovereignty
The international trading system has become a primary theatre of geopolitical competition. Tariffs, sanctions, and technology controls have replaced dialogue as the default instruments of economic relations.
The Road to 27 Electrification Action Plans: Planning and Investing in Europe’s Electric Future
The European Commission’s Electrification Action Plan places the continent on an electric path to structurally reduce dependence on fossil fuel imports and boost the energy transition in industry, transport and buildings.