The African Architectural and Urban History Network (AFRAUHN), in collaboration with the Department of Architecture at the University of Nairobi, invites proposals for papers about emerging discourses and themes in African architectural and urban practices for a major international conference being held at the University of Nairobi from 8th September – 10th September 2026.

It will be the second AFRAUHN bi-annual conference, the first having taken place at the Wits School of Architecture and Planning in South Africa in July 2024. Recognizing that discourses about African architecture and urban planning are more complex than the bifurcated ‘traditional’/‘colonial’ or ‘African’/‘Western’ models which still tend to dominate the research, writing, environmental design and spatial design practices in the continent, this conference instead welcomes contributions that critically examine the status quo(s) of these models and disciplines – be that in terms of academic, practice, national institutions or regulatory bodies, or as are imagined by policy-makers in forms of urban development which are then disseminated to the public.

AFRAUHN NAIROBI is organized to coincide with the inaugural Pan-African Biennale of Architecture, curated by Omar Degan and team, and which is also being held in September 2026 in Nairobi, Kenya: https://www.panafricanbiennale.org

AFRAUHN NAIROBI conference sessions include:

SESSION 1: Reclaiming Regional Identity in Kenyan Architecture
SESSION 2: Architectural Education in Africa: When the Curriculum Leans Towards a Eurocentric Body of Knowledge
SESSION 3: Writing African Architectural History?
SESSION 4: Shifting the Ground for Thinking the Historiographies of African Architecture and Urbanism
SESSION 5: What happened to Tropical Architecture?
SESSION 6: Constructing Coloniality: Nodes of Imperialism and the East African Built Environment
SESSION 7: Design Research in African Architectural and Urban History

We invite abstracts of a minimum of 300 words and maximum of 500 words for this groundbreaking international conference to be hosted at the University of Nairobi, Kenya. Please submit your details and abstracts by Friday 3rd April 2026.

For further information on the AFRAUHN NAIROBI conference and how to submit proposals, please visit this weblink:
https://www.afrauhn.org/items/call-for-papers-afrauhn-nairobi