Zambia Strengthens Capacity for Climate-Resilient Urban Planning

More than 40 urban planning, governance and development professionals from across Zambia participated in a four-day workshop aimed at strengthening capacity for climate-resilient urban planning and advancing inclusive, sustainable urban development.

Held from 9–12 June 2026 at The Urban Hotel in Lusaka, the training forms part of the project, “Accelerating Urban Resilience and Pro-poor Climate Action in Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States in the Caribbean and Africa (2025–2027).” The initiative seeks to equip national and local stakeholders with the knowledge, skills and tools needed to address the growing pressures of urbanisation and climate change.

The workshop, organized by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN Habitat) with the Commonwealth Engineers’ Council and the Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies, sought to strengthen governance capacities and support more effective climate-resilient planning and decision-making, building on previous research which identified key gaps in community engagement, strategic and visionary planning, data utilisation for policy development, and institutional adaptability. 

Through a competency-based approach, participants engaged in a combination of conceptual learning and practical exercises covering urban governance, assessment frameworks, public policy analysis, stakeholder mapping and engagement, resilience diagnostics, and strategy development. The sessions provided an opportunity to examine how governance systems, institutional dynamics and stakeholder relationships influence the implementation of climate resilience policies.

One of the trainers, Dr Pamela Durán Díaz, Senior Researcher and Trainer at the Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS) at Erasmus University Rotterdam, emphasized the importance of governance in translating global ambitions into local action.

“We have very ambitious global agendas that failed at contextualization. We have very good intentions, indicators and goals that work at global level but when we look at the realities of the cities, it seems like we are not advancing as we intend to. The answer is in governance structures as they help to respond to local realities. At the same time, at the bottom level governance structures help in scale up and in achieving systemic change,” she said.

The training encouraged participants to explore adaptive and collaborative approaches to urban planning in a context where rapid urbanisation, climate variability and resource constraints increasingly affect communities and institutions.

According to another resource person, Raphaëlle Vignol, Programme Management Officer at UN Habitat Headquarters in Nairobi, implementation capacity remains one of the greatest challenges facing cities and institutions.

“Capacity development is extremely important because one of the main gaps that we observe is in implementation. It is a technical gap—not necessarily a lack of policies—but a very deep gap in capacities to implement. Particularly in the context of rapid urbanization and vulnerability to climate change, there is need to fast track processes that make things happen on the ground,” she said.

By strengthening competencies in strategic planning, inclusive stakeholder engagement, evidence-based policymaking and adaptive decision-making, would clearly contribute to broader efforts to help Zambian institutions chart sustainable and locally driven pathways toward resilient urban development.

As cities grapple with the combined challenges of rapid urban growth and climate change, participants also explored how urban design and construction practices can contribute to long-term resilience. Discussions highlighted the need for sustainable building approaches that promote low-carbon development while strengthening local skills and industries.

Professor Dawn Bonfield, representing the Commonwealth Engineers’ Council and the Commonwealth Sustainable Cities Initiative and serving as a trainer at the workshop, emphasized the need to integrate both formal and informal building sectors into climate action initiatives.

“We need to build future cities that are environmentally sustainable. That involves low carbon materials, low carbon building techniques, eco building techniques to keep them cooler, local materials as well as local workforce. It is important that local engineering and architecture sectors gain those skills themselves. We have realised that the informal sector and their own home building efforts are important to bring into the equation. There is a whole host of building that goes on in the informal sector so how do you incentivize that to also be low carbon so that we stand a chance of keeping within the climate goals,” she said.

Participants welcomed the opportunity to deepen their understanding of resilience-focused planning, community engagement and data-driven decision-making.

For Chola Chipili, Director of Planning at Kitwe City Council, the training reinforced the importance of involving communities in the planning process.

“As technocrats we need skills in citizen engagement. When we are planning for the community, they should participate so that solutions become their solutions. This workshop has come to bridge a gap so that we can go back and explain policies that affect the people so that they can come up with their own solutions,” he said.

Similarly, Mulenga Agatha Mutale, Assistant Director for Urban Development at the Ministry of Infrastructure, Housing and Urban Development, highlighted the importance of using reliable and up-to-date data in urban planning.

“Through the training, we learnt about the need to ensure that the data we use in urban development is authentic and not outdated and that it speaks to the current situation. We also need to ensure that we critically analyse the data to ensure it is accurate and valuable while also triangulating the data,” she said.

The workshop also underscored the critical role that communities and grassroots organisations play in driving sustainable urban development. Participants noted that policy success depends not only on technical solutions but also on meaningful community participation and ownership.

Melanie Chirwa, Programmes Coordinator at the People’s Process on Housing and Poverty in Zambia, said the knowledge gained during the training would help strengthen engagement with communities and improve implementation of development initiatives.

“I will take back the knowledge gained to the communities we work with. The involvement of communities in policy formulation and implementation is key. We need to build partnerships with all stakeholders at community level as you cannot continue having beautiful policies that are not implemented,” she said.

Ms Chirwa added that strengthening collaboration between policymakers, practitioners and communities is essential to ensuring that development efforts deliver meaningful and lasting results on the ground.

Participants also praised the interactive nature of the training and the expertise of the facilitators.

“I appreciated the interactive nature of the sessions. The sessions were also easy and relatable, with the facilitators demonstrating a huge wealth of knowledge and experience in urban planning and urban development which they shared,” said Silvia Kasungami Masabo, Assistant Director for Physical Planning in the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development in Lusaka.

The workshop is expected to enhance participants’ ability to integrate governance, policy and resilience perspectives into their professional practice, helping institutions better anticipate, prepare for and respond to climate-related challenges.

As Zambia continues to experience the impacts of climate change alongside rapid urban growth, initiatives such as this training are helping to strengthen the capacities of institutions and practitioners to build cities and communities that are more resilient, inclusive and sustainable for future generations.