Architecture, Housing and Urban Design in Africa
Climate resilience, affordable housing, and just urban futures
Across Africa, rapid urbanisation, climate change, and housing shortages are reshaping cities at an unprecedented pace. Architecture, housing, and urban design play a critical role in addressing challenges such as heat stress, flooding, inadequate housing quality, and unequal access to urban services—especially in informal and low-income neighbourhoods.
This focus area explores architecture and urban design in Africa from a built-environment and socio-technical perspective, combining spatial design, building physics, climate-responsive architecture, and urban governance. It is particularly suited for students from the Built Environment department, as well as students from Innovation Sciences interested in how design choices, assessment tools, and planning frameworks shape sustainable and inclusive urban transitions. Many projects engage directly with real-world design constraints, offering opportunities to translate analysis into context-sensitive architectural and urban strategies.
Possible local collaboration partners include for example Casa Real, a Mozambican social enterprise co-founded by a TU/e graduate; or the Tanzania Renewable Energy Association (TAREA).
Case studies
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One key research strand focuses on urban heat resilience in rapidly growing African cities, where rising temperatures disproportionately affect residents of informal settlements. TU Eindhoven research in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, combines spatial analysis (e.g. land surface temperature mapping), field observations, and interviews to examine how urban morphology, building materials, street layouts, and lack of green space intensify heat exposure.
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Another core theme is the challenge of delivering affordable housing that is also climate-resilient and resource-efficient. TU Eindhoven research assesses the applicability of sustainability assessment tools such as EDGE (Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies) in housing projects across sub-Saharan Africa, including case studies in Mozambique, Kenya, and South Africa.
Opportunities for Students
This thematic area offers rich opportunities for Bachelor end projects, Master’s thesis projects, and internships, especially for students from Architecture, Urbanism, Building Physics, and Sustainable Design. Projects often combine design-oriented analysis with empirical research, and can be conducted through desk research or fieldwork in African cities.
Possible research topics include:
Climate-responsive architecture and urban design in tropical cities
Urban heat mitigation through building design, materials, and greenery
Informal settlements, housing quality, and spatial inequality
Sustainability assessment tools and their influence on design practices and on possibilities for project to gain access to donor funds
Affordable housing, energy and water use, and climate resilience
Governance, standards, and justice in urban planning and housing policy
Several projects build directly on existing theses and international fieldwork experience, enabling students to engage deeply with real-world architectural and urban challenges.