Education

As part of the YUFE European University alliance, Handmade Urbanism developed a fully recorded teaching module on how cities are physically built and sustained — focusing on rapidly growing urban environments in the Global South. Delivered by Bossissi Nkuba and Franck Zahinda, the session introduces students across Europe to the often-invisible material flows that shape urban form and vulnerability.

Through the example of Bukavu in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the module enables students to:

• perceive the historic, political and socioeconomic factors determining how cities are built in the Global South
• understand how sand, bricks, timber and other resources are extracted and circulated
• explore environmental impacts such as erosion, deforestation and landslides
• examine the role of informal actors and governance in construction economies
• reflect on practical pathways toward circular and low-impact urbanization

The video-based format expands access to field-based insights, making it possible for students from different universities and disciplines to engage with real-world sustainability challenges while learning collaboratively.

In collaboration with KU Leuven, Handmade Urbanism contributes to the course Conflict, Urbanisation and Development with a session co-taught by Franck Zahinda and Bossissi Nkuba in March 2025. The lecture explores how armed conflict, rapid demographic change and informal governance shape the material foundations of cities in Central and Eastern Africa.

Using Bukavu as a central case study — and drawing from recent field research — students learn to:

• trace construction materials from extraction sites to neighbourhoods
• analyze how conflict actors influence land access and local economies
• identify the environmental and social risks linked to informal urban expansion
• propose locally grounded strategies for safer and more sustainable building

Anchored in real-world evidence and policy experience, this teaching module equips future planners and urban professionals to understand and engage with the complexities of urbanization in fragile and resource-rich contexts.