ISDD 2025 Roundtable Discussion on African Secondary Cities

Local knowledge and resources must be used for sustainability plans and actions in the built world. This encompasses housing, infrastructure and city planning and development.

This was the key theme of the roundtable discussion titled, “African Secondary Cities: Precarity, Local Solutions and a Shared Future,” held during the recently concluded  International Sustainable Development Dialogue (ISDD). The conference, themed, ‘Sustainable Development in the Age of Crises: Humanities, Science, and a More Equitable World’ was convened by the Global Affairs and Sustainable Development Institute (GASDI) at Osun State University (UNIOSUN) from the 18th to the 20th of June, 2025. 

Cities can be said to have hierarchies, tiers or levels. The term “secondary city” is usually used to describe a city at the second level, i.e., below a primary city. The population range of secondary cities is usually between 10-50% of a country’s largest city, although some may be smaller than that. The determinants of a secondary city are mainly population, size, function, and economic status.

The roundtable was chaired by Professor Temi Ologunorisa (the Vice Chancellor, Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology, Akure). The discussants were Drs. Martins Gasu and Samson Olarewaju from UNIOSUN’s Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Townplanner Femi Adeyemi from Osun State Ministry of Land and Physical Planning, and Dr. Ibrahima Thiam, Programme Manager, Climate Justice and Natural Resources, Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, West Africa. The session provided a platform for deliberations about the definition, evolution, challenges, and possible solutions for African secondary cities.

Dr. Gasu set the tone for the discussion by providing historical perspectives about the challenges of African secondary cities, such as housing and water issues.  He also proposed solutions to address these problems. He emphasised the need for African cities to look inwards to address their challenges. As an example, he cited the Osun-Osogbo groove, a multifaceted investment that attracts lots of tourists, which also plays a sustainable environmental role in enhancing the city’s climate.

Dr. Olarewaju discussed the conceptual contentions of the definitions of “cities” and “secondary cities.” He noted that mainstream definitions that are based on Western ideals are inadequate for the African context, as African perspectives vary from such. He further posited that the context of cities should go beyond population and infrastructure, and include power contestations, that is the influence of a locality within the larger geographical space.

Town Planner Adeyemi noted the challenges associated with the evolution of villages into secondary cities. A feature common to many African secondary cities is their rapid emergence without adequate planning, especially from the government. He cited the case of Owode-Ede, a secondary city adjoining Ede and Osogbo (the Osun State capital), which was still a village 15 to 20 years ago.  Owode-Ede evolved rapidly into a secondary city due to different tangential occurrences in Osogbo and Ede, such as the movement of the State Secretariat to the locality at Abere, developmental activities within Osogbo, and the establishment of two universities within Ede, among others. While noting that the government is making efforts to plan for the development of towns and cities, he acknowledged that the pace is slower than the pace of development, which is mostly private-led. He recommended partnerships between the government, institutions and the private sector to ensure the development of adequate plans for emerging cities, develop relevant policies and ensure sustainable cities.

Dr. Thiam shared success stories of the inclusion of indigenous African knowledge to tackle crises. Reiterating the need to harness local insights to address global challenges, he noted that we miss great opportunities for success when we ignore local knowledge.

Following extensive discussions, discussants and participants agreed that everyone (individuals, communities, businesses, professionals, governments, etc.) is an important stakeholder in addressing crises related to our cities. They also acknowledged that pointing fingers at other actors will solve no problem. Hence, everyone must do their bit in addressing sustainability challenges facing our cities (primary, secondary, tertiary), towns and villages.