This study explores the multifaceted expressions of tree-related urban designs in the western Senegalese region in diversified scales and contexts, from religious and secular settlements via ceremonious and mundane situations to public and private spaces.It crisscrosses between environmental and cultural sustainability aspects in view of these arboreal designs, pointing to the long-term affinity of these designs on the one hand and their adaptability to contemporary hybrid circumstances on the other . This study strives to counter balance some existing geographical, thematic, and methodological biases within the literature on sustainability and urban greenspaces. It also employs photographic evidence to capture the stubborn persistence and dialectical nuances of this meaningful formalistic phenomenon, despite the natural and human-made challenges of the region.

Urbanization is accelerating rapidly, particularly across Asia and Africa. Since 2000, sustainable urbanization (SU) has been central to global policy agendas, including the Sustainable Development Goals and the New Urban Agenda. This study employs bibliometric analysis and a systematic literature review (SLR) to examine 1913 Scopus-indexed articles (2000–2024), addressing three research questions: (1) What scholarship trends have emerged in sustainable urbanization and urban informality (SU-UI) research over the last 25 years? (2) Are manifestations of urban informality (UI) in the Global South (GS) primarily associated with limitations in formal planning frameworks or governance deficiencies, and what are the possible ways forward? (3) In the global agenda on sustainability, which primarily aims to address urbanization challenges, how much progress have cities around the world made towards SU? China, the United States, and the United Kingdom are the most productive contributors to SU-UI scholarship, while research on UI from India and on SU from China carries considerable global influence. Formal planning frameworks in many developing countries exhibit limited alignment with local urban dynamics, generating sociospatial challenges, while governance arrangements in the GS require reform to better reflect global sustainability objectives. Cities in the Global North (GN) demonstrate comparatively greater progress towards SU, offering context-dependent lessons for the GS. Future research directions include the investigation of southern-inclined planning and governance approaches, spatial analyses of SU-UI using geographic information systems methodologies, and how emerging post-2030 global development frameworks may reshape research priorities and policy directions in SU-UI.

This article traverses three fields of research: social sustainability, cultural heritage, and urban greenspaces in the form of arboreal settlement designs. In terms of geography, it turns the spotlight on West African urban cultural landscapes, with a focus on metropolitan Dakar, the capital city of Senegal. Drawing on secondary sources such as relevant research literature; primary sources such as archival materials and fieldwork in Dakar in 2019 and 2022; and rich visual evidence of past and present - the article provides a qualitative insight into the enduring presence of regional tree-related forms of urban design throughout the ages in Dakar's metropolitan urban landscape. Despite considerable challenges rooted in colonial and post-colonial urban planning conditions and changing socio-political climates, the enduring viability of these arboreal forms of settlement design since precolonial times will be highlighted, from the viewpoint of urban social sustainability. The article also provides an insight into the symbolic representations of these arboreal forms of design and their meaning in a variety of other expressions beyond urban morphology, such as in popular art and media endeavors. The multiplicity of representations of material culture testifies to the persistence, strength and depth of tree-related traditional practices and their modern incarnation in the West African city; to the consistency and relevance of endogenous conceptions of urban cultural heritage; and to the importance of supporting communities' site-keeping on the part of municipal and regional administrations in order to preserve cultural capital while aiming to pursue a more socially-sustainable urban policy.

Osogbo is the only city in southern Nigeria to have a UNESCO World Heritage Site: Osogbo Sacred Grove. The local-global relevance of the city differs from that of contemporary Nigerian cities. Osogbo became a node of commerce between northern and southern Nigeria through its railway station constructed by the British in 1907. Post-colonial large-scale infrastructure projects are located in the city, such as the country-level electricity control station, which maintains energy stability, business activities, and migration flows. The development of the city took a new direction in 1991 when it became the capital of Osun State. The city's new administrative role, coupled with its hosting of the globally renowned Osun-Osogbo annual festival at the Grove, placed this polyethnic city above other cities in Nigeria as a traditional-cum-modern city. Without a master plan, Osogbo presently faces challenges associated with unsustainable development due to its significant population growth, which is placing strain on its natural resources and infrastructural facilities. A significant amount of water has passed through the river Osun since the Nigerian geographer, Tunde Agbola, first sketched the profile of the city (Cities, 9(4), 1992). This study takes a retrospective view of urban development in Osogbo within the theoretical framework of sustainability by re-evaluating its past and present urban developments and the urban planning policies guiding such developments. The study incorporates new primary sources and data from fieldwork conducted in summer 2024. We conclude with operational policies that can ensure that the urban development of this historic city is sustainable.

Abstract The capital city of Senegal, Dakar—whose metropolitan area comprises a population of 3,835,000 (about 23 percent of the country’s population as of 2021)—is a thriving cosmopolitan city and the largest city in Senegal. The beginning of this coastal settlement, according to Lebou oral traditions, dates to the 15th century. The Lebou are the Indigenous people who originally inhabited the area and have maintained a meaningful presence on Cap-Vert Peninsula, over which the modern city of Dakar extends. Established as the main deepwater port in West Africa and as a capital city on the territorial and regional levels during the French colonial regime, early-21st-century Dakar has experienced steady growth as a prominent point for in-country, regional, and transnational migration. Generating about half of the nation’s gross domestic product, the metropolis is characterized by great ethnolinguistic diversity; a moderate, democratized sociopolitical tradition of governance; a predominance of several Sufi tariqas (religious orders); and considerable artistic creativity. Dakar is one of the earliest sites in sub-Saharan tropical Africa of European settlement, which was initiated by the Portuguese in the mid-15th century. Metropolitan Dakar—positioned against the background of the transatlantic slave trade, subsequent French imperialism, and the crystallization of Islam since the beginning of the European settlement —has a unique historical, cultural, and physical heritage. The city has also won remarkable scholarly attention in multidisciplinary fields on the part of both its local and overseas scholars. However, its main challenges throughout the early 21st century have continued to be successful decentralization, the provision of adequate infrastructure, and a simplification of its complex systems of urban governance. It has also faced the challenges of the proliferation of uncontrolled peri-urban and extraformal growth, a housing crisis, and poverty.

Against the background of urban redevelopment programs through the lens of varied, country-related planning cultures, this article sets the stage for learning from one country’s recent experience. In this article, we focus on two Israeli urban regeneration programs operating since 2000: the ‘Integrated National Planning Scheme’ (TAMA 38) and ‘Evacuate and Build’ (Pinuy Binuy) programs. This article aims to examine the governmental agenda behind these programs in comparison to previous urban regeneration programs and, especially, to critically review the implementation and implication of these programs considering social sustainability issues. Methodologically, the policies and practices of this recent wave of urban renewals in Israel are revisited through a critical reading of a series of studies from the last five years, bringing together multidimensional societal aspects. In terms of ethics and qualitative dimensions, the examined societal aspects are rooted in social sustainability theory and contemporary urban policy design. Our findings regarding this country-related recent experience in urban renewals have identified several gaps concerning certain aspects of social sustainability theory and practice. These gaps call for a better understanding by Israel’s urban policy makers of the comprehensive essence of contemporary social sustainability theory, which should also be mirrored in the respective professional discourse. The gaps are also useful in informing our accumulating transnational knowledge and experience in urban renewal schemes, based on a chain of country-related experiences and planning cultures.

This short opinion article critically comments on some current mainstream trends, characteristics, and biases in urban social sustainability research literature. Through identifying some gaps regarding geography, sub-topics, and study approaches, and through considering “off-the-map” southern urban realities, it calls for the need to refocus and reshape some of the basic notions and presumptions that currently stand behind urban social sustainability theory, concepts, and policy design. Enhancing our sensitivity to truly global urban conditions, argue the authors, would result in less expected and generic (Eurocentric) approaches regarding urban social sustainability and would contribute to its more meaningful and comprehensive understanding. A bias towards qualitative, place-based, and context-sensitive analysis is a necessary step in rendering urban social sustainability truly global as well as in the making of more place-intelligent and place-responsive planning interventions.

This article expands on a poem written by one of the central figures in modern Hebrew literature, Nathan Alterman (1910–1970), entitled “About a Senegalese Soldier” (1945). Providing the first English translation of this poem and its first (academic) discussion in any language, the article analyzes the poem against contemporary geopolitical, historical, and literary backgrounds. The article’s transdisciplinary approach brings together imperial and colonial studies, African studies, and (Hebrew) literature studies. This unexpected combination adds originality to mainstream postcolonial perspectives through which the agency of the Senegalese riflemen [Tirailleurs sénégalais] has been often discussed in scholarly research. By using a rich variety of primary and secondary sources, the article also contributes to a more elaborated interpretation of Alterman’s poetry. This is achieved through embedding the poem on the tirailleur in a tripartite geopolitical context: local (British Mandate Palestine/Eretz-Israel), regional (the Middle East), and international (France-West Africa). The cultural histories and literary traditions in question are not normally cross-referenced in the relevant research literature and are less obvious to the anglophone reader.

Splintering Towers of Babel focuses on and redefines soft infrastructures and critical infrastructure projects. It explores key issues in contemporary urban studies including town planning histories, architecture, heritage, colonialism and postcolonialism, philosophy, and ethics. The book combines transdisciplinary perspectives on the key historical, philosophical, and political issues associated with urban experiences, built forms, and infrastructure networks. It explores uneven dimensions in contemporary urbanisms and develops spatial phenomenological thinking with reference to the northern and southern hemispheres. This book connects the past and the present, in addition to Western and global South geographies, with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa. Its main contribution is to broaden readers' understanding of infrastructure through the lens of the humanities and to engage with political, poetical, and ethical perspectives. This book is tailored to scholars working in the fields of urban planning, urban geography, architectural history, urban design, infrastructure studies, colonial and postcolonial studies, African studies, and philosophy.