Africa has the fastest urbanization rate in the world. It is already more urbanized than India and almost on a par with China. By 2050, 14 African cities will accommodate more than 10 million inhabitants. Urban communities are faced with limited access to resources, inadequate infrastructure, and uncertain life prospects. New strategies need to be developed for cities to deal with current and future challenges.

ZECURA – Zero-Emission Concepts for Urban Resilience in selected African cities – aims to contribute to developing and implementing some of these strategies in collaboration with city officials. The project uses effective and innovative tools to solve region-specific problems and harness local potentials by designing zero-emissions concepts for university campuses as examples for nearby cities. ZECURA aims to improve energy, water, and food supply and demonstrate how sustainable system optimization can create new economic opportunities and enhance living conditions of the population.

The project is fully funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), coordinated by IfaS and realized together with excellent research institutions from five of the most populated African countries.