Some of the work needed is already in motion across the continent, as more than 200 new city and special economic zone projects are underway, including reclaimed land developments in West Africa, government-backed tech cities in East Africa, master-planned satellite capitals in Senegal, and industrial corridors built to catch the wave of global supply chain diversification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, funding for these new cities is critical. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The African Development Bank (AfDB) estimates Africa’s core infrastructure needs up to $170 billion a year, with as much as $108 billion of that still left unfunded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ambition is there, the opportunity is ripe, and Africa’s growth story remains intact, with the continent still projected to grow more than 4% even amid global headwinds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Development finance institutions, private equity, and sovereign wealth funds all have African infrastructure mandates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Governments are actively courting the investment needed to activate masterplans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
What’s missing isn’t ambition, capital, or political will individually \u2013 it’s convening the room where all three sit down together, at the same time, around the same projects to seize this opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That room exists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This December, the New Cities Summit, now in its third edition, following Kigali in 2023 and Nairobi in 2025, convenes city developers, infrastructure investors, and enabling governments inside Waterfall City, Johannesburg (an award-winning 2,200-hectare mixed-use city on the N1 corridor, built from scratch and still under construction). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is, organisers state, the only global convening built specifically around this triangle of developer, investor, and government, all meeting to move investable African urban projects from plan to groundbreaking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Running alongside the main programme is the Cities Investment Forum: a vetted cohort of city projects that pitch directly to the investors in the room. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This is not a general pitch competition, but a curated deal pipeline. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Past participants include Tatu City, Fumba Town, Kigali Innovation City, and over a dozen other new city projects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Forum’s backing partner, Mineral Springs, has helped mobilise more than $10.4 billion in infrastructure capital to date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Confirmed voices for the 2026 Summit include Willie Vos, CEO of Waterfall City, and David Pilling, Africa editor at the Financial Times, alongside senior representatives from institutions including the World Bank, the Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Gauteng Growth and Development Agency. <\/p>\n\n\n\n They are part of a programme built around seven themes spanning capital, infrastructure, governance, and master planning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is where the region’s next cities actually get decided. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Where the introductions happen, the term sheets get discussed, and the projects that will define the next decade of African urban growth get chosen and funded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The New Cities Summit runs 7\u20138 December 2026, in Waterfall City, Johannesburg. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The decisions get made either way. The only question is whether you’re in the room when they do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Click here to register for the New Cities Summit today.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This December, the New Cities Summit, now in its third edition, following Kigali in 2023 and Nairobi in 2025, convenes city developers, infrastructure investors, and enabling governments inside Waterfall City, Johannesburg.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":878394,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2107362986360787349","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2228032371350495","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10459],"tags":[1174,26710,9375,18705,26708,26709,17395],"class_list":["post-878384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry-news","tag-africa","tag-charter-cities-institute","tag-city","tag-goverment","tag-new-cities-summit","tag-sumit","tag-waterfall-city"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=878384"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":878419,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878384\/revisions\/878419"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/878394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=878384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=878384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=878384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1-1024x576.png\")
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