Author(s)

Abstract

Since 2016 aligned with the Humanitarian Response Plan and The United Nations Interim Cooperation Framework, UN-Habitat has successfully supported South Sudan's peace and development process. Founded by the Booyoung Grant, "The Juba Strategic Plan" provides a comprehensive overview of the current city's social, economic, political, environmental, and spatial context, focusing on the complex migration dynamics from IDPs, returnees, and refugees. The main objective is to identify the critical urgent problems and support the local government to prioritize the challenges and opportunities to develop innovative solutions through evidence-based urban planning and facilitate decision-making. UN-Habitat elaborated a set of multi-scalar and multi-dimensional maps to build the narrative and establish a comprehensive city vision. The process is rooted in an evidence-based approach, building upon primary and secondary data collection and analysis. The outcome is a Strategic Plan for Juba that defines a clear direction and provides a holistic vision of sustainable urban growth for the upcoming years presenting several recommendations and critical responses to the main identified problems. Furthermore, different demonstration projects with development scenarios were proposed to test the potential solutions before concluding on normative and policy frameworks. The Strategic Plan also serves as an entry point for other relevant actors, such as the humanitarian and international development agencies and the national and local Ministries. The document aims to sum up and orient the different efforts and spatial strategies in the same direction, ensuring that the proposed scenarios and recommendations operate with ongoing projects and interventions.