The African Union for Housing Finance (AUHF) is a non-profit organization that promotes the development of the housing finance industry in Africa. This year it hosted its annual conference in Cairo. The event brought together a wide range of stakeholders, including policy makers, housing finance institutions, developers, and other industry experts. The theme of this year’s conference was “A Green Urban Future for Affordable Housing”. A variety of topics were covered over the three-day event, relating to the housing finance industry in Africa, including affordable housing, mortgage markets, housing finance regulation, and housing finance innovation. The conference also provided an excellent opportunity for attendees to network and share best practices.

Social Infra Ventures (SIV) CEO Daniel Font had the honour of presenting SIV to the audience and sharing the company’s ambitions to develop the “fifteen-minute cities” urban concept. A fifteen-minute city is a concept that aims to create green urban environments where all necessary daily activities, such as work, education, healthcare, and leisure, are within a fifteen-minute walk or bike ride from a person's home. The idea behind a fifteen-minute city is to make it easier for people to live without relying on cars for transportation,which can reduce traffic congestion and air pollution, and create more livable and sustainable cities.

The fifteen-minute city concept is based on the idea of "hypercentrism," which seeks to create compact,mixed-use neighborhoods that offer a range of amenities and services within a short distance of each other. This can involve designing streets and public spaces to be more pedestrian and bicycle-friendly, and encouraging the development of housing, offices, and other facilities in close proximity to each other. The goal is to create more efficient and sustainable urban environments that are easier for people to navigate and access the services and amenities they need. SIV believes that applying the fifteen-minute concept to our design and planning is essential for the communities we are building to flourish.

Social Infra Ventures is delighted to be a member of the AUHF and looks forward to a close collaboration with the AUHF team and members in 2023.