With her podcast, Alexandra Lambropoulos tells the stories of urban innovation in Africa and beyond

When Alexandra Lambropoulos conducts research, she also seeks out the stories behind it. 

Lambropoulos, a master’s student pursuing urban planning at the University of Toronto, picked up the idea during her first trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo to see her family a few years ago.

There, she was inspired by the urban developments and creativity in her family’s hometown to further pursue urban planning. 

“I was amazed to see the city and all these creative interventions being done by people to make their communities better in any way possible,” Lambropoulos says. 

From there, she did some digging on different aspects of urban planning, finding groups, organizations and case studies in Africa dedicated to urban growth, art and sustainability across various countries. When she came back to Toronto, Lambropoulos discovered that Africa wasn’t a focus of study in her undergraduate courses. 

So she decided to tell these stories herself. 

Enter Urban Limitrophe, a podcast dedicated to researchers and community leaders driving projects that are transforming cities across Africa and the diaspora. Launched at the height of the pandemic, the podcast is nearing almost 20 episodes, with countless urban planning innovations – including initiatives in education, the arts and climate change – in countries ranging from Ghana and Kenya to Peru and France. 

Urban Limitrophe is co-sponsored by the department of geography and planning in the…