Principal and Founder - Fitted Projects
Patrick Lamson-Hall is a co-founder and the Principal Urban Planner at Fitted Projects, a leading firm in the planning of new cities and urban special economic zones. As a working planner, he has developed new city projects and urban plans in over thirty cities in Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and North America, including ZEDE Morazan in Honduras. He is an affiliated scholar at the New York University Marron Institute of Urban Management. He has collaborated on urban planning projects with the Cities Alliance, the Rockefeller Foundation, Bloomberg Associates, UN-Habitat, and the World Bank. As a researcher, his projects have been funded by the National Science Foundation. He is a globally recognized expert on urban growth and urban density and has developed new planning techniques for low-income cities experiencing rapid growth. He is an author of the Atlas of Urban Expansion: 2016 Edition and frequently contributes academic papers to leading journals. He holds a Master’s Degree in Urban Planning and a PhD in Public Administration from the NYU Wagner School of Public Service.
Convened by Africa Urban Lab, this academic session brings together leading researchers and practitioners to examine the evolving landscape of urban governance in African cities. With a focus on decentralization, spatial planning, and inclusive service delivery, the session will surface research-driven insights into how governance structures are responding to the continent’s rapid urbanization. Presentations will draw on case studies from across Africa, offering a grounded look at the opportunities and constraints shaping urban futures.
With urban populations surging, how can new cities scale infrastructure, services, and governance at an unprecedented pace? This session dives into the strategies that enable cities to absorb massive growth—from modular urbanism and flexible zoning to AI-driven planning and decentralized governance models.