Welcome to the report of the 2015 Urban Conference, which took place at the Innovation Centre, City of Tshwane on 4–5 March 2015. Nearly 300 (297) people from the public, private and academic sectors attended the conference and gave very positive feedback. For the delegates, some of the highlights were the networking opportunities and conversations, the discussions and knowledge sharing, and the calibre/relevance of debates. This year is an important year for South Africa’s urban agenda. Public consultations are taking place around South Africa’s first national urban policy, the Department of Cooperative Governance-led Integrated Urban Development Framework (IUDF), while later in the year two pre-eminent pan-African urban development events will be taking place in South African cities: in June 2015, the African Capital Cities Sustainability Forum (ACCSF) hosted by the City of Tshwane, and in December 2015, the 7th Africities Summit convened by the United Cities and Local Government of Africa (UCLG Africa) and hosted by the City of Johannesburg. The 4th South African Urban Conference was convened by the South African Cities Network (SACN), in partnership with the City of Tshwane, the Department of Cooperative Governance (DCOG), the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) and the Dialogue Facility of the European Union Delegation to South Africa. The conference brought together urban sector experts and stakeholders who participated in an interactive and rigorous programme of dialogue and engagement, with the aim of:

• Facilitating urban policy and planning dialogue with key urban development
  stakeholders, experts and partners (local and international);
• Interrogating and enhancing preliminary data and findings towards the 2016 State of South African Cities Report (SOCR IV);
• Contributing to strengthening of the IUDF; and
• Building up national content towards the ACCSF and 7th Africities Summit.