Notwithstanding that the construction industry is an enabler of economic growth in developing countries, the industry continues to be susceptible to a myriad of unethical behaviours. While previous research has established that ethical issues have, to a great extent, affected the integrity of and the production in the industry, much less is known about the ethical dilemmas in the context of safety and health performances. Despite that the construction professionals have a moral obligation of ensuring health and safety in the delivering of construction works, previous studies have not dealt with the ethical dilemmas underlying the noncompliance with the occupational health and safety regulations in the industry. To address this gap of knowledge, a case study approach is used to explore the nuances of ethical dilemmas in association with the occupational health and safety performance. For methodology, a semi-structured interviews together with document review techniques were applied in three construction projects in South Africa (SA). A qualitative conventional content analysis revealed five broad themes of health and safety risk factors which could be associated with unethical practices. The findings of this study offer a theoretical insight which assist to understand that addressing the professional ethics in the construction industry is pivotal to the improvement of the health and safety performance in the delivery of construction projects.

In recent years, the local economic development (LED) planning paradigm has gained widespread acceptance worldwide as a locality-based response to the challenges posed by globalization, devolution, and local-level opportunities and challenges. Noticeably, governments in the Global South are seen to be supporting linkage policies that directly couple profitable growth and investment with redistribution and community development in rural-based localities. To attract potential investors to circulate more resources within the local rural communities, local governments must ensure that the local investment climate (LIC) is functional for business investment. Unlike in urban areas, rural localities, by their nature of periphery location from economic development nodes, prospective business investment projects (BIPs) are often faced with delays and uncertainty. This is mainly because the factors underlying the enabling environments for business investment in rural localities are poorly understood and based on speculation. Against this backdrop, this study therefore set out to explore and unveil the key factors that are fundamental for ensuring a conducive and functional local investment climate (LIC) in rural communities. Through a qualitative case study approach with the application of a conventional content analysis method, performed with coding methods, the study unveiled five key factors presented in a thematic approach. Namely, market and customer needs; government and regulatory support; access to infrastructure and services; land availability and zoning; and participatory community engagement. Understanding these fundamental factors that underpin conducive and operational investment environments is important for viable business decision-making in the feasibility study of investment projects toward LED in rural communities.

Participatory community development is considered as one of the important mechanisms of governance in ensuring inclusive and people centered development in emerging economies around the world. Remarkably, community participation has been promoted because of the associated perceived benefits such as collective decision making, ownership of community projects and sustainability of community initiatives. Despite all these associated benefits, there is an increasing concern that, in practice, community participation in relation to land development initiatives turned to be biased against and be exclusive of women. Against this backdrop, the conceptual study explores the prospects for women increased and meaningful participation in land development initiatives amid the patriarchal structures and barriers characterizing most of the societies in developing countries. Through the proposed conceptual framework, this study argues that to achieve inclusive participation in land development initiatives in communities, the agendas of women empowerment should be accompanied with ecofeminism, social capital and social acceptability principles as drivers of the transformation into the manifestation of inclusive participatory in relation to land development. The proposed conceptual framework together with the recommendations thereof in this study shed new insight to understand that, unless policies and programs of women empowerment on land development are synchronized with ecofeminist, social acceptability and social capital values, the realization of inclusive participation in communal land development in emerging economies will remain impossible.

The 2025 Pan African City Symposium and Exposition (PACSE), convened under the theme “Driving Innovation, Advancing Sustainability, and Empowering Equity,” b... The 2025 Pan African City Symposium and Exposition (PACSE), convened under the theme “Driving Innovation, Advancing Sustainability, and Empowering Equity,” b...

Emphasizes the much-needed multidisciplinary, transdisciplinary, and interdisciplinary approaches and efforts to deliver innovative, sustainable, and inclusive human settlements in cities. Remarkably, as urban areas grow, integrating advanced technologies with climateresponsive planning and inclusive governance frameworks is critical to ensuring long-term sustainability in infrastructure development and to creating intelligent, adaptable, and peoplecentered urban environments (Belizaire, 2025). In this vein, as many informal settlements and marginalized communities continue to experience energy poverty, unreliable electricity access, and dependence on polluting fuels such as paraffin and firewood, the decentralization of solar energy systems in addressing energy poverty and advancing energy justice in marginalized communities is fundamentally important (Mukwashi et al., 2025). To address energy poverty, innovative interventions should be explored to benefit marginalised communities in urban areas. Understanding that Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) management remains another critical environmental and social challenge for many cities in the African continent, renewable energy from solid waste could be an innovative solution to addressing not only the solid waste management crisis, but also the energy poverty in the marginalised communities (Obasi et al., 2025). Likewise, rural communities in the Global South countries are presently undergoing a radical transformation. Scholars like Sikhosana and Mashalaba (2025) identify the major drivers of rural-urban interaction and their implications for land use, governance, and socioeconomic organization in urbanizing rural regions, and eventually they conceptualized a novel framework for the governance and planning of rural-urban interfaces.In the South African context, the expansion of dormitory settlements on city peripheries remains a dominant feature of South Africa's post-apartheid urbanisation, and this phenomenon persistently reproduces the spatial and infrastructural inequalities of the apartheid era, resulting in the emergence of marginalised informal communities in cities (Mabotha, 2025). Sadly, these communities are faced with a housing crisis characterised by a growing backlog, unaffordability, and spatial inequality (Mvuyana & Matthews, 2025). As a result, there are divergent pathways to formalising informal settlements in South Africa, often leading to tensions between state-led urban modernisation and community-driven adaptation strategies (Kajiita & Kangéthe, 2025). To address these inequality challenges and housing backlogs in such human settlement settings, Boyce and Mbanga (2025) call for the professionalisation of the human settlements development sector, while Chumo et al. ( 2025) advocate for the profound principle of "leaving no one behind", as underpinned by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and acknowledge the inclusion of marginalised and vulnerable groups (MVGs) in all spheres. On this note, their study identified and characterised the MVGs, which included persons with disabilities, child-headed households, older persons, and refugees.Another phenomenon that threatens the sustainability and well-being of the urban population amid the urban expansion is the frequent seasonal flooding caused by climate change. To address the interactions between urban expansion and flood occurrence in Lagos, Nigeria, innovative strategies to enhance urban resilience were presented, including integrating climatetailored early warning systems and fostering active community participation in flood management (Dossa et al., 2025). Apart from natural disasters, man-made phenomena also pose hazards to the living conditions of communities in their localities. In this regard, the artisanal cobalt miners in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) confront exploitative working conditions, hazardous labor, and societal degradation; hence, the urgent need for transformative policies and legal frameworks that prioritise equitable resource governance, social justice, and human rights (Balyaminu et al., 2025).Therefore, it could be inferred that the realization of innovative technologies and solutions, sustainability, equity and social justice, and resilient infrastructure for sustainable cities and communities is cutting across jurisdictional boundaries and requires a multidisciplinary approach to solving these grand challenges. In this regard, broader stakeholder collaboration across inter-and intra-organisational systems, including researchers, policymakers, public and private practitioners, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and communities, is a fundamental requirement for co-creating innovative solutions to build sustainable communities and cities and a better future for the next generation. As noted by Gourrier (2025), intentional resource coordination and sustained collaborative commitment can generate meaningful longterm effects on social and upward mobility within underserved urban communities.