SUPE Collective held our first workshop in late March at the Department of Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology, University of Pretoria. With ten participants and a fairly relaxed program over the course of the day we discussed some of the current debates in urban political ecology, what they meant for practising research in African cities and the ideas and interests of our colleagues. The workshop is the first in a series of learning opportunities we hope to provide over the next few years and we have our next one planned for later in the year, with more details to follow shortly.