In envisioning the future of cities, the World Cities Report (UN-HABITAT, 2022) states that the emergence of urbanization as a global megatrend is intertwined with other challenges that the world has faced in the last 50 years. With a rate of about 3 million people turning urban citizens every week, urbanization takes place in the context of climate change, natural disasters, intense droughts, pandemics. These processes intensify economic crises, inequality, informality, housing precarity, social discontent, and resource scarcity, including infrastructure, food, and energy. The urban poor are disproportionately affected due to their limited adaptive capacity making them more vulnerable. Various initiatives, including within the SDGs agenda have attempted to address these issues through greater reliance on grassroots activities and bottom-up processes. Within this context, Thinking Urbanization from the Ground is a flexible, inclusive theme to bring together evolving Southern theories with practice. The conference aims to reflect on how global South practices engage with more transversal and hegemonic debates in planning, and how these contribute to addressing the impacts of urbanization.