The Democratic Republic of Congo has a rich cultural heritage that includes movable and immovable architectural, artistic, craft and urban assets that are both modern and traditional. However, as the country continues to modernise in a process of standardisation to Western urban planning and architectural heritage models, there are few initiatives to enhance the old pre-colonial cultural and architectural heritage or to design new cultural heritage that can reinvent the colonial past and challenge the legacy of a Western architectural model. The main aim of this study is to assess how Afropolitanism can inspire the integration of contemporary Congolese art and culture into architecture, while examining the opportunities and challenges. Firstly, this article explores innovative approaches to preserving and promoting Congolese cultural heritage through contemporary architecture and art that celebrate African identity and contribute to the development of an ‘Afropolitanism’ based on a focus on public and private architecture in contemporary Congolese cities. Secondly, a comparative Afropolitan approach highlights contemporary initiatives to promote original architectural heritage in Africa and outside Africa, and the lessons they can teach Congolese architects, thereby contributing in a comparative way to the development of an Afropolitan culture in construction and public works in the DRC. Finally, we analyse how the work of an Afropolitanist architect, Diébédo Francis Kéré, can help preserve Congolese architectural identities through public works, infrastructure development and private housing. Diébédo Francis Kéré is the first African to be awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize for his outstanding work, which combines modernity and tradition and has received great international recognition for its promotion of typically African architecture.