The International New Town Institute (INTI) is proud to announce its program for the conference “Urban Africa: new strategies for the world’s fastest urbanizing continent” and cordially invites you to join. Professionals from Europe and Africa present their visions on the current urban development in Africa. The event will be a crash course for anyone working or interested in Africa.
This international conference will explore the current trajectory of African urbanization with insights from some of the most exciting voices in the field and serve as a platform to begin an open debate.
Africa’s population and economic growth make it the world’s fastest urbanizing continent. While some might still associate Africa with rural development, the future of Africa is, in fact, very urban.
This urbanization is a huge challenge in a continent stricken by poverty and corruption. Many migrants moving to the city end up in self-organized settlements without basic services. One alternative is being offered by developers and investors from countries like China and Korea, who have designed and built new towns in Africa that are modeled after Asian cities. But is this really a proper alternative? Does one size fit all? Or is it a model being copied without considering whether it’s appropriate for Africa?
Edgar Pieterse writes in his recent publication Africa’s Urban Revolution: “As the continent that will be disproportionately shaped by the way in which society thinks about cities, Africa must assume an increasingly central position in the urban imagerinary of theorists and practitioners.” African cities should have top-priority on the designer’s agenda. But do they?
By bringing together speakers from academic, political and design backgrounds, INTI wants to initiate a critical conversation about ‘Urban Africa’ and the western world’s role—if any—in the radical transformations on this continent. What should be on the agenda? What should be the role of the western partners? And what can we expect from the professional community?
For the past year, three teams of South African and Dutch designers have worked together within a project called ‘The Density Syndicate’ to come up with alternatives for the present sprawling urbanization of Cape Town. They explored how a higher density of functions and activities could improve the social, economic and spatial conditions in Cape Town. Their findings will be presented and discussed during the conference. This cooperation is not one way traffic: with Dutch spatial planning changing from integral top down planning to a focus on decentralization and participation, what are the lessons to be learned from Urban Africa?
PROGRAM
| 08:30 – 09:00 | Welcome, coffee and tea |
| 09:00 – 09:15 | Introduction by Michelle Provoost (Director INTI) |
| SESSION 1 | THE URBANIZATION OF AFRICA |
| 09:15 – 10:00 | Lecture by Edgar Pieterse (Director African Centre for Cities, University of Cape Town) - ‘Africa’s Urban Imperatives’ |
| 10:00 – 10:45 | Lecture by Lawrence Esho (Professor Technical University of Kenya) - ‘Of Masks, spirits and planning in Africa’ |
| 10:45 - 11:50 | Debate with speakers and Ton Dietz (African Studies Centre, Leiden University), Ronald Wall (Institute for Housing and Urban Development, Erasmus University Rotterdam) and Maarten Hajer (Planbureau voor de Leefomgeving) |
| 11:50 - 12:00 | Lard Buurman (photographer) – ‘Africa Junctions’ |
| 12:00 – 13:00 | LUNCH |
| SESSION 2 | THE DENSITY SYNDICATE |
| 13:00 – 13:10 | Skype interview with Catherine Stone (Director of Spatial and Urban Planning Department of the City of Cape Town) |
| 13:10 – 13:30 | Presentation Density Syndicate by Michelle Provoost (Director INTI) |
| 13:30 – 13:55 | Q&A with Density Syndicate partners: Jandirk Hoekstra (h+n+s landschapsarchitecten) , Khalied Jacobs (Jakupa architects and urban designers) , Duzan Doepel (Doepel Stijkers) , Jason Hilgefort (Land and Civilization Compositions) , Harro Wieringa (Witteveen+Bos), Walter van Dijk (NL Architects) , Edgar Pieterse (African Centre for Cities) |
| 13:55 – 14:00 | Presentation publication Density Syndicate: ‘Cape Town. Densification as a cure for a segregated city’ |
| SESSION 3 | STRATEGIES |
| 14:00 – 14:30 | Lecture by Rogier van den Berg (UN HABITAT) - ‘Five ingredients for good african cities’ |
| 14:30 – 15:00 | Lecture by Ekim Tan (Play the City) - ‘Serious Gaming in Kayelitsha, Cape Town’ |
| 15:00 – 15:30 | TEA BREAK |
| 15:30 – 16:00 | Lecture by Robert van Kats (Dasuda) - ‘Strategy and Practice’ |
| 16:00 – 16:30 | Lecture by Khalied Jacobs (Jakupa architects and urban designers) - ‘Working in African reality’ |
| 16:30 – 17:30 | Discussion with Edgar Pieterse, Lawrence Esho, Rogier van den Berg, Ekim Tan, Robert van Kats and Khalied Jacobs |
| 17:30 – 18:00 | DRINKS |
– Christine de Baan will moderate the conference.
PARTNERS:
Urban Africa is an initiative organized by INTI, in cooperation with the African Studies Centre, Leiden (ASC), the Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies at Erasmus University (IHS). INTI has previously worked with IHS in China on the New New Towns research program and the ASC have a long history of partnership. This event, however, is the first collaboration among all three partners, and represents their complimentary expertise and deep commitment to pursuing a sustainable urban future in Africa.
For this conference and the Density Syndicate, of which it is the result, INTI received generous support from RVO (Rijksdienst Voor Ondernemend Nederland)
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Date: April 7, 2015
Time: 9:00 – 17:30
Location: Auditorium, Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Language: English
Entrance (including lunch): € 25,00
Students: € 15,00
You can buy your ticket directly at the website of Het Nieuwe Instituut.
