Information Mothership_Thesis Booklet_Asma Boutrik

INFORMATION MOTHERSHIP A CATALYST FOR ENABLING REGIONAL OWNERSHIP AND SELF-RELIANT DEVELOPMENT IN RURAL TANZANIA

ADVANCED DESIGN PROJECT (ADP) BY ASMA BOUTRIK ED 253_SUMMER 2020 02/10/2020

MASTER OF URBAN DESIGN 2019-2020

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THESIS TITLE: INFORMATION MOTHERSHIP A CATALYST FOR ENABLING REGIONAL OWNERSHIP AND SELF-RELIANT DEVELOPMENT IN RURAL TANZANIA

THESIS COMMITTEE: PROF. MARGARET CRAWFORD PROF. CHRISTOPHER CALOTT LECTURER. YULIA GRINKRUG

THESIS INSTRUCTOR: INSTRUCTOR. STEFAN PELLEGRINI

ADVANCED DESIGN PROJECT (ADP) BY ASMA BOUTRIK MASTER OF URBAN DESIGN 2019-2020 UC BERKELEY ED 253_SUMMER 2020 02/10/2020

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SIGNATURE PAGE

The Advanced Design Project of Asma Boutrik is approved:

Chair

Prof. Margaret Crawford

date

Prof. Christopher Calott

date

Prof. Yulia Lecturer.

Grinkrug

date

University of California, Berkeley Summer 2020

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Fig 1 Collage of Afro-Inspirations & Futuristic Art, by Asma Boutrik.

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I N F O R M AT I O N M OT H E R S H I P Information Mothership, what is this term? “Mothership” is an Afro-futuristic reference, used

by Sun Ra and others, symbolizing a “landing vessel” for African futurity. In this thesis, it represents the integration and advancement of information infrastructures in rural Tanzania.

The term “Information” is used because the main premise of this thesis is that a catalytic intervention that is based on access to information and connectivity as a public asset will enable self-reliant developments and keep people in the region rather than migrating to the city.

A CATALYST FOR ENABLING REGIONAL OWNERSHIP AND SELF-RELIANT DEVELOPMENT IN RURAL TANZANIA

A Catalyst for enabling self-reliance, how? These informational tools give power to people to create their own development. I believe this power starts from access to information and education, to enable efficient use of information.

Why Rural Tanzania? The region is unique given there is a culture of technological leapfrogging, a

scenario in which communities leverage new technologies to rapidly adapt and evolve. This phenomenon creates an atmosphere suitable for a transformative intervention economically, socially, and spatially.

BY ASMA BOUTRIK

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Fig 1 Collage of Afro-Inspirations & Futuristic Art, by Asma Boutrik.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to take a moment and express my gratitude for everyone who supported me and for the incredible mind-shifting year with MUD at UC Berkeley, I am grateful I have chosen this lifechanging experience.

I would like to express my high appreciation and gratitude to my committee: Professor Margaret Crawford, Professor Christopher Calott, and lecturer Yulia Grinkrug for their support and mentorship.

I express my incredibly high appreciation for Professor Margaret Crawford who has a major role in shaping my Urban Design values and key support in accomplishing this thesis, providing academic and moral support to push forward with this new and unique topic in a very challenging time and circumstances.

I would like to extend my gratitude for Professor Christopher Calott for being the continuous support, for the learning opportunities, and for always grounding theory in real practice.

To Yulia Grinkrug who always reminded me of the core values and higher purpose of the design topic, for always pushing me beyond the conventions to make the world a better place, I highly appreciate this great gift.

Warm gratitude to Stefan Pellegrini, for your patience, inclusiveness, and constant encouragement.

Your open mind has been a key driver in pushing forward during Thesis studio.

I express my appreciation to Scott Elder, for your honesty, passion, creative mind, and your devoted support from thesis research to the final thesis project. The project would not have been the same without your push to think outside the box.

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To Prof. John Ellis, for your generous spirit, kindness, and endless support, you have been a fundamental mentor throughout the year and beyond.

I offer my sincere appreciation to MUD faculty for their continued support, encouragement, and for sharing their exceptional knowledge: Prof.

Harrison Fraker, Prof. Ghigo Ditommaso, and Giulio Giovannoni.

Warm and deepest gratitude to Dorothy Tang for her incredible insights and mind-expanding views.

Thank you for the constant and continuous support during the summer.

To my dear MUD friends and family away from home, it has been an unforgettable year, and nothing would have been the same without you.

I have learned from each one of you and I am enriched by your uniqueness, talent, and passion.

Special gratitude to late-night hard work and zoom peer reviews with Jaime Varas, Dewi Bleher, Amalia Carmona, Veronica Alatorre, and Daniela Orellana, your insights and support have been essential.

A warm appreciation to the Njombe community: Jackson Daud Tweve, Faraji Nyidike, Emmanuel Njavike, and Frank Ndambo, who have dedicated time and effort to give me a glimpse of the context from a local perspective in the times of Covid-19 and travel bans.

Most importantly, to my parents, sister, brother, and all my family and friends for your unconditional love and being my motivation to make you proud.

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Margaret Crawford

Christopher Calott

Yulia Grinkrug

Stefan Pellegrini

John Ellis

Scott Elder

Harrison Fraker

A. Ghigo Ditommaso

Dorothy Tang

Giulio Giovannoni

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TO MUD FAMILY

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TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S

SECTION 1

P RO J E C T BAC KG RO U N D

1 . 1 A. .B S T R A C T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 6 1.2 INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................18 1.3 RESEARCH BACKGROUND..............................................................................................19

SECTION 2

A R E A O F R E S E A RC H

2 . 1 U R BA N I Z AT I O N I N T H E G LO BA L S O U T H . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2 2 . 1 . 1 G LO BA L U R BA N I Z AT I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 4 2 . 1 . 2 A F R I C A’ S U R B A N I Z A T I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 6 2 . 1 . 3 O B S E R VAT I O N S F R O M A L G I E R S ( M Y H O M E T O W N ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 8 2 . 1 . 4 O B S E R VAT I O N S F R O M A R O U N D T H E W O R L D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 0 2.1.5 CONCLUSION.....................................................................................................32

2 . 2 P O S T C O LO N I A L & G LO BA L I Z AT I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2 2 . 2 . 1 A F R I C A’ S U R B A N I Z A T I O N & G L O B A L T E N S I O N S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 4 2 . 2 . 2 G L O B A L I N T E R E S T I N A F R I C A T O D AY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 6 2.2.3 AFRO-FUTURISM..................................................................................................38 2.2.4 CONCLUSION.....................................................................................................40

2.3 LOCAL DYNAMIC..........................................................................................................40 2 . 3 . 1 R U R A L U R BA N M I G R AT I O N & T H E D I G I TA L D I V I D E . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2 2.3.2 CURRENT MODELS OF DEVELOPMENT IN TANZANIA..................................................44 2.3.3 THE PHENOMENON OF TECHNOLOGICAL “LEAPFROGGING”......................................46 2.3.4 CONCLUSION.....................................................................................................48

2.4 RESEARCH FRAMING.....................................................................................................48 2 . 4 . 1 F R A M E S O F R E A L I Z AT I O N , R E F E R E N C E , & M O DA L I T I E S. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 0 2.4.2 RESEARCH QUESTIONS.........................................................................................52 2 . 4 . 3 T H E S I S S T AT E M E N T. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 3

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SECTION 3

SITE & CONTEXT

3.1 GLOBAL CONTAINER....................................................................................................56 3.2

S I T E LO C AT I O N & BAC KG R O U N D. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 8

3.3 VIRTUAL MEETINGS WITH LOCALS..................................................................................62 3.4 REGIONAL SETTLEMENTS & ECONOMIC GROWTH.............................................................64 3.5 RURAL URBAN LINKAGES...............................................................................................68 3 . 6 T H E P R O J E C T ’ S S U B J E C T & C O N S T I T U E N C Y. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 0 3.7 SITE SELECTION...........................................................................................................72 3.8 SITE PHOTOS..............................................................................................................76

SECTION 4

DESIGN PROPOSITION

4.1 THESIS PROPOSAL.......................................................................................................80 4.2 VISION & GOALS........................................................................................................82 4.3 DESIGN FRAMEWORK...................................................................................................83 4 . 3 . 1 F R A M E W O R K S U M M A RY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 4 4.3.2 INTERNET TOWER...............................................................................................86 4 . 3 . 3 C ATA LY T I C F U N C T I O N S. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 8 4 . 3 . 4 P OW E R G E N E R AT I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 0 4 . 3 . 5 WAT E R H A R V E S T I N G. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 2 4 . 3 . 6 T R A N S I T & M A R K E T I N T E G R AT I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 4 4 . 3 . 7 F U T U R E G R O W T H & E X PA N S I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 6 4 . 4 V I S U A L I Z AT I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 0 0 4.5 REGIONAL NETWORK & INTERVENTION.........................................................................116 4 . 6 R E G I O N A L R I P P L E E F F E C T. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 2

SECTION 5

S U M M A RY

5.1 CONCLUSION & CONTRIBUTION...................................................................................126 5 . 2 B I B L I O G R A P H Y. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 8

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Fig 2 from top to bottom: image of women in rural Africa with access to broadband and smart phones, image of 14 rural Tanzania tea plantation, and Collage local protagonists over a data center.

Source Various Authors, 2018

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SECTION 01

PROJEC T BAC KGROU N D

1.1 ABSTRACT 1.2 INTRODUCTION 1.3 RESEARCH BACKGROUND

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1.1 ABSTRACT Information Mothership

The influx of rural migrants to megacities in Africa has produced uneven growth, slum urbanization, and economic inequalities. The digital divide between the urban and rural areas exacerbates this condition and results in a lack of opportunities in rural areas where access to information is limited. Current scenarios of urban growth favor urban migration to cities over rural investment.

This thesis offers an alternative spatial strategy that emphasizes regional ownership and decentralized systems in rural Tanzania. The main premise is that access to information can be a catalyst for all types of upgrades and improvements. Utilizing wi-fi towers and Institutional anchors/centers as catalysts for development in a remote rural area. The centers will provide connectivity, technology, and community services supported by a sustainable/ eco-friendly infrastructure that utilizes the local natural resources.

These informational tools give power to the people to create their own development.

I believe this power starts from access to information and education, to enable efficient use of information. My role as an urban designer is to design those spaces, buildings, the sub-systems (power & water), and direct them to create growth. This will enable self-reliant economic growth, support local entrepreneurship, expand educational opportunities, upgrade agricultural innovation, and trading productivity.

The project is physically based in a regional town center in the Njombe region with satellite centers in surrounding villages. East Africa is unique given there is a culture of technological leapfrogging, a scenario in which communities leverage new technologies to rapidly adapt and evolve. This phenomenon creates an atmosphere suitable for transformative intervention.

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NJOMBE TOWN

20 M MIGRANTS

DAR ES SALAAM

Fig 3 Map on Tanzania showing Njombe region and the coastal sea side of the major cities, urban conglomeration is shown in red.

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1.2 INTRODUCTION Project Background

With the rise of hyper urbanization in Tanzania, Africa, half of the population will be urbanized by 2050. This rapid process will result in gaps in infrastructure and connectivity by diminishing the potential of African ingenuity. Current urban models adopt colonial legacies and create a form of extreme splintered urbanism1, where elite enclaves operate in a manner that serves the few, consumes the most resources, and results in vast neglected slums. Alternative models are influenced by capitalist and imperialist forces, most evident in those using foreign extraction activities in exchange for their expertise in mega-infrastructures and urbanization. To counter these models, this thesis seeks to propose a new urban archetype that is independent of the shortcomings of the mega-city and manifested through self-reliance and investing in information as a public catalyst.

This model engages with three central factors: the environmental, the cultural, and global anchors. The environmental anchor harnesses the local resources and energy patchwork projects in rural areas to provide communities with sufficient energy and digital connection. The cultural anchor enables local entrepreneurship and E-farming by capitalizing on a younger demographic and “leapfrog technologies”2.

The global anchor promotes an anti-colonial paradigm shift for a new premise of digital and ecological thinking. These anchors are grounded in the hinterland-based theories from Neil Brenner, Thierry McGee, and Rem Koolhaas.

They conclude that urban growth will happen in the rural-urban fringe, thus forming a state of blurred lines and a continuum of the urban landscape. Specifically, in the Njombe region of Tanzania, this continuum is manifested through the intersection of urban growth, biodiversity, and rural-urban activities.

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This thesis proposes a connected network between towns and hot spots in the hinterland of Njombe, where people can easily access the natural resources. This connectivity can grow into an empowered “Agropolis,” attracting people from the city.

1 Edgar Pieterse, “How Can We Transcend Slum Urbanism in Africa?” Future Cape Town.

2014.

2 Eliza Strickland, “With “Leapfrog” Technologies, Africa Aims to Skip the Present and Go Straight to the Future” Spectrum.

2019. For example by going straight to mobile money, Africans can skip the step of building expensive infrastructure and be able to pay, get loans and insurance.

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1.3 RESEARCH BACKGROUND What? Why? So What?

I started with my observations from my own city Algiers. Where hyper urbanization produced endless social housing projects as a totalitarian socialist approach that does not reflect the identity of Algiers.

The issue that I have been addressing at the beginning of my thesis research, is the fact that cities are not ready for the urban growth that matches the current urbanization growth. Since more than half the population is projected to be urban by 2050, and most of the growth is projected to be informal, my concern is to be in the path of guiding this growth and build resilient cities for the future.

My first concern was the housing crisis and the right to adequate housing. The housing crisis is not only in the wealthy cities of the developed world, but it is graver in the rapidly urbanizing cities of the developing world, where hundreds of millions of people live in substandard housing.

Alone, one city for one million inhabitants per week with US$10,000 per unit in the best of cases.�

According to Alejandro Aravena.

I wanted to position myself in the investigation of emerging urban growth forms, to foresee the need in the future, and create a design direction and strategy. This strategy would serve as a tool to explore this paradigm shift from failure to success in the urbanization process.

Rapid solutions, such as social housing, provide a reduced form of civilization that lacks identity and social quality, destroying the image of the city and its roots to local heritage, ecology, and social values. The crisis is much larger than just looking into design solutions and visionary theories, affordability and its relation to economic failure and government policies is an intricate issue that directly affects the housing crisis, especially in corrupt countries.

Improving this formal yet informal urban growth was the goal, seeing the loss of architecture/urban identity in my city and other cities is my driver. I asked the question: what civilization will we leave behind? Urban design is much needed in this day and age where “In order to provide an answer for urban growth that will occur from now until 2030, we must be able to build, in developing countries

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Fig 4 Bright hope: children represent the future of the region Source Getty, “Why education in Africa will leave no stone unturned”, 2016, www.telegraph.co.uk ED 252_SPRING 2020

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SECTION 02

A REA OF RESEA RC H

2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4

U R BA N I Z AT I O N I N T H E G LO BA L S O U T H G LO BA L I Z AT I O N A N D P O S T C O LO N I A L L E G AC I E S LOCAL DYNAMIC AND POWER RESEARCH FRAMING

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Fig 5 Background: map of Urbanization in Africa ED 252_SPRING 2020

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SECTION 02.1

URBANIZATION IN TH E GLO BAL S OU T H

2.1.1 2.1.2 2.1.3 2.1.4 2.1.5

G LO BA L U R BA N I Z AT I O N M A P P I N G A F R I C A’ S U R B A N I Z A T I O N O B S E R VAT I O N S F R O M A L G I E R S ( M Y H O M E T O W N ) O B S E R VAT I O N S F R O M A R O U N D T H E W O R L D CONCLUSION

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Fig 6 Mapping of global rapid urban growth and the megacities

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2.1.1 GLOBAL URBANIZATION Introduction The 21st century has been a time of great change, the population has grown and countries have become more and more interconnected, but the greatest change of all has been where people around the world live.

The Urban population has grown to over 4 billion people and this number will continue to expand.

Today it is estimated that about 900 million people live in an informal settlements. By 2030 1in4 people on earth will live in informal settlements. This map is a visualization of the urban population (shown as white dots) moving rapidly to urban areas and megacities (shown as pink circles).

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2.1.2 AFRICA’S URBANIZATION Africa is Urbanizing Now

Now it is Africa’s turn in this transformation, the World Bank believes that Urbanization will be “the single most important transformation that the African continent will undergo this century”, with over half of the population set to live in cities by 2040. This will manifest as 40,000 people moving to cities every day for the next 20 years. The result will be the creation of nine “megacities” of more than 10 million people each, with the largest being Kinshasa (35 million), Lagos (32 million), and Cairo (24 million). This has led me to ask questions: are all the people moving to the city? What will be the urbanization process in the African context?

The main idea here is to envision a framework for Africa’s emerging urban areas that is rooted in its authenticity, cultural, and economic potential. The continent has always endured oppression, which is still alive in colonial legacies, the people never had the change to imagine a reality of their own.

The process of hyper urbanization in Africa will result in gaps in infrastructure and connectivity by diminishing the potential of African ingenuity.

In developing countries, where infrastructure and facilities cannot keep up with the growing population (Fig.8), it is causing major challenges and issues. It is estimated that 1/3 of the urban population in developing countries have limited access to services, these people live in overcrowded slums, which are often situated on illegal or dangerous land.

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As a precedent China has been rapidly urbanizing in the past 30 years, forming several emergent urban conditions. The “desakota” model captures the dimensions of rapid urbanization processes and the intense interaction between urban and rural activities. This symbiosis will probably be repeated with some differences in rapidly urbanizing regions. It is important to mention how people created their own economy and livelihood through the growing enterprises, operated by the people under the governance of the law. So, they entered the industrial sector without being in the city, and this became the most vibrant part of the Chinese economy.

Major City Peri-Urban Desakota Dense Rural Sparse Rural Towns Connections

Fig 7 McGee’s Diagram: Spatial configuration of a hypothetical Asian Country

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Agglomeration Nodes

Under-served Areas Gaps of Connectivity

Fig 8 Mapping of Africa’s Urban growth and informal settlements zones and the under-Served.

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2.1.3 OBSERVATIONS FROM ALGIERS My Home Country

I started my inquiry with my observations in my city, Algiers, on how the hyper urbanization process is being planned based on colonial legacies. Taking a totalitarian socialist approach, the result of this process was endless mass housing projects that do not reflect the identity of Algiers. The urban planning has been still adopting colonial legacies that operate with segregation zoning and neglect of Heritage.

Algiers post-colonial urban planning decisions to put brakes on the rural exodus “Rurbanity” employing decentralization, influenced dwelling form, and the identity of the city. These planning decisions resulted in extensive areas dotted by grim uniform blocks of social housing, with desolate spaces between them surrounding the city in the peripheries. These peripheral housing projects did not stop shantytowns and squatting to occur, on the contrary, it created a boom of informality in the center of the city.

Fig 9 Collage of a social setting in one of La Casbah streets with Socialist social housing block tetris falling on top of it.

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Fig 10 Social housing and colonial legacies in Algiers.

Source: Regnier, Isabelle . Climat de France. 2019.

Algiers. Le Monde, ‘‘Fernand Pouillon et l’Algérie, une histoire gravée dans la pierre’’. One of the Crime filled social housing project designed in the colonial era.

Fig 11 Collage of Algiers Citadel with Obus master plan

by Le Corbusier super imposed over it.

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Fig 12 Collage of Algiers urban forms strata from the bae, showing the three phases of dwelling forms and emphasizing the scale to reflect regional planning decisions.

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2.1.4 OBSERVATIONS FROM AROUND THE WORLD Urbanization in the Global South

Besides the observations of Algiers, I looked at other approaches of hyper-urbanization such as, the totalitarian capitalist approach, the selforganization approach, the extreme human adaptability case, the extreme density case, defying boundaries concept, the incrementalism approach, and the postmodernist take on “identity”.

The totalitarian capitalist approach manifested in the new master plan of relocating Cairo. It is a vision to create a Utopian remote city with a business center and a dreamy suburban oasis, with an identity that can be plugged in anywhere in the world. The self-organization approach as shown in Brazilian Favelas and how communities organize their economy and housing based on their needs, however, their existence stays marginalized. The extreme human adaptability cases as demonstrated in the “Coffin homes” case study in Hong-Kong, where around 200,000 people are estimated to live in ultra-small coffin-like units because of long waits for public housing and sky-rocketing rent costs.

Moreover, the extreme density case such as the case of La Casbah (Medina) in Algiers, where many migrant families live in one courtyard house forced to endure the collapsing Medina while waiting for formal housing. The extreme trajectories such as the concept of defying boundaries, which is an Avant Gard vision of a “Walking City” by Archigram, that proposes a city that not only walks but adapts to endless change defying physical boundaries and governmental regulations.

The nuanced trajectory of Incrementalism, as explored by the concept of “half a good house” designed by Alejandro Aravena, where the agency is given to the people to build their own homes as a solution for the housing crisis and scarcity of means. Finally, I looked at the postmodernist take on identity amid the invasion of modernist social housing, where they explored the concepts of “Vernacular Modernism” and scales of association between the person, the dwelling, and the neighborhood.

NUANCE Post-modernism Scales of Association “Vernacular Modernism”

Social Housing

Refurbishment Lacaton & Vassal

Tactical Alejandro Aravena Incremental-ism / DIY Learning from the informal

Source Author, “Atbat-Afrique Candilis and Woods”.

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Source Zeppelin n°148, “The architecture of pleasure”, Ioana Zacharias Vultur, 2019.

Source Author, “Half a good house by Alejandro Aravena”, 2017.

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Fig 13 Series of images from case studies of urbanization approaches around the world.

EXTREME TRAJECTORIES Extreme Human Adaptability

Extreme Density

‘Coffin homes’ Hong-Kong

La Casbah (Medina)

Defying Boundaries FORMAL

At the Verge of Utopia / Defying Boundaries / Avant Gard Visions Walking City by Archigram

INFORMAL

Source Lam, Benny. “This horrifying image shows a tenant eating food in a narrow flat surrounded by metal walls.” 2017.

Source Author, Multiple families living in one house, 2015.

Source Architecture Studio. Walking City by Archigram, 2015.

DIRECT RESPONSE Totalitarian Socialist

Totalitarian Capitalist

Self Organization (human adaptation)

Imported City / Elitist Case of Algiers, Government Mass housing Micro-Control / Social rupture / deconstruct Case of Cairo social organization

Informal Settlements

Source Çelik, Zeynep. ‘‘New housing on the outskirts of Algiers’’. 1997. Algiers.

Source Wikipedia. “Favela.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 23 Feb. 2020.

Source ACUD, A graphic of the new Egyptian capital shows completed residential districts.

Sub-standard / Marginalized

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2.1.5 CONCLUSION

The lesson is, we must get in front of the emerging growth in Africa, to learn from failures and challenges in the global south and around the world. As Urban designers, we must foresee these opportunities from an urban design point of view. I would like to look at opportunities for development outside the megacities, especially that African cities and towns have not reached their full growth and character if compared with the cities of the global north. It is the time to create propositions taking into consideration the opportunities that Africa has to offer for its people and the world.

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SECTION 02.2

POS T COLO NIAL & GLOBALIZATION

2 . 2 P O S T C O LO N I A L & G LO BA L I Z AT I O N 2.2.1 POLITICAL AND ECONOMICAL TENSIONS 2 . 2 . 2 G L O B A L I N T E R E S T T O WA R D S A F R I C A T O D AY 2.2.3 AFRO-FUTURISM CONCEPT 2.2.4 CONCLUSION

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2.2.1 AFRICA’S URBANIZATION & GLOBAL TENSIONS Modern colonialism & Global influence in Africa’s current development models

Current urban development models in Africa adopt colonial legacies and create a form of extreme splintered urbanism (Edgar Pieterse), where elite enclaves operate in a manner that serves the few, consumes the most resources, and results in vast neglected slums with underprivileged communities (Fig.14). Other global economic models are influenced by capitalist and imperialist forces, most evident in those using foreign extraction activities in exchange for their expertise in mega-

Infrastructures and urbanization, such as the “silk and belt road initiative” shown in Fig.15 Hence, my site is located within this container of the “silk and belt road initiative” in East Africa. Foreign investments in infrastructure projects are creating radical changes in Africa because it is creating accessibility of rural areas, therefore, there is a huge potential for investments in rural and remote areas as an alternative to the city and to lift those regions from poverty.

Fig 14 Collage visualizing Splintered Urbanism (Edgar Pieterse).

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Fig 15 Map of “silk and belt road initiative” representing the global economical and political forces influencing Africa’s Urbanization.

Source C. Inton, Mercator Institute for China studies, 2018.

Specifically, in Tanzania, where a new mega port project and new Railway projects are being constructed. These Railway projects connect the Major cities on the coast, with the hinterland in the west. The goal from these connections is to access coal and mineral mining sites, which are 80% owned by Foreign counties. The trade is an Interest-free loan for infrastructure and technical expertise, in exchange for mining and extraction.

Foreign extraction comes with environmental and community neglect, who are usually noncritical or non-aware of the consequences.

The modern-day “colonialism” that is taking place in Africa’s rapid urbanization process, which is the most important transformation in the 21st century, is the unfair trade is the foreign extraction of natural land with minimal benefit to the community who is enduring the harmful aftermath. The goal is 1- to get in front of these forces, shift this extraction centric psychology as being an inevitable premise (the shift from a colonial mindset to a mindset of alternative thinking). 2- Enable the African nation to imagine and build a future of their own. So, what could be the trade to create a smart future growth?

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2.2.2 GLOBAL INTEREST IN AFRICA TODAY Africa & Globalization

The African continent has always been the least urbanized in the world, the rapid urbanization process that will happen from now till 2050, is one the most significant transformations of the 21st century (World Bank). Global development interest has been directed towards Africa in the past few years, foreseeing the massive economic opportunity of this growth. Some of these massive developments are the new Google submarine cables, Amazon and Microsoft Cloud data centers, and mega ports infrastructures.

For the first time, Investors prepare the ground for Data Centers such as Google and Microsoft.

These investments are launched based on studies and facts that massive economic growth will occur in the next 30 years. Recently, the Volkswagen group and OMA partnered to research and design an innovative mobility project in Rural Africa, realizing the untapped potential of the region. Rem Koolhaas’ special interest in Africa aroused after his research in Lagos, where he looked at rural areas and found that radical change is taking place in Africa, partly triggered by the new railway lines constructed by China. They significantly improved the accessibility of rural areas. Another finding was that African students can very well imagine a future in the countryside, even more so than the city. The population is young and technologically competent, making the African youth one of the most important assets. Pilot broadband and pilot mini-power-grids are all recent innovative solutions to bridge the gap of the scarce physical infrastructure.

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MOBILITY VOLKSWAGEN

Mini-Grid Locations in Tanzania This product is a partnership with World Resources Institute, New Ventures and Tanzania Traditional Energy Development Organization.

Entrepreneurs will be able to identify regional and district level market opportunities for distributed renewables.

Governments on the other hand will be able to identify areas where private finance will play a limited role to better allocate public finance for electricity access.

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Fig 16 Collage of different articles showing the global interest and attention towards Africa in recent years.

Source Various Authors, 2017-2020 37

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2.2.3 AFRO-FUTURISM Africa & Globalization

Afro-futurism is an art-form, practice, and methodology that allows African and black people to see themselves in the future despite a distressing past and present. The Afro-futurism movement is an ideological discussion of African culture and design of space, with futuristic and science fiction Imagery. Exploration and use of science fiction tropes and imagery, through literature, music, film, and pop-culture, to confront the present-day issues facing people of color. It pulls from so many elements it creates an alternate space.

There are numerous ways Afro-futurism’s themes of imagination, liberation, technology, and mysticism reflect on the built world and strive to create alternate environments. An example of this art form is “Shanty Megastructures” by designer Lekan Jeyifo who looks to design, art, and architecture of both the present and future

for inspiration of the spatial and urban design.

This is an artistic vision of Nigerian-born visual artist, New York-based designer Olalekan Jeyifous has imagined what that could mean for the city’s poorest inhabitants. His vertical shantytown towers or Shanty Megastructures as he calls them aim to alert the world to the plight of Lagos’s most deprived citizens.

Another fictitious imagery is the art form shown in “Wakanda” city from the movie Black Panther. The visualization shows the juxtaposition of a technologically advanced future with traditional context and practices, identifying the “Vibranium” as the local natural resource of Africa that has not been exploited by foreign hands.

Lagos tomorrow 2050 Transportation Fig 17 Afro-futurism: African Urban Utopia.

Source: Olalekan, Jeyifous, “Uneven Growth: Tactical Urbanisms for Africa”. Exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in collaboration with NLÉ + ZOOHAUS. 2017.

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Black Panther’s Wakanda Fig 18 Image of Wakanda city as imagined in the movie Black Panther Source: Flatow, Nicole, “The Social Responsibility of Wakanda’s Golden City”. CityLab. 2018

Olalekan Jeyifous “Nigerian mega-shanties”

Futuristic Visual Art Fig 19 Olalekan Jeyifous “Nigerian mega-shanties” Source: Matroos, Jamie. “Check out this Afro-futurist view of Nigerian mega-shanties”. City Press, 2018.

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2.2.4 CONCLUSION

As Urban designers, we must foresee the opportunity of creating urbanism based on soft infrastructures (technology, people, & connectivity) as an alternative to conventional infrastructures. Notably, African nations have the potential to leapfrog their development process to an incredibly advanced future, which is a concept explored through the lens of AfroFuturism. So, how can designers imagine future urbanism within this lens? This project will be grounded in Afro-futurist principles, juxtaposing advanced capabilities and imagery with traditional materials and practices.

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SECTION 02.3

LOCAL DYNAM IC

2.3.1 2.3.2 2.3.3 2.3.4

R U R A L U R BA N M I G R AT I O N & T H E D I G I TA L D I V I D E CURRENT MODELS OF DEVELOPMENT IN TANZANIA THE PHENOMENON OF TECHNOLOGICAL “LEAPFROGGING” CONCLUSION

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2.3.1 RURAL URBAN MIGRATION & THE DIGITAL DIVIDE Local Challenge

African rural areas are distant from almost all kinds of services ranging from health, education, and technology, therefore rural residents will have to travel to urban areas to access adequate services. Rural residents have a problem accessing information as compared to those in urban areas. This is because of a lack of infrastructure in rural areas that contribute to the digital divide. Limitations around Accessing Information in Rural Communities have led to a lack of opportunities for economic prosperity or advancement.

“The digital divide is a phenomenon linked not only to the topic of access to the Internet but also to the one of usage and user benefit. The topic of the digital divide concerns the unequal access to and usage of new technologies. Why is Africa of special interest in this discourse? The UN Human Development Report shows that SubSaharan Africa is the least developed region of the world in terms of life expectancy, school enrollment ratio, income (UNHDR, 2005, p. 222), and undernourishment (UNHDR, 2005, p. 243).

Will pass the six billion mark. Five out of those six billion live in developing countries.” (Fuchs & Horak, p. 100) The influx of rural migrants to megacities in Africa has produced uneven growth, slum urbanization, and economic inequalities. The digital divide between the urban and rural areas exacerbates this condition and results in a lack of opportunities in rural areas where access to information is limited. Current scenarios of urban growth favor urban migration to cities over rural investment.

Africa is the continent most struck by poverty and other global problems. Globalization is based on unequal geography that excludes the larges part of Africa. The issue of global inequality is connected to the topic of the digital divide because technology is one aspect of material wealth and wealth production is more and more based on technology and knowledge. Africa is of particular importance here because it is the most marginalized and excluded region of the world.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has pointed out that communication and the access to communication technologies are just like social security fundamental human rights and that the digital divide is a pressing humanitarian issue: ‘‘Three days from now, the world’s population

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Dar es Salaam The city

Rural region Njombe Fig 20 Collage: Map of Tanzania showing the digital divide between rural and urban areas.

Fig 21 Even a toy phone can do the trick.

Source Mulumbwa, luchen. “Bridging the Digital Divide in Africa�. 2016 43

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2.3.2 CURRENT MODELS OF DEVELOPMENT IN TANZANIA Local Dynamic Current Scenarios of Development Current scenarios of urban growth favor urban migration to cities over rural investment, dominated by foreign and capitalist developments.

Imported Master Planning models 2014:

“Ujamaa” socialist Planned Villages, 1960’s:

Fig 22 Imported Master Planning models

Fig 23 “Ujamaa” socialist Planned Villages

With the rise of master planning need in Africa, foreign planners and construction companies have been assigned the job for their expertise and capabilities. These models usually bring formal and spatial ideologies that do not belong to the local context, it serves the few and creates enclaves of privileged communities.

“Ujamaa” Based on the idea of collective farming and the “villagization” of the countryside. Julius Nyerere, Tanzania’s first president, argued that urbanization, which had been brought about by European colonialism and was economically driven by wage labor, had disrupted the traditional precolonial rural African society. He believed that it was possible for his government to recreate precolonial traditions in Tanzania. The main way to do that, he said, was to move people out of the urban cities like the capital Dar es Salaam and into newly created villages dotting the rural countryside.

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Nyerere tried to throttle it; he viewed cities as dens of decadence that consumed the wealth of the countryside. His government resettled millions of people into planned villages, shifted the capital to Dodoma, then a small town in the hinterlands. People kept coming to Dar anyway. By the 1980s, Tanzania’s economy was failing, and the poverty spawned by Nyerere’s collectivist schemes only hastened the urban influx. Arriving in a city with little planning and limited formal housing, migrants were forced to improvise.

Commercial production models:

Centralized foreign Telecom Companies:

Fig 24 Commercial production models

Fig 25 Centralized foreign Telecom Companies

These centralized systems are usually owned by a foreign company in partnership with the local government, brought about by European colonialism and it is economically driven by wage labor. The benefits barely return to the communities in and around those production sites. These centralized systems depend on costly infrastructures such as dams and irrigation systems, they use the flow of rivers to create water detention areas so they can produce all year long, and they harvest steam from the dam to generate a massive volume of electricity for the factories and production sites.

Costly communication antenna towers such as TLC that provide high-speed Internet and large coverage zones, could take a long time to reach rural areas because of affordability and accessibility issues that rural Africa usually endure. Hence, localized and decentralized structures that are built and owned by communities could be an alternative.

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2.3.3 THE PHENOMENON OF TECHNOLOGICAL “LEAPFROGGING” Local Power

East Africa is unique given there is a culture of technological leapfrogging, a scenario in which communities leverage new technologies to rapidly adapt and evolve. This phenomenon creates an atmosphere suitable for transformative intervention.

Examples of these technological tools that have been creating a new realm of possibilities for living and working in remote areas of Africa are M-Pesa and M-Kopa.

Roaming bank accounts and money-transfer devices. The mobile money service shaped the continent’s most recognized example of technological leapfrogging: launching ordinary Africans without bank accounts right over traditional brick-and-mortar finance into the digital economy.

“Leapfrogging: a strategy used by many developing countries to enable adoption of even the most advanced technological processes despite the lack of existing infrastructure.”

(Barrameda, 2018) M-Pesa: Mobile money is novel; it was barely heard of a decade ago. Yet it has transformed the landscape of financial inclusion in developing and emerging market countries, leapfrogging the provision of formal banking services. The product converted even the most basic cell phones into

Fig 26 Mobile money M-Pesa.

Source Aswani, Nixon.”Maximum Mpesa balance: Facts about Mpesa limit?”. 2018

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Fig 27 Collage of M-Kopa practice in rural Africa.

Source Faris, Stephan.”To The Solar Company Making a Profit on Poor Africans”. Bloomberg Businessweek. 2015

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Fig 28 Series of pictures: M-Pesa & M-Kopa retailers in rural Africa. Source Okuoro, Sara.”Kenyans vexed by M-Pesa outage”.2018.

M-Kopa: Solar startup leapfrogs Africa’s electricity grid. Across East Africa, more than 300,000 households previously without electricity are powering homes and devices with solar panels and using mobile money to pay for it. A Kenyan company, M-Kopa Solar, is providing rent-to-own solar energy products that will help provide cheap solar power to rural homes.

The M-Kopa IV Solar Home System includes a toolkit of a solar panel and other devices. It is a perfect off-the-grid solar system for Africa, where land-based infrastructure is poor and electricity supply is frequently erratic.

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2.3.4 CONCLUSION

This research is very insightful and left me with high hopes thinking about the role of urban design to create urbanism without physical infrastructure, but rather think of people as infrastructures.

The questions that surfaced are: What are the technological tools that will allow the community to “leap” over the dominant commercial production of the region and gradually decolonize the village structures, by allowing the community to decide their own future?

I came to the conclusion that the integration of a framework that provides access to information and sustainable power allows the community to “leap” over the dominant commercial production of the region and gradually decolonize the village structures, by allowing the community to decide their own future.

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SECTION 02.4

RES EARCH FRAM ING

2 . 4 . 1 F R A M E S O F R E A L I Z AT I O N , R E F E R E N C E , & M O DA L I T I E S 2.4.2 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 2 . 4 . 3 T H E S I S S TAT E M E N T

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2.4.1 FRAMES OF REALIZATION, REFERENCE, & MODALITIES Research Framing

To counter the current models of foreign development, this thesis seeks to propose a new urban archetype that is independent of the shortcomings of the mega-city and manifested through self-reliance and investing in information as a public catalyst.

This model engages with three central factors: the environmental, the cultural, and global anchors. The environmental anchor harnesses the local resources and energy patchwork projects in rural areas to provide communities with sufficient energy and digital connection. The cultural anchor enables local entrepreneurship and E-farming by capitalizing on a younger Demographic and “leapfrog technologies�2.

The global anchor promotes an anti-colonial paradigm shift for a new premise of digital and ecological thinking.

These anchors are grounded in the hinterlandbased theories from Neil Brenner, Thierry McGee, and Rem Koolhaas. They conclude that urban growth will happen in the rural-urban fringe, thus forming a state of blurred lines and a continuum of the urban landscape. Specifically, in the Njombe region of Tanzania, this continuum is manifested through the intersection of urban growth, biodiversity, and rural-urban activities.

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Global Anti-Colonial Shift

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[

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NC

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Rural

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Urban

[THEORIES]

Local Culture African Ingenuity Local resources

[Y] FRAME OF MODALITIES [REALISM VS SPECULATION]

Fig 29 Frames of Research Diagram

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2.4.2 RESEARCH QUESTIONS Main Research Inquiry

I started forming the questions of this thesis Based on - The investigation of Africa’s urbanization and development patterns. - The facts and theories around the potential of rural areas and local African ingenuity. - The unique culture of technological leapfrogging to “leap” over the limitations of physical infrastructure as a phenomenon suitable for transformative intervention. The questions aim to narrow down the site investigation and think about the design proposals.

The Initial research questions seek to answer:

how can Africa escape the looping new wave of global exploitation by re-inscribing its authentic self in the digital age? And how can designers imagine an Afrofuturistic, self-sufficient model of emergent African urbanism in the hinterlands as the country transforms under a process of hyper-Urbanization?

The goal is to avoid the top-down imported master planning ideals, reliance on costly mega infrastructure, forced villagization, centralized capitalist production & ownership systems. This has led to a more specific question of: how can

designers create a framework that is based on decentralized systems, regional local ownership, and provide equal access to information and digital advancement that can empower local communities and give them tools of self-reliance to create their own future?

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2.4.3 THESIS STATEMENT Research Framing

The antidote to the “megacity urbanization” and its consequences of infrastructural gaps and unequal opportunities, is to invest in community development in the countryside where local ingenuity and resources are rich and present.

My position stands with creating urbanism based on soft infrastructures (connectivity, information, & social dynamics) as an alternative to conventional physical infrastructures. Notably, African nations have the potential to leapfrog their development process to an incredibly advanced future.

The project will be grounded in the idea of autonomy and radical departure from existing systems, rejecting the approach of contextualism and incrementalism. Although it will be highly informed about the context and existing precedents, it focuses on detachment and selfsupport. It resonates with the philosophy of radical thinkers of African nationalism and decolonial thought.

My approach is to create alternative spatial strategies that emphasize regional ownership and decentralized systems over centralized capitalist practices. The aim is to propose decentralized catalysts of information and technology accessed by the public, regionally owned, and adopt regenerative sustainable systems, to allow for all types of upgrades and improvements. The Informational tools will give agency to people and enable self-reliant economic growth, to “leap” over the dominant commercial production and decolonize rural Tanzania.

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Fig300.0 Collage Fig Collage of Njombe town site photos Source Maps, 2020. GoogleMaps.com SourceGoogle Various sources ED 252_SPRING 2020

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SECTION 03

SI TE & C ONTEXT

3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8

GLOBAL CONTAINER S I T E LO C AT I O N & BAC KG R O U N D VIRTUAL MEETINGS WITH LOCALS REGIONAL SETTLEMENTS & ECONOMIC GROWTH RURAL URBAN LINKAGES THE PROJECT’S SUBJECT & CONSTITUENCY SITE SELECTION SITE PHOTOS

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3.1 GLOBAL CONTAINER

Tanzania within the “Silk and Belt Road Initiative”

In my site investigation, I looked at global infrastructure projects that are creating radical changes in Africa and creating accessibility to rural areas, therefore, there is a huge potential for investments in rural and remote areas as an alternative to the city and to lift those regions from poverty. Hence, my site is located within the Container of the “silk and belt road initiative” in East Africa, for its foreseen future developments and growth. These models are influenced by capitalist and imperialist forces, using extraction activities in exchange for their expertise in mega-infrastructures and urbanization.

Specifically in Tanzania, where a new mega port project and new Railway projects are being constructed. These Railway projects connect the Major cities on the coast, with the hinterland in the west. The goal from these connections is to access coal and mineral mining sites, which are 80% owned by Foreign counties. The trade is an Interest-free loan for infrastructure and technical expertise, in exchange for mining and extraction.

Foreign extraction comes with environmental and community neglect, who are usually noncritical or non-Aware.

An inner region called Njombe, famous for tea plantation, was long neglected until the recent discovery of coal and minerals. This has led to the construction of a new railway, now under construction, connecting the city port Mtwara with the hinterland in the west at lake Malawi port, going through these mining sites in the Njombe region.

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TANZANIA

TANZANIA NJOMBE REGION

DAR ES SALAAM

MTWARA

Fig 31 Maps of Njombe region location.

Sources C. Inton, Mercator Institute for China studies, 2018. & Google Maps, 2020. GoogleMaps.com 57

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3.2 SITE LOCATION & BACKGROUND Data Collection & Site Analysis

Njombe Town in the southern highland offers unique advantages to investors in many ways. It connects all directions of the Southern highland zone of Tanzania (Fig 33) and beyond the national border. Apart from the well-developed transport infrastructural facilities by road; there is also an airstrip, which offers potentials for air transportation. The Town comparative advantages are enhanced by the conducive weather and soil types suitable for tropical and temperature crops as well as livestock.

Njombe Town is also endowed with rivers and springs which are potential for not only domestic and industrial water sources but also for fishing, irrigation as well as mini-hydro-power generation.

Njombe is situated in western Tanzania, a town with a population of 130,000 surrounded by villages and plantation enterprises linked to the town. Njombe region is situated

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Within the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT), The objective of the (SAGCOT) Investment Project is to increase the adoption of new technologies and marketing practices by smallholder farmers through expanding and creating partnerships between smallholder farmers and agribusinesses in the Southern Corridor of Tanzania.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Njombe is known for its tea plantation activities since the British empire (Fig 32), which made the region central to the highway roads connecting the hinterland with the port. Njombe is one of the historical towns in Tanzania where Germany artifacts can be found. The name “Njombe” originated from Mdanda village previously called “Mdzombe” by the indigenous community.

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Fig 32 The Wattle Factory in Njombe, Southern Highlands, in the 1950’s. Source Delap, Joyce. 2016.

Njombe Town was declared a Town Council on 1st July 2007 through the Government Notice numbers 118 and 119, the local government instrument, 2007 as a result of the division of Njombe District Council into two. The Town is the headquarters for the Njombe District Council and Njombe Region. Due to its central location and administrative functions, the town functions as a central place by providing commercial, economic, and social services to the surrounding centers, namely Uwemba, Kifanya, Matola, Luponde, Lwungilo, and Lupembe.

Fig 33 Series of location maps from the African continent on the left side, then zooming into Tanzania and SAGOT corridor, then Njombe region on the right.

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3.2 SITE LOCATION & BACKGROUND Data Collection & Site Analysis

Njombe Region is one of the 31 administrative regions of Tanzania. It was established in March 2012, from the Iringa Region as an independent region. The region’s capital is Njombe town. The newly established Njombe region is an upcoming tourism attractive area, ideal for domestic and international visits in the southern highlands of Tanzania. The region’s total population is 702,097.

The region has several towns scattered along main roads on top of hills, and agriculture lands in the lower elevation in the water catchment areas by the riverbanks.

The geographical size of Njombe Town is by far the biggest urban center in terms of spatial size in Tanzania. With a population density of 40 persons per square kilometers, most of the Town, especially in the peri-urban areas is still undeveloped. The undeveloped land in periurban areas offers potential for planning new neighborhoods and satellite towns. The Town has potentially arable land for agriculture activities including both food and cash crops. There also exist various tourist attractions including religious sites.

WindFram Miombo Hewani

Makambako

Ilembula

Kipengere Mpanga Game Reserve

NJOMBE REGION

Mtwango

Kitulo Plateau National Park

Rural Njombe

Mdandu

Kipengere

Lupembe

Njombe

Ukwama Idunda

MALAWI

Mlangali

Fig 34 Njombe region showing the town and the villages of the region. Source: Google Maps, 2020.

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Njombe Town

Fig 35 Njombe Town. Source: Google Maps, 2020.

Fig 36 The region has several towns scattered along main roads on top of hills, and agriculture lands in the lower elevation in the water catchment areas by the riverbanks. Source: Google Studio, 2020.

Fig 37 Water Catchment Areas. Source: Google Maps, 2020.

Fig 38 Major Tea Plantation Lands. Source: Google Maps, 2020.

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3.3 VIRTUAL MEETINGS WITH LOCALS Site Analysis & Data collection

I was lucky to be able to contact local residents of the Njombe region, who really devoted their time and energy to introduce me to their culture and share with me some unique insights from their hometowns.

Zoom Call

Travel bans caused by Covis-19 restricted me from traveling to the site, however, in every challenge we must rise to the challenge and do the best we can. I contacted some professors at Ardhi University in Dar Es Salaam, who referred me to three students and researchers from the Njombe region: Jackson Daud Tweve, Faraji Nyidike, and Emmanuel Njavike.

The discussions were very important to understand the existing conditions of the site and confirm some assumptions made about the site.

Jackson xx Fig 39 Images of Zoom calls with Jackson Daud Tweve, Faraji Nyidike, and Emmanuel Njavike from Njombe.

Zoom Call

Emmanuel Njavike

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Zoom Call

Faraji Nyidike

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3.4 REGIONAL SETTLEMENTS & ECONOMIC GROWTH Site Analysis & Data collection

Njombe Town is a key engine of social and economic development for the Njombe Region. The Town has an area of 3,212 square kilometers, with 12 percent of the area being urban and 88 percent rural. The Town has a total of 13 wards and 45 villages. According to the 2012 population census the Town had a total of 130,223 people with an annual growth of 0.8 per annum. The average GDP of Council residents is TZS 753,102 per year. The Town is the regional capital of the Njombe Region as well as the district headquarters of the Njombe Rural District.

The town is the center of non-farm activities such as trading and services, while the villages produce raw materials such as timber, and tea, establishing the areas as the food basket of the country. The area’s food production and highway connections are advantageous facets that benefit large commercial companies. Part of the site analysis was to map and analyze the types of settlements (Fig 41) in the region and how different urban conglomerations organize themselves around transportation infrastructures, local farming lands, and around Commercial factories.

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Luponde

Nj o

mbe

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Fig 40 Map of Njombe region.

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Fig 41 Map of Njombe region highlighting village settlements.

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3.4 REGIONAL SETTLEMENTS & ECONOMIC GROWTH Site Analysis & Data collection

Faraji Nyidike, Njombe Native, could tell right away that Njombe has all the opportunities for young people to advance economically compared to other regions. Main economic drivers: The timber business has become the traditional business because of the abundance of trees in the region. Forest owners who plant and harvest the trees, business owners who are in the production of timber and limbering the trees, and transportation from Njombe to Dar es Salaam, This chain of activities brings a lot of revenue and income to the community. Those lands being located within the main road that connects to Dar es Salaam played a huge role in this business.

Wattle business: to extract this material that smoothen leather and animal skins. The Tandanika Wattle factory used to use tons and tons of trees.

The wood was also used as a power source to generate steam from the water dams to produce electricity, they had so much excess of electricity to the point they could supply the whole town in 2002.

Agriculture: Tea plantation and production is a huge industry since the 1950s and the colonial era. The main reason why the region is connected with a reliable road system to the port and Dar es Salaam.

Non-farm activities such as services, sales, and transportation brought migration from inner rural regions.

The government declared some areas to be the “food basket of the country�, hence, many investors were attracted to those areas.

This region is evolving better than other regions where mining activities are dominant and benefit mostly from the major owners. Community development is a very small fraction of that benefit.

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Ilunda Mufi

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Iri n

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Mtwango

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Lole Village

Mdandu

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Lupembe

Kipengere

Settlement

Njombe

Njo m e b

New Center

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Fig 42 Map of Njombe region highlighting village settlements.

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3.5 RURAL URBAN LINKAGES Site Analysis & Data collection

The analysis of existing conditions shows that Njombe Town depicts both urban and rural characteristics. The area with urban characteristics covers only 12 percent and the rural area is about 88 percent of the total area and a total of 45 villages. The Rural-Urban continuum in the Njombe region is manifested through the intersection of urban growth, biodiversity, and rural-urban activities.

e

mb e

ket

Ma

Deep Rural

Njo

Njombe town, of 130,000 population, surrounded by villages, of 86,000 population, and plantation enterprises linked to the town.

The town is the center of non-farm activities such as trading and services, while the villages produce raw materials such as timber, and tea, establishing the areas as the food basket of the country. The area’s food production and highway connections are advantageous facets that benefit large commercial companies. The flow of goods and people have helped lift the region out of poverty in the past few years but there is still untapped potential.

Sectoral Flow Crop & Livestock

Rural

e

Agriculture Trade Migration

Urban Fringe

The potatoes

Towns (Njombe Town) Cities (Dar es Salaam)

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Conclusion: ‘Rural-Urban Continuum’ View publication stats

The potatoes

Mufi

Mtwango • Spatial (distance/time of travel)

Iri n

ga

Temporal (history/stage of development) The dynamic nature (in constant flux) Diverse market opportunities (‘beyond boom and bust’) Diversified livelihoods across sectors Socio-economic mobility- for the majority

o

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T6

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Lole Village Multi-dimensional:

Mdandu

Dias 5

Miombo

Matembwe Lupembe Kipengere

The potatoes

es

Njo m e b

Njombe Town

ke

Ma

T6

Luponde

Nj o

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Lud

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Urban to rural investments (external investors)

•

”Urbanizing” investments Improved communication (mobile phones, transport) Diversification of household activities Labour mobility Education

So

Intensified Rural-Urban Connections

Lud

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Fig 43 Collage of rural-urban activitieswa in Njombe region. Source: Google maps, 2020

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3.6 THE PROJECT’S SUBJECT & CONSTITUENCY The Protagonists

The protagonists of this subject are the key drivers of this research, they could be summarized into a few categories in light of the local, regional, and global systems explained in this book.

Fig 44 Collage of the project Protagonists Source: Various sources, 2018-2020

The migrant workers: Omari Like million others, moving from inner cities to work with minimum wage in the edge of the city, physically and metaphorically. The majority of migrants are in search of commercial jobs, and if it is not available, they create informal jobs which are 85% of total employment. Therefore, without collecting enough taxes, the city cannot finance infrastructure.

The young entrepreneur: Nono is a technology and innovation enthusiast, with a passion to transform Africa into a food hub that feeds the world. She has an e-framing company that links innovative youth with smallholding farmers. Nono represents youth who create their own urban reality, who is not bound by the city and knows the power of the network, Internet, technology, and mobility.

The farmer: Who must be protected from commercial farming and land grabbing, which forces farmers out of their lands under the grip of the capitalist production system. A system that serves the few and neglects the workers who end up migrating to the slums.

The Migrant Worker (Omari)

The landowner: Territory owners who are selling the land for commercial farming and developers, in exchange for quick money gain, leaving behind a chain of workers who depend on this land.

The Pasture: Who occupies major rural estates in Njombe and depend on the natural land for grazing.

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The Young Entrepreneur (Nono)

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3.7 SITE SELECTION Site Analysis & Data collection

In Njombe, the existing central market and transportation center are at full capacity, and the town is looking for a secondary location, making it a potential site for this intervention.

Fig 46 shows the current market and transportation location that is now at full capacity. It also shows the alternative location where I am proposing to land this intervention.

Transportation zones are key zones for villages, town communities, and city dwellers to meet and practice different types of exchanges and activities such as trading, retail activities, farmers’ markets, and so on.

Fig 45 Series of images of the current transportation and market center in Njombe Town Source: GoogleMaps. 2020.

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Fig 46 Map illustrating the proposed site of intervention.

Fig 47 Collage: images of the current transportation and market center in Njombe Town Source: GoogleMaps. 2020.

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3.7 SITE SELECTION Site Analysis & Data collection

The assumption is, the project will be sponsored by a local NGO, “SHIPO”, an international NGO, the Shule School, and the Agriculture Institute in Dar es Salaam, all of which are existing organizations. It is important that the project is not a commercial enterprise but created to serve the community.

SHULE SCHOOL

SHULE SCHOOL/TOWN LAND: This land maybe is part of the Shule school plot or could belong to the town, at the moment it is not developed. It is a potential site for Education and Library facilities in collaboration with the school.

SHIPO LOCAL NGO: Specializing in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, Micro-finance, Agriculture and Irrigation, training for local entrepreneurs, low-cost technology, increase awareness, sustainable supplies. More than 12 years of experience working in rural communities.

KEY PLAYERS: FUNDING: • International NGO • The Government of Tanzania PARTNERSHIPS: • Local NGO, SHIPO • Local School, Shule Ya Viziwi • Agriculture & Entrepreneurship Institute or university from Dar • Large Commercial half foreign tree plantation and production like TANWATT & SAOHILL that produce tons of wood waste.

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Fig 48 Collage: series of site photos with the site map.

Source: GoogleMaps. 2020.

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UNPLANNED SETTLEMENT

MAIN RIVER

WATER CATCHMENT/WETLANDS INFORMAL USE This land belongs to the town and part of the airport land. It is not functional and people use it informally for car washing and other activities.

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3.8 SITE PHOTOS Site Analysis & Data collection

Fig 49 Site Pictures taken and sent by Frank Ndambo, Felick Gerald, and Jackson daud tweve in June 2020

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Fig 50 Sketch: education & campus facility ED 252_SPRING 2020

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SECTION 04

D ESI GN PROPOSA L

4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7

THESIS PROPOSAL VISION & GOALS DESIGN FRAMEWORK V I S U A L I Z AT I O N REGIONAL NETWORK REGIONAL INTERVENTION REGIONAL RIPPLE EFFECT

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4.1 THESIS PROPOSAL Design Proposal Current Scenarios of Development

Fig 51 Imported Master Planning models.

Fig 53 “Ujamaa� socialist Planned Villages.

Source Author, year

Thesis Proposal Current scenarios of urban growth favor urban migration to cities over rural investment, dominated by foreign and capitalist developments. This thesis offers an alternative spatial strategy that emphasizes regional ownership and decentralized systems. The main premise is that access to information can be a catalyst for all types of upgrades and improvements. It utilizes wi-fi towers and Institutional anchors/centers as catalysts for development in rural Tanzania.

Fig 52 Regionally owned decentralized Wifi structures. Source Author, year ED 252_SPRING 2020

Fig 54 Institutional/Community Anchors with access to information and technology.

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Fig 55 Commercial production models.

Fig 57 Centralized foreign Telecom.

DAR ES SALAAM

NJOMBE TOWN 20 M MIGRANTS

Fig 56 Mitigate the Digital Divide and empower the community. Source Author, year

Fig 58 Create a regional network of collaboration.

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4.2 VISION & GOALS Design Proposal

The Informational tools give power to people to create their own development. This power starts from access to information and education, to enable efficient use of information. The centers will provide connectivity, technology, and community services supported by a sustainable/ eco-friendly infrastructure that utilizes the local natural resources. My role as an urban designer is to provide those spaces, the subsystems (power & water), and direct them to create growth. This will enable self-reliant economic growth, support local entrepreneurship, expand educational opportunities, upgrade agricultural innovation, and trading productivity.

The community-based technology will allow people and institutions in the Njombe region to connect with each other. The project is grounded in Afro-futurist principles, juxtaposing advanced capabilities with traditional practices. The project is grounded in Afro-futurist principles, juxtaposing advanced capabilities and imagery with traditional materials and practices. This project will serve as a prototype for similar projects in other remote locations in Africa.

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SECTION 04.3

D ESI GN FRA MEWORK

4.3.1 4.3.2 4.3.3 4.3.4 4.3.5 4.3.6 4.3.7

S U M M A RY INTERNET TOWER C ATA LY T I C F U N C T I O N S P OW E R G E N E R AT I O N WAT E R H A R V E S T I N G T R A N S I T & M A R K E T I N T E G R AT I O N F U T U R E G R O W T H & E X PA N S I O N

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4.3.1 FRAMEWORK SUMMARY Design Framework

Internet Circle

Fig 59 Community Owned Internet

Local transit information mapping

Education & Training

Tech & Data Center

FRAMEWORK SUMMARY

Community Health clinic: TeleMedicine

Autonomous Agriculture systems

Fig 60 Information Anchors

Solar panels/Main Shed

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Rainfall 100 in/yr

Low elevation area

Public Garden

High area water harvest

Fig 62 Water Harvesting

Transportation zone

Street Market

Central Market

Fig 63 Trading & Transpor tation Blocks Expansion

Transportation Sheds

Buildings Expansion Central Buildings

Existing Buildings

Fig 64 Community Growth & Expansion

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4.3.2 INTERNET TOWER Design Framework

Landing on the site, he Wi-Fi tower and institutional center becomes the anchor for a new market and transit area, pulling its figural form from the cosmic radial beams of Afrofuturism and connectivity radiation, where the center becomes the mothership and allows for community growth, while respecting the local topography. A tower, which will be 30 meters tall, will provide a mesh-network that is supported by solar power. This is a low-cost, lowenergy system that will be built by the locals, pioneered in South Africa, where they named it “do it yourself� challenging the limitations of accessibility and affordability. This system is the counter part of central telecom towers that only large commercial companies can build and own.

The Informational tools give power to the people to create their own development. This power starts from access to information and education, to enable efficient use of information. The community-based technology will allow people and institutions in the Njombe region to connect with each other. The project is grounded in Afro-futurist principles, juxtaposing advanced capabilities with traditional practices.

Internet Circle

Fig 65 Aerial diagram showing the Internet tower and the Internet zone.

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Vs Mesh Network

Mesh Node

Solar Powered

Telecom Tower

“Do It Yourself�

Fig 66 Series of images showing the mesh network system case study in South Africa.

Wireless mesh networks are useful in developing countries without a widespread wired infrastructure, such as telephone service or even electricity. Solar-powered nodes can be connected to one cellular or satellite Internet connection, which could keep a whole village Online. Isolated Locations, Rugged Terrain Even in developed countries, there are rugged locations too far off the grid for traditional highspeed Internet service providers. Wireless mesh networks are being considered for these areas.

A series of nodes would be mounted from the nearest available wired access point out to the hard-to-reach area.

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4.3.3 CATALYTIC FUNCTIONS Design Framework

While the area within the connectivity zone will inevitably become more expensive, key zones will be occupied by community based non-commercial functions and entities. Fig.67 Diagram illustrates these provisions include the main power generation, integrated tech center and digital library, data center, computer facilities, community health clinic, educational and training facilities, market/trading & transit information center. These functions formalizing into masses around the tower forming a plaza or a town center, the architecture of the masses is defined as flexible sheds with wood structure that can morph and evolve in the future.

Local transit information mapping , connections for efficient trading, e-farming, access to digital markets, and many others.

The centers will provide connectivity, technology, and community services supported by a sustainable/eco-friendly infrastructure that utilizes the local natural resources. My role as an urban designer is to provide those spaces, the sub-systems and direct them to create growth. This will enable self-reliant economic growth, support local entrepreneurship, expand educational opportunities, upgrade agricultural innovation, and trading productivity.

The combination of the server technology, connectivity, and the community functions will allow multiple transformative processes such as Telemedicine (remote doctors), Online education,

Local transit information mapping

Education & Training

Tech & Data Center

Community Health clinic: TeleMedicine Autonomous Agriculture systems

Fig 67 Aerial diagram showing the “Mothership� main anchor buildings and its functions.

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Fig 68 Remote doctors Source Author, year

Fig 69 Collage of informal buses and local transit information mapping. Source Author, year

Fig.70 Illustrating the integration of the main Mothership functions with proposed transit new location, the market and trading emerging center, potential interface with local Shule school and SHIPO NGO, and the potential for farming prototype by the lowlands and water catchment

Areas where local farmers reside in an unplanned manner. The program bar stating the different sub-functions that can be affiliated with the main functions, such as digital billboards, seed banks, and shared community platform.

Fig 70 Program diagram.

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4.3.4 POWER GENERATION Design Framework

Supporting sustainable system: Since water and electricity are not reliable services in African rural areas, these central infrastructural elements are supported by regenerative energy systems that use solar, and water harvesting to provide power and resources to the communities. The Mothership will provide the main anchors supported by this sustainable/ eco-friendly infrastructure that utilizes the local natural resources. My role as an urban designer is to design the sub-systems being the power generation and water harvesting and direct those systems to create growth. This will enable self-reliant and sustainable growth.

Solar: The solar panels on the roofs of the main buildings will provide power to the mesh network and the central functions. The panels can be

Incrementally integrated with the emergent street market, covering an area of approximately 12,000 m2, and generating enough power for current and future phases of the development.

The total power generated could reach 3,600,000 KWh/year given that local PVC panels generate 300 kWh/sm per year, which is the power required for 72,000m2 of building space on an annual basis.

A large shading structure will cover the main functions as a double roof, it is commonly used in this region for passive cooling. It will support the solar panels and create semipublic spaces.

Solar panels/Main Shed

Fig 71 Aerial diagram showing solar panels on the roofs of the “Mothership�

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Fig 72 Massing showing the solar panels on the roofs of the anchor buildings.

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4.3.5 WATER HARVESTING Design Framework

Water: The water collection system requires a sustainable prototype for development and growth. The main collection area is the highest zone of the plaza with the main reservoir integrated into the tower. The catchment areas are in the lowest elevation, integrated with open green spaces with the Internet for public use.

This water is collected and cooled by the wind to provide passive cooling for the servers and the return hot water can be recirculated for use, creating a close loop that supports various functions. Growth will happen over time as local people will build and develop in response to their needs, extended services of water and power along the streets can facilitate the growth.

The water collection system is needed for servers cooling since they produce massive heat. With the regional rainfall of 100cm/yr, the system could collect around 500,000 gallons/month from mainly the shading structures of the central buildings and plaza, creating green social areas.

The tower is located on the highest point, it is a symbol of transformation, a landmark, and an armature for the Internet tower, with an integrated elevated reservoir where water can be collected and pumped to various functions with a gravity-fed system. Inspired by the indigenous design of cooling towers, the tower uses passive cooling practice to cool the water in the reservoir and the other spaces.

Fig 73 Sketched by Instructor Stefan Pellegrini: Hot and cold water closed loop circulation diagram.

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Rainfall 100 in/yr

Low elevation area

Public Garden

High area water harvest

Fig 74 Aerial diagram showing water harvesting strategy.

Air Cooling

Antena

Water harvesting Double Roof Solar Power Server Digital library Education Education

Fig 75 The Tower section with multiple functions being a water reservoir, a passive cooling tower, and an urban landmark.

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4.3.6 TRANSIT & MARKET INTEGRATION Design Framework

I am proposing using the Mothership as the anchors for a new market/trading and transit area of Njombe. I have not planned or designed the whole area since it will grow over time as local people will build and develop in response to their needs.

The transit, located at the entry to the center, connects the villages and city. Along this spine is the market and plaza, which are delineated for future development. The market will be defined by armatures that provide power sources for traders to plug into and appropriate the space for their needs. This structure can support the solar panels that allow for future expansion.

The section shows the market and transit system where solar panels shading is creating an enclosure for flexible market stands, backed by parking/transit modules shaded and protected from sand inspired by Francis Kere designs and vernacular environmental practices. Local enterprise could potentially be built above the transit structure in future growth.

Street Market Street Market

Tr

Fig 76 Market street and transportation zone section .

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Transportation zone

Street Market

Central Market

Fig 77 Aerial diagram showing the integration of the transportation zone, the street market and the central market place.

ransportation Transportation Shed Shed

Transportation Transportation Shed Shed

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4.3.7 FUTURE GROWTH & EXPANSION Design Framework

Fig 78 Aerial diagram showing the potential for future expansion and growth with streets and services

Buildings Expansion Central Buildings

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The final development phase allows for future blocks and buildings expansion. The center and supporting infrastructure systems provide the framework for the community to organically grow over time.

The pieces of this framework come together to provide a central infrastructure that defines the area for the new center and allows for organic growth.

Blocks Expansion

Transportation Sheds

Existing Buildings

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4.3.7 FUTURE GROWTH & EXPANSION Design Framework

SHEDS The main built framework in the mothership is based on a technologically refined timber that allows for large spans for flexibility, expansion, and collaborative uses. Using local materials and techniques for passive cooling and water collection.

Modular, Flexible, Double roof

The combination of Tech and lumbering/ woodwork will allow for a flexible built framework as a shell that would allow shared collaboration spaces and transformation of uses from the classroom, computer rooms, workshops, trading, and so on. Market functions can emerge in the future and extend from these existing structures and possibly extend into inner spaces.

Fig 79 Diagrams illustrating the shed structure.

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Computer Classrooms

Fig 80 Sketch drawing of the classroom.

Flexibility of Use

Fig 81 Diagram illustrating flexibility of uses.

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Fig 82 Njombe town Source Google Earth Studio. 2020 ED 252_SPRING 2020

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SECTION 04.4

V I SU A LI ZATI ON

THE THE THE THE

PLAZA MARKET T R A N S P O R TAT I O N INTERNET GARDEN

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The tower

Expanding Street Market

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Fig 83 Visualization & Experience: The proposed plaza surrounded by the anchor buildings of the “Mothership� and the market place. The tower is both functional and aesthetic, becoming a symbol of transformation and a landmark in the village. During the day, it is the anchor of the main plaza and the meeting point for villagers and traders from the city.

Main Anchors

Market Armature

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The Beacon

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Fig 84 Visualization & Experience: The proposed plaza at night with the tower illuminated becoming a central beacon, inviting the community to gather in the plaza.

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Market Armature

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Fig 85 Visualization & Experience: The market will be defined by armatures that provide power sources for traders to plug into and appropriate the space for their needs. This structure can support the solar panels that allow for future expansion.

Future Solar

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Fig 86 Visualization & Experience: The transportation/transit area. The data server provides a platform for informal local public bus lines, to connect and provide efficient transportation and trading. A digital billboard is proposed to display mapping information of daily transportation.

Local buses

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Timber Shed

Digital Billboard Bus Mapping

Gathering Point

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Water Catchment

Fig 87 Visualization & Experience: An Internet garden is proposed around the mothership at the lower elevation of the water catchment area where connectivity is a public asset.

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Internet Garden

Sing it!

Going Viral on TIKTOK

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Information Anchor

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Future expansion

Arrival, Transportation

Market, Exchange & meeting

Fig 88 Aerial View: The pieces of this framework come together to provide a central infrastructure that defines the area for the new center and allows for organic growth.

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Lupembe Village

Arrival, Transportation

Fig 89 Assembled section of the regional network between the villages of Njombe region.

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Njombe Town

Information Anchor

THE MOTHERSHIP

Fig 90 The through the central plaza showing the tower and the main anchors around it.

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4.5 REGIONAL NETWORK & INTERVENTION The Town & The Villages

Establishing an information mothership in the village centers, creates a mesh connectivity for regional collaboration and production, thus enabling a social ripple effect that stems out from each village center. Each of the village centers utilizes the same DNA of the mothership, providing reliable power, spaces of cyber connectivity, and workshops for raw material refinement (Fig 91).

Over time, the possibilities grow to borrow machines from the center or even meet in collaboration spaces with locals from other villages, in order to cater for the larger market demands. The ripple effect of community activities with access to information and the Internet can lead to innovation and regional growth.

Fig 91 Program digram: the DNA of the “Mothership� used in other villages in the region creating a regional network.

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The integration of a framework that provides access to information and sustainable power allows the community to “leap� over the dominant commercial production of the region and gradually decolonize the village structures, by allowing the community to decide their own future.

Fig 92 Map of the regional network between the villages of Njombe region.

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4.5 REGIONAL NETWORK & INTERVENTION The Town & The Villages

Workshop / Lumbering

Cyber / Computers / Education

Loadin

g

Storage / Timber

Fig 93 Diagram of the timber logistics incubator in the village.

Lupembe Village

Arrival, Transportation

Fig 94 Assembled section of the regional network between the villages of Njombe region.

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For example, a rippled scenario can play out in Lupembe village famous for timber plantation.

Starting with local timber farmers, who usually sell unrefined timber through the middleman or to a commercial factory. A proposed logistics incubator (Fig. 93) can enable him to refine the timber planks so he can sell them with higher value, while cyber elements will allow the farmer to collaborate with other villages and resources to access a larger market.

Fig 95 Lupembe Village. Source GoogleMaps. 2020

Njombe Town

Information Anchor

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Village Tower

Cyber Unit

The Village: Timber Logistics ED 252_SPRING 2020

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Workshop

Fig 96 Visualization & Experience: of Lupembe village and the space of the incubator for local refined timber production.

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4.6 REGIONAL RIPPLE EFFECT The Town & The Villages Tower Plaza

The Village Timber Logistics

Lupembe Village

Fig 97 A Collage visualizing The integration of a framework that provides access to information and sustainable power allows the community to “leap� over the dominant commercial production of the region and gradually decolonize the village structures, by allowing the community to decide their own future.

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Arrival & Transportation

Transportation

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The Market

Njombe Town

Information Anc hor

Internet Garden

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Fig 98 Background of the market place visualization.

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SECTION 05

SU MMA RY

5.1 CONCLUSION & CONTRIBUTION 5.2 BIBLIOGRAPHY

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5.1 CONCLUSION & CONTRIBUTION Research Topic Position within the field of Urban & Environmental Design

The African continent has always been the least urbanized in the world, the rapid urbanization process that will happen from now till 2050, is one the most significant transformations of the 21st century (World Bank). Global development interest has been directed towards Africa in the past few years, foreseeing the massive economic opportunity of this growth.

As Urban designers, we must foresee these opportunities from an urban design point of view, especially that African cities and towns have not reached their full growth and character if compared with the cities of the global north.

This is the time to test theories and open an intellectual design dialogue that puts current local urban design practices under a critical lens. It is the time to create propositions taking into consideration the opportunities that Africa has to offer for its own people and the world.

For example, Africa has the potential to be a food hub for the whole world if resources are harnessed progressively and developed efficiently.

Lupembe Village Arrival, Transportation

Fig 99 Conclusion collage: Regional social ripple effect.

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Notably, African nations have the potential to leapfrog their development process to an incredibly advanced future, which is a concept being explored through the lens of Afrofuturism. So, how can designers imagine future urbanism within this lens? It is our responsibility to advocate for a balanced environmental design, especially when global economic capitalist agendas would not hesitate to put nature and local ingenuity in danger for the sake of material profit and power.

The way this project is contributing to this topic is the search for an alternative future for peoples on the African continent. 1. Foreseeing the surge of development, when Africa is becoming, yet again, a strategic node in global mega networks of infrastructure. 2. Recognizing the international preservationist sentiment to encounter colonial legacies. 3. Capitalizing on local ingenuity in appropriating cutting edge (precarious) digital technologies, which evolved out of the lack of organized physical infrastructure.

4. Re-imagining a new type of urbanism in Africa’s emerging urban growth, without the conventional physical infrastructures but with soft infrastructures of connectivity and people.

Njombe Town Information Anchor

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5.2 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Critical Theory

1. McGee, Terry. “The Emergence of Desakota Regions in Asia: Expanding a Hypothesis”. The Extended Metropolis, Settlement Transition in Asia. University of Hawaii Press, 1991. Pp. 3-25.

2. Carlow, Vanessa. “Ruralism, The Future of Villages and Small Towns in an Urbanizing World”, Hinterland, Interview with Stephan Petermann and OMA. ISU, 2016, Rotterdam.

3. Brenner, Neil. “The Hinterland, Urbanized?”. 2016, pp. 118-127.

8. Angel, Shlomo. “Planet of Cities”. Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. 2012, Kindle Edition.

9. Wahl, Daniel Christian. “Design and Planning for People in Place: Sir Patrick Geddes (1854–1932) and the Emergence of Ecological Planning, Ecological Design, and Bioregionalism’’. 2017. Medium.

10. CultureHouse ‘‘Spatial Justice and the Right to the City’’. 2018. Medium.

4. Pieterse, Edgar, & Simone, AbdouMaliq.

“Rogue Urbanism: Emergent African Cities”.

Jacana Media, The African Centre for Cities, University of Cape Town, 2013.

11. Christian Fuchs, Eva Horak. Africa and the digital divide. ICT&S Center for Advanced Studies and Research in Information and Communication Technologies and Society, University of Salzburg, University of Vienna. 2008.

5. Segal, Rafi, and Els Verbakel. “Cities of Dispersal”. Architectural Design, Jan/Feb, 2008.

12. Barrameda, Vanessa. “Leapfrogging emerging markets into blockchain technology “. Medium. Oct 1, 2018

6. Sisson, Patrick. “Space is the Place: The architecture of Afro-futurism.” Curbed, Feb 22, 2018. https://www.curbed. com/2018/2/13/17008696/blackpanther-afro-futurism-architecture-design.

7. Welter, Volker. “Biopolis, Patrick Geddes and the City of Life”. The MIT Press, 2002.

London.

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Socio-political, Geographical & Historical Background

1. Kilimwiko, Lawrence. “Tanzania: New railway set to be the new regional gateway”. African Business magazine, 23 Feb, 2018.

2. Rosen, Jonathan. “This Tanzanian city may soon be one of the world’s most populous.

Is it ready?”. National Geographic, Environment, the cities issue. April 5, 2019.

3. Ballard, Mark. “Investors Prepare the Ground for Data Center Growth in East Africa”. Data Center knowledge. Jan 29, 2020.

4. Edgar Pieterse, “How Can We Transcend Slum Urbanism in Africa?”. Future Cape Town. 2014.

5. Bach, Jonathan. “They Come in Peasants and Leave Citizens”: Urban Villages and the Making of Shen-zhen. Chicago Scholarship Online. Sep, 2017. DOI:10.7208.

8. Ma, Alexandra. “The US is scrambling to invest more in Asia to counter China’s ‘Belt and Road’ mega-project. Here’s what China’s plan to connect the world through infrastructure is like”. Business Insider, Nov 11, 2019.

9. Rabinow, Paul. “French Modern, Norms and Forms of the Social Environment”. The MIT Press, 1989. London.

10. The Pruitt-Igoe Myth. Directed by Chad Freidrichs, Unicorn Stencil Doc Films, 2011. vimeo.com/ondemand/thepruittigoemyth.

11. Regnier, Isabelle . Climat de France.

2019. Algiers. Le Monde, ‘‘Fernand Pouillon et l’Algérie, une histoire gravée dans la pierre’’.

6. Eliza Strickland, “With “Leapfrog” Technologies, Africa Aims to Skip the Present and Go Straight to the future”. spectrum.

2019.

7. Hessler, Peter, “country driving”. The New York Times. 2010.

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5.2 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Realized and Speculative Design Precedents

1. Latief, Jehan. “Michelle Mlati’s Afrofuturist Approach To Spatial Planning.”

Archdaily, 2019. https://www.archdaily. com/911518/michelle-mlatis-afro-futuristapproach-to-spatial-planning.

8. Bouda, Ferhat. ‘‘Teenagers looking out over Algiers from a vacant lot in the Casbah district’’. 2019. Algiers. New York Times, ‘‘Algeria’s Turmoil Adds New Obstacle to Saving the Historic Casbah’’.

2. Matroos, Jamie. “Check out this Afrofuturist view of Nigerian mega-shanties”.

City Press, Aug 19, 2018. https://www.w24. co.za.

9. Regnier, Isabelle . Climat de France.

2019. Algiers. Le Monde, ‘‘Fernand Pouillon et l’Algérie, une histoire gravée dans la pierre’’.

3. Solomon R. “Countryside, The Future”.

Guggenheim Museum, New York. 2020. https://www.guggenheim.org/exhibition/ countryside.

10. NICHOLAS, BYRON. “Afro-futurism “Wakanda”: Urban Utopias and Dsytopias”. blackandurban. JUNE 27, 2018. https://www.blackandurban.com/ fowardthinking/2018/6/27/afrofuturismwakanda-urban-utopias-and-dsytopias.

4. Volkswagen, “What the West can learn, is empathy, Africa is changing and with it rural mobility”. Volkswagen News. Mar 10, 2020.

5. Walsh, Niall Patrick. “Snøhetta Designs Sustainable Data Center as “The Body and Brain of Future Cities””. Archdaily. 2018. https://www.archdaily.com/896905/ snohetta-designs-sustainable-data-center-asthe-body-and-brain-of-future-cities.

11. Museum of Modern Art in collaboration with NLÉ + ZOOHAUS/INTELIGENCIAS COLECTIVAS. “Uneven Growth: Tactical Urbanisms for Africa”. http://vigilism.com/ filter/Installations/Uneven-Growth-TacticalUrbanisms-for-Africa

6. Bolchover, Joshua, & Lin, John. “Rural Urban Framework, Transforming The Chinese Countryside”. Birkhauser, 2014. Basel.

7. Çelik, Zeynep. ‘‘New housing on the outskirts of Algiers’’. 1997. Algiers.

University of California Press E-Books Collection, 1982-2004, ‘‘Urban Forms and Colonial Confrontations”.

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FINAL PRESENTATION Excitement & Stress

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POST FINAL PRESENTATION HAPPY FACES Post Presentation Stress

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THANK YOU...

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