digital assistant: Zachary Colbert

Safaris, elephants, grasslands, tourism. These tropes are often called upon to be emblematic of the African continent. By one estimate, however, it is the diverse urban agglomerations of Cairo, Kinshasha, Abidjan, Johannesburg, Lagos and other cities that are now home to more that half the population. Entering into these entropic spatialities, how might we build the urban future and future architectures of the African city?

The contemporary African city has often been characterized as a territory of intense social and spatial claims to postcolonial citizenship and modernity. This characterization subtends a more enduring image – that of the African city as chaotic and disorderly, and therefore always outside the category of order and modern urban planning and procedures of rational spatial organization. Okwui Enwezor from Underseige

In conceptualizing the international quintennial Documenta 11 held in Kassel, Germany curator Okwui Enwezor orchestrated a series of pre-exhibition events, what he called platforms. Platforms 1 through 4 (the exhibition being the fifth platform) were public discussions on culture, economics, and politics. Platform 4 entitled Underseige: Four African Cities assessed the African city in a global context. Enwezor begins the collection of essays from the deliberations by challenging prevailing theoretical frameworks and practices of urban analysis. He suggests that understanding African cities, each with its own unique history and socio-spatial contours, has always been predicated on the imposition of binaries, such as the order/disorder stated above, along with other spatial and temporal distortions. With Enwezor’s sound observations in mind, rather than employ oppositional frameworks, how might we as architects, agents entrusted with materializing urban futures/future architectures, build within African cities? How might we analyze their formalized colonial urban systems to discover how they have been markedly reorganized by less codified networks and new urban imaginaries that are experimental and democratic? To do this may not require the introduction of the new structures and systems, but that we recalibrate, re-use and re-claim what is already there, in other words we will have to be resourceful in our propositions.

re-source - a source of supply or support; an available means; a natural source of wealth or revenue; a natural feature or phenomenon that enhances the quality of human life; computable wealth; a source of information or expertise

The African continent’s vast resources have attracted waves of Western colonialists eager to extract its raw material and harness its labor to fuel the engine industrialization. Efficiently planned colonial cities charged with governance and distribution were built along navigable waterways or appended to already existing urban settlements. For over five hundred years this network of trade routes, railroads, highways, and pipelines have moved raw materials, peoples, and finished goods in and out of various regions to the rest of the world. Today urbanization on the continent has further layered new routes and structures on top these older systems to produce some of the largest urban agglomerations in the world. This continued expansion, spurred in part by neo-liberal policies of the West, is due to the continued importance of these hubs for channeling the flows of minerals, commodities and capital. In regards to the latter, foreign investment in Africa, which the UN estimates now outpaces aid, is nearing $110 billion dollars. Such investment is being made by transnational corporations based in the United States, China, joined by various European and other African nations. Mobilizing the existing infrastructure of satellites, Nokia, Google and global telecommunications companies, for example, have planned extensive expansion into the untapped continental market. China in particular has been brokering deals with various African governments to negotiate trade pacts, new rail and road ways, and new buildings in exchange for access to oil, minerals, and workers. In 2008 alone trade between African nations and China reached $107 billion outstripping both the US and France. While the West gazes at China, the Chinese look towards Africa. And thus, the quest for the continent’s resources continue.

On our second and third visits, we ventured out of our cars and discovered that what seemed to be completely random and improvised world included a number of very elaborate organizational networks. Some of the places that, at first sight, seemed to be tragic manifestations of degraded urban life were actually intensely emancipatory zones, where the recent arrivals from outside were "processed" as citizens of Lagos. -Rem Koolhaas from Under Siege

Utilizing available means, resources at hand, the studio this fall will examine the urbanism of two of the largest cities in the world--Johannesburg, South Africa (7.3 million) and Lagos, Nigeria (11.4 million)--to propose architectural interventions (scale TBD.) For the first half of the semester, we will begin in teams by following the trail of various resources. We will collect and map data tracing the material and virtual flows of raw materials, information, finished goods, tourists, pollution, music, citizens and finance through each city. Critical in this examination will be to discern the variability of these circuits by measuring through animated diagrams the temporal, qualitative and quantitative changes. For us, the term "city" will be a means of bracketing the spatial boundaries of these urban agglomerations that clearly exceed local, regional and national boundaries. If we consider the scope of urbanization and the circulation of its resources, then Lagos’, for example, extends beyond its municipal boundaries to its diaspora living in London or New York City and to the gasoline flowing through pumps in Beijing and Biloxi. We will look inside, outside and elsewhere for symptoms and situations. Then as mixologists and improvisers our architecture will be layered onto and sutured into these dynamic trajectories.

As Deleuze would remind us, in the midst of every city, there is a substantial and groundless complexity of arrangements and interactions--among people, objects, territories, climates-which take that city outside of its confines…Rather such complexity is revealed in the moments in which a place is "blown apart"--the convergence of trajectories--movements, unfoldings, expulsions, gatherings--linked in an apparent impossibility--and thus redistributing what has come before and opening up to what is yet to come. -AbdouMaliq Simone from Undersiege

Based on the research, for the second half of the semester each team will propose a project that redirects, remakes, or reclaims some urban condition (economic, political, social or cultural)of the city. We will imagine the urban future and future architectures of both Johannesburg and Lagos. To understand the complexities of these two cities we will meet with experts on urbanism in Africa, study its legacy of modern architecture and planning, and read extensively on the topics of post-colonialism, neo-liberalism, and globalization. These social scientific studies will be reframed, "blown apart" as it were, by examining how artists Yinka Shonibare, David Goldblatt, El Anatsui and other artists visualize and capture the urban milieus in which they live and work.

first readings:

Enwezor, Okwui. "Introduction." In Under Siege: Four African Cities Freetown, Johannesburg, Kinshasa, Lagos Documenta 11 Platform 4, edited by Okwui Enwezor, Carlos Basualdo, Ute Meta Bauer, Susanne Ghez, Sarat Maharaj, Mark Nash and Octavio Zaya, 173-84: Hatje Cantz, 2002.

Koolhaas, Rem. "Fragments on a Lecture on Lagos." In Under Siege: Four African Cities Freetown, Johannesburg, Kinshasa, Lagos Documenta 11 Platform 4.

Lefebvre, Henri. The Urban Revolution. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2003.

Simone, A. M. "The Visible and Invisible: Remaking Cities in Africa." In Under Siege: Four African Cities Freetown, Johannesburg, Kinshasa, Lagos Documenta 11 Platform 4.

Urban Futures/Future Architectures? – part 1 

re-source - a source of supply or support; an available means; a natural source of wealth or revenue; a natural feature or phenomenon that enhances the quality of human life; computable wealth; a source of information or expertise 

The African continent’s vast resources have attracted waves of Western colonialists eager to extract its raw material and harness its labor to fuel the engine industrialization. Efficiently planned colonial cities charged with governance and distribution were built along navigable waterways or appended to already existing urban settlements. For over five hundred years this network of trade routes, railroads, highways, and  pipelines have moved raw materials, peoples, and finished goods in and out of various regions to the rest of the world. Today urbanization on the continent has further layered new routes and structures on top these older systems to produce the world’s largest urban agglomerations. This continued expansion, spurred in part by neo-liberal policies of the West, is due to the continued importance of these hubs for channeling the flows of minerals, commodities and capital. In regards to the latter, foreign investment in Africa, which the UN estimates now outpaces aid, is nearing $110 billion dollars. Such investment is being made by transnational corporations based in the United States, China, joined by various European and other African nations. Nokia, Google and global telecommunications companies, for example, are planning the next generation of new media for the vast continental market. China in particular has been brokering deals with various African governments to negotiate trade pacts, new rail and road ways, and new buildings in exchange for access to oil, minerals, and workers. In 2008 alone trade between African nations and China reached $107 billion outstripping both the US and France. While the West gazes at China, the Chinese look towards Africa. And thus, the quest for the continent’s resources continue. 

Short Circuit 

How do resources—the things we use, the people that make them, ideas that make things meaningful and useful—circulate? What are they made of? Where do they come from? Where do they end up? What are their symbolic value and hence, social identity? In order to trace the circuits of resources, select one object in your possession. First determine its material content and manufacturer. Begin to map likely locations for the sources of its materials. Also determine sites of manufacturing, warehousing, distribution, sale, and disposal (recycling). Map the scope of the objects distribution – is it local, national, or global. Along with spatial mapping, determine the time frame of production, use, and disposal (for example, how long would it take for it to decompose or if recycled, where and into what new raw material/resource.) The final drawing(s) or animation(s) should be a complex spaghetti of lines and locations that demonstrate a web of spatial and temporal connections. (see examples below.) 

This should be assembled into a clear and concise slide presentation or drawing for discussion (minimum size 20 x 30) 

due: 16 Sept 2009 2pm Avery 412

readings due: 18 Sept 2009 Avery 412

Easterling, Keller. “introduction”  and “El Ejido,” Enduring Innocence: Global Architecture and Its Political Masquerades. Cambridge: MIT Press 2005

Lefebvre, Henri. The Urban Revolution. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2003.

screening: Koolhaas, Rem and Bregtje Van Der Haak. Lagos Wide and Close: Interactive Journey into an Exploding City

URLs:

We are Here Maps Archives - http://mapsarchive.org/the-map-makers/

Transit Migration - http://www.transitmigration.org/migmap/home_map2.html 
 

Resourcing 

On our second and third visits, we ventured out of our cars and discovered that what seemed to be completely random and improvised world included a number of very elaborate organizational networks. Some of the places that, at first sight, seemed to be tragic manifestations of degraded urban life were actually intensely emancipatory zones, where the recent arrivals from outside were “processed” as citizens of Lagos.

Rem Koolhaas from Under Siege 

With the above direction and lessons in mind, mapping the circuits of resources will now shift to the specific context of Lagos, Nigeria and Johannesburg, South Africa. Begin with these general categories in order to gain a broader understanding of the city. By drawing the movment of these things, people, and ideas across space and time will help understand each place. In the process note the landscapes, buildings, and thresholds through which they move.

Population – local, regional, global

Migration – citizens, foreigners, refugees, tourists

Transportation – roads, rail, air, water

Utilities – electricity, water, gas, telecommunications

Goods – raw materials, products

Waste – air pollution, trash, sewage

Culture – music, art, food, literature, media, sports

Ideologies – Democracy, Neo-Liberalism, Socialism

Finance – trade, investment, aid

Public –State, pubic sphere, NGO’s, civil society

History – pre-colonial, colonial, post-colonial

Ritual – Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, tribal

Illegal Traffic –  contraband, drugs, slaves

These are merely frameworks, subject matter should become more specific as the investigation advances. Other ways to think about the analysis might be to imagine datascapes (communications, finance, networks.) Another might be examining mediascapes that connect Nollywood (Nigerian film production) to global online media production. Useful software will be Illustrator, Rhino and Maya. Organizing various circuits might best done through web based technologies. In order to better understand the two cities you will have to draw on resources found in newspapers, websites, and books. Please review the bibliography and URLs – these are the beginning, invention and resourcefulness will be necessary. 

readings - due 23 Sept 2009

Koolhaas, Rem. "Fragments on a Lecture on Lagos." In Under Siege: Four African Cities Freetown, Johannesburg, Kinshasa, Lagos Documenta 11 Platform 4.

Simone, A. M. "The Visible and Invisible: Remaking Cities in Africa." In Under Siege: Four African Cities Freetown, Johannesburg, Kinshasa, Lagos Documenta 11 Platform 4.

Enwezor, Okwui. "Introduction." In Under Siege: Four African Cities Freetown, Johannesburg, Kinshasa, Lagos Documenta 11 Platform 4, edited by Okwui Enwezor, Carlos Basualdo, Ute Meta Bauer, Susanne Ghez, Sarat Maharaj, Mark Nash and Octavio Zaya, 173-84: Hatje Cantz, 2002. 

presentation –

Hlonipha Mopkoena, Anthropology CU - http://www.columbia.edu/cu/anthropology/fac-bios/mokoena/faculty.html

Brian Larkin, Anthropology, Barnard and CU - http://www.columbia.edu/cu/anthropology/fac-bios/larkin/faculty.html 

Reviews

Pinup - 9 Oct 2009 – rm TBA

mid term 23 October 2009 – rm TBA