Africa is currently building its urban culture, in a global context of clusterized cities, of insularized space. Urbanism shouldn’t be just about numbers. Although Africa is currently strongly lacking infrastructure, its needs cannot always be quantified. Urbanism should reflect culture, history and create a sense of belonging. Guillaume Sardin‘s Bumbogo Project in Kigali, Rwanda, which won second place in a competition, will be a manifest, a pragmatic utopia. By using the meaning of Rwanda and Kigali as a matrix, this project generates an ultra site-specific master plan setting an example of fair urbanism. More images and architects’ description after the break.
What if, instead of importing Beaux Arts Urbanism, we tried to reinterpret the archipelago city to propose an enhanced and adapted version of it? A city made to separate and join at the same time, a city of islands, imagination and exploration. In a country of oral culture, toponymy (the study of place names) could help bonding the new urban society to its roots. Cities can make use of the meaning of places, and toponymy could be a tool for urban development all over Africa.
