A new video by AERIAL FUTURES explores the potential of droneports in East Africa and the Global South. The Norman Foster Foundation was one of the first groups to propose the creation of a droneport network to deliver medical supplies and other necessities to areas of Africa that are difficult to access due to a lack of roads or other infrastructure. The project aspires to have droneports across small towns in Africa and in other emerging economies by 2030.
AERIAL FUTURES explored droneport application in East Africa’s Lake Victoria basin. Home to 35 million people, it is the most densely populated rural area in the world. Here, the prohibitive cost of road and rail transport impedes mobility, meaning that cargo, medicine and blood packs often cannot reach those who need them most. Drones are providing an affordable and sustainable mobility solution for the region. Now AERIAL FUTURES has joined forces with the Lake Victoria Challenge, the initiative of the Government of Tanzania with support from the World Bank and a number development partners, to examine the potential for drones and their associated architecture in Tanzania.
AERIAL FUTURES: Lake Victoria Challenge looks at the emergent architectural typology of the droneport. As hubs for transportation, a droneport can become a vital part of communities. Yet beyond the facilitation of drone landing and takeoff, droneports also provide long-term opportunities for growth and development in East Africa. Serving a civic function, droneports could also feature fabrication labs and makerspaces, e-commerce facilities, marketplaces, phone charging points and public plazas. These hyper-local spaces would serve the communities around them in unprecedented ways.
News via Aerial Futures
