Presentación del libro 'Un modo de afrontar la ciudad africana'

Among the activities planned for África Vive 2014, an initiative of Casa Africa to celebrate Africa Day (25th May) there will be the presentation of this book, A way to tackle the African city, winner of the 5th edition of the Casa África's Essay Prizes, an event that is held annually and in 2013 had the theme The African city, its development, its present and its future. The book, which is part of Casa África's Essay Collection, stresses the need for direct, interdisciplinary and active participation of African societies in creating their cities.

Africa is the least urbanised region on earth, with an urban population of 38%, but with a faster urban growth rhythm (4.5%). Current studies show that the African urban population will double in the next twenty years, as a result of the rural-urban migration, natural demographic growth and the re-classification of peri-urban areas into urban areas.

One way to tackle the African city is the work of the architects Manuel Martín Hernández, Vicente Díaz Garcia and Eugenio Rodríguez Cabrera, who argue that there is not just a single development possible, or a single city or a single way of doing things. They suggest a “right to the city" able to generate other ways to understand, configure and manage the African city, focused on the “social production of the habitat”, and propose fostering this alternative with a South-South cooperation. But above all they emphasize the need for direct, interdisciplinary and active participation of African societies in creating their cities.

The authors of this essay remind us that planning in Africa has up till now been done on neocolonial foundations and it is time to lay the foundations of cities that are more habitable within the continent, creating spaces to live, to share, to generate communities, which accommodate an economy with more solidarity.

To talk about all of this, this conference/presentation is organised by the authors, architects and professors from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC), Manuel J. Martín Hernández, Vicente Díaz García y Eugenio Rodríguez Cabrera, who advocate in their essay for a "mental decolonization" in the planning of African cities, by understanding that these have been designed with urban and architectural approaches of the "Eurocentric north" and set out the models of "insurgent urbanism" experienced in Latin America to generate other ways to understand, configure and manage cities on the African continent.

What? Conference and presentation of the award winning book of Casa África's latest Essay Prize: 'A way to tackle the African city'
When? Wednesday 21st May 2014 at 7:30 p.m.
Where? At Casa África's Nelson Mandela Auditorium. C/. Alfonso XIII, 5. 35003 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

Tagged on:

premio de ensayo