Learning from Kampala

Vad kan vi lära oss av det informella stadsbyggandet i dagens Afrika? - Per Kraft redaktör för ny bok

When was the last time you had some good news from Africa? Usually when reports from this continent are broadcasted, it’s about wars, epidemics, starvation, corruption or the stagnating economies. In many ways Africa has remained a Dark Continent from a western viewpoint. But isn’t there more to this picture - doesn’t inventiveness and private initiatives keep developing things anyway? Lack of national economical development doesn’t necessarily mean that there’s no development at all - and what kind of development is really desirable in the long run? Are there other ways to prosperity than those that we have been using in the west - and is it possible to translate this debate to the discourse of urban planning and architecture?

This book gives you news from Uganda; good as well as bad. It aims at bringing all these difficult questions into attention, adding to the global discourse on town-planning and development. It collects essays, pictures, interviews, facts and observations from Kampala and its informally growing suburbia. Also included are some imaginary projects proposing various changes, ameliorations and design interventions. Everything originating from a course held at the KTH school of architecture in 2002.

Since the African experience proved to be significant in many ways, several of the students have later on decided to do their final thesis work in different parts of Africa. Jonas Jernberg even returned to Kampala together with Chalmers student Andreas Huss to do a research based on the spatial consequences of urban agriculture. Back home again, they both became co-editors of this book, together with Martin Hedenström and Teres Selberg, who also have been responsible for the graphic design. Not to forget the invaluable help from Christin Svensson.