Between commitment and expediency: the role of the individual expert in translating development planning into architecture and urban design in Africa

Following the wave of independences, both continuity and change characterized development planning in the former African colonies. While new multi‐lateral development organizations emerged on the scene, other bi‐lateral development agencies maintained their colonial functioning. In either case, independences and the subsequent increase in development projects opened up new opportunities within the domain of architecture and urban planning for architects to geographically extend their professional practice towards Africa. / / In this paper we will explore through the work of two remarkable figures, to what degree individual attitudes, agendas and accents of the development experts determined the plans and buildings they produced in Africa, and how this in turn affected the initial goals of the development projects: the French architect Michel Ecochard as an urban planner in Dakar (Senegal) from 1963 to 1968 within the framework of the FAC and the Italian architect Eugenio Palumbo, active as a UNESCO school design and building expert in Congo in the same period. Hence, we ultimately seek to demonstrate that, just as the high level development plans of many organizations balanced between altruism and economic, cultural and political interest, the work of development experts ‘in the field’ also fluctuated intensely between social commitment and personal ambition.

Jaar van publicatie:2013