in collaboration with Harvard GSD and the School Of The Built Environment, University of Nairobi

This workshop on the contemporary city of Nairobi within the context of urbanization in Africa deals with the interconnected urban thematic issues such as urban planning, governance, and socio-politico-economic-cultural tensions in land use. It avoids dichotomies such as formal/informal, preferring to adopt a bottom-up approach based on phenomenological techniques. It sees Nairobi as an “ordinary” city. The Nairobi Workshop addresses the emerging and existing urgent issues of urbanization processes and the historical and political formations as revealed by the recent violent developments since the presidential elections in December 2007.

Participants:

Mrs. Evalyne Wanyama, Institute for Development Studies, University of Nairobi
Prof. David Anderson, African Studies Centre, University of Oxford
Mr. Davinder Lamba, Mazingira Institute, Nairobi
Prof. Alfred Omenya, School Of The Built Environment, University of Nairobi
Prof. Paul Syagga, Department of Real Estate and Construction Management, University of Nairobi
Prof. Dr. Till Förster, Institute of Social Anthropology, University of Basel

Prof. Jacques Herzog, ETH Studio Basel: Contemporary City Institute
Prof. Pierre de Meuron, ETH Studio Basel: Contemporary City Institute
Manuel Herz, ETH Studio Basel: Contemporary City Institute
Shadi Rahbaran, ETH Studio Basel: Contemporary City Institute
Ligia Nobre, ETH Studio Basel: Contemporary City Institute

Harvard Graduate School of Design students:
Chi-Yan Chan, Emily Farnham, Sondra Fein, Benny Ho, Mee Hae Kwon, Yusun Kwon
Students of ETH Studio Basel: Contemporary City Institute and of the Centre for African Studies at the University of Basel

This workshop is part of an urban research project on Nairobi (2007-2009), initiated by ETH Studio Basel: Contemporary City Institute in collaboration with the Harvard Graduate School of Design and the University of Nairobi - School Of The Built Environment.