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A Startling Portrait of African Cities—And How China is Building Them

An exhibition at New York's Storefront for Art and Architecture explores the many questions prompted by Africa's developing cities.

By Zachary Edelson - July 24, 2015

in Exhibitions | Urbanism

If a continent's infrastructure is its' bones, then Africa is growing up quickly. From 2000 to 2010, six of the ten fastest growing economies were in sub-Saharan Africa, and the region had to accrue new housing, highways, skyscrapers, factories—much of it financed or constructed by China. Who better to build Africa's new economy? Continent-sized China just had its own growth spurt, one that began thirty five years ago in a few special economic zones (SEZs) and now promises to make Beijing a new megacity five times the size of New York City— a home to 130 million people boasting industries from technology to textiles. China's economy-building industries—construction, real estate financing, urban planning—have found a new home in the African continent. But is Africa filling a Chinese mold? Or is it growing into something entirely different?

Portrait of Chinese construction site manager for a new light-rail line system in Addis Ababa. [Photo courtesy of Michiel Hulshof and Daan Roggeveen]

[Photo courtesy of Michiel Hulshof and Daan Roggeveen]

That question sits at the core of Facing East: Chinese Urbanism in Africa, an exhibition currently on display at New York City's Storefront for Art and Architecture. The exhibit was curated by journalist Michiel Hulshof and architect Daan Roggeveen, both Dutch, who have extensively explored Chinese urbanism in their ongoing Go West Project. For Facing East, the pair travelled to six major African cities—Nairobi, Kigali, Lagos, Addis Ababa, Accra, Dar Es Salaam—over the past three years to photograph, interview and investigate. The exhibition's walls of photographs, along with captions and a short essay, provide a condensed portrait of their experiences. So, what's the verdict? Is Africa, in the words of one Kenyan small-business owner, truly "facing East to our new friends, the Chinese?"

Installation view. [Facing East: Chinese Urbanism in Africa, 2015. Curated by Michiel Hulshof and Daan Roggevan. Storefront for Art and Architecture. Photo by Qi Lin.]

Africans now have a choice between Western and Eastern-driven development and aid. [Facing East: Chinese Urbanism in Africa, 2015. Curated by Michiel Hulshof and Daan Roggevan. Storefront for Art and Architecture. Photo by Qi Lin.]

The show catalogs the broad conditions and consequences of Africa's developing cities. [Facing East: Chinese Urbanism in Africa, 2015. Curated by Michiel Hulshof and Daan Roggevan. Storefront for Art and Architecture. Photo by Qi Lin.]

Facing East does not explore any projects in detail but articulates the broad tensions that are shaping the design and construction of Africa's new infrastructure and cities. While development aid from the West aimed to reduce poverty and improve quality-of-life, China's efforts are purely for-profit ventures. There's no guarantee that rising waters of growth will lift all boats equally. This may be best exemplified by the massive slums that grow around Africa's cities, a product of economic growth—jobs are in the cities—combined with a lack of government planning or services. Hulshof and Roggeveen cite a figure that three quarters of urban Africans live in such slums. This points to the second tension underscored by Facing East: unlike China, Africa is a diverse collection of cultures, governments, religions, and economies.

Aerial view of Kilamba New City. [Photo courtesy of Michiel Hulshof and Daan Roggeveen]

Kilamba New City, a housing development for 500,000 located outside the Angolan capital of Luanda, could have easily been lifted straight from Shanghai or Chongqing. [Photo courtesy of Michiel Hulshof and Daan Roggeveen]

View of the Kenya Commercial Bank Headquarters construction site in Nairobi. [Photo courtesy of Michiel Hulshof and Daan Roggeveen]

View of Thika Superhighway, built by Chinese contractors in Nairobi. [Photo courtesy of Michiel Hulshof and Daan Roggeveen]

Chinese managers oversee Ethiopian workers in this shoe factory in the Eastern Industry Zone—a a Special Economic Zone modeled after Shenzhen. [Photo courtesy of Michiel Hulshof and Daan Roggeveen]

For example, Kilamba New City, a housing development for 500,000 located outside the Angolan capital of Luanda, could've been lifted from Shanghai or Chongqing. But will its inhabitants finds the same industrial jobs that drive China's growth? Will global economics and a host of supporting infrastructure—governmental, physical, and human—make it prosperous? These are difficult questions that only time will answer. Nevertheless, Facing East presents two very different portraits that help give visual substance to that question. The first is physical: sprawling grids of roads, fields of cruciform housing towers, sinuous curves of highways and hardtop, and thick webs of scaffolding. These scenes could've been captured anywhere in China, today or ten years ago, but the second portrait records Africans caught in that growth. It's a Chinese stage but the actors are all-new.

Facing East: Chinese Urbanism in Africa is on view at Storefront for Art and Architecture through August 1st.

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Jamie Smith

9 years ago

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I live In the UK and these city's the Chinese are building in Africa are amazing I mean I keep seeing on TV every day stupid advertising to give £2 a month to build a silly little water well for clean water. But how much money do these company's get there millions up on millions of people in the UK why haven't we built city for them the companys must be keeping the doe if the Chinese can do this why hasn't no other country do this obviously these city have clean water and everything I'd give £2 a month if my doe was building these

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Andile Skosana

9 years ago

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Zachary, this article does not shed light on anything. And, if you are indeed a writer on art, architecture and cities you would know that a single building - no matter how odd, weird, out of place or even decrepit - doesn't make a neighborhood. Similarly, no single project or piece of infrastructure makes a city.

Visiting 6 cities, a few projects therein and getting images of Kilamba off the internet doesn't enable anyone to claim to describe either 'Chinese urbanism' or 'African cities'.

I cannot fault the exhibitors' intent or agenda as I do not know it. Their scant observations as represented by you though fail spectacularly to represent either 'Chinese urbanism' and 'African cities'. And, I can fault your article for not providing a useful context or position for the reader. By this, I mean, if I took pictures of six of your relations and got some other pics off the net can I claim to have the picture of the Edilson lineage?

Just saying question more, dude...

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- Zachary Edelson
  
  Andile Skosana
  
  9 years ago
  
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  Andile,
  
  Thank you for your feedback; you raise some good points I'd like to address!
  
  In terms of the legitimacy of the exhibition, Hulshof and Roggeveen spent three years travelling to major African cities, photographing, interviewing, and conducting scholarly research. This was hardly a piecemeal analysis of a few scattered projects. As the image credits indicate, none of these photos were taken off the internet: all were taken by Hulshof and Roggeveen and then given to Core77 (either by Hulshof and Roggeveen or the Storefront gallery).
  
  In terms of my providing of context, I do so at the article's first paragraph: the industries, businesses, and expertise that grew Chinese cities are finding new opportunities to work in Africa. There is certainly a great deal of historical, economic, and cultural context I could add. However, that's far outside the scope of a short article such as this. Instead, the first paragraph of this article works to introduce the actors and recent history most immediately relevant to the exhibition.
  
  In terms of providing a portrait of Chinese urbanism or African cities, hopefully I can clarify my terminology. By 'portrait' I mean the forces that guide how African cities are growing: to quote from the review, Facing East "does not explore any projects in detail but articulates the broad tensions that are shaping the design and construction of Africa's new infrastructure and cities." There are two essential tensions that I mention: 1) the goals of Western vs. Eastern development and 2) imported Chinese planning/design vs. African needs/uses. Facing East (and my review) argues that those are important ways to look at the growth of African cities.
  
  Lastly, I wholly agree that buildings and infrastructure don't make a neighborhood. Cities are immensely complex landscapes of people and places. I think you know that well: according to your LinkedIn profile, you are a private-sector management consultant who focuses on city and infrastructure planning. Given that you work in South Africa, and that most of your clients are African governments, I'm forced to highlight that you may have a personal or professional stake in how African cities are portrayed. That aside, your expertise and firsthand experience means you're very well-equipped to highlight the shortcomings of the exhibition and my review! I'd be very curious to hear what context or portrait you would've provided, as well as any concrete examples that may shed light on the subject of African cities at large.
  
  Best,
  
  Zach
  
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bob brown

9 years ago

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Given China's Penchant for building cookie cutter concrete buildings with no rebar reinforcement, I suspect that most of these buildings will topple at the slightest of disturbance. I also suspect that much like the towns and cities in China, there is a lack of focus on developing the utility infrastructure needed to sustain an urban landscape.

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Nick Blare

9 years ago

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Yes, the architecture in Africa transfigured. And foreign investment plays an important role in this. Today China is the leading investor in Africa. Hermes-Sojitz invests to the African development 3 billion dollars until 2017. They are building a 65-floors skyscraper and huge shopping malls 100 sq meters each.

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SC Tan

9 years ago

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China is doing a great job for Africa. The West after centuries of plundering abandoned the continent as a worthless case until China stepped in and now the West is trying their best to undermine the Chinese. Real sore losers.

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