Metropolises often evoke images of flashy
high-rise buildings, permanent background noise, backed-up cars and people
moving quickly in all directions in their masses. New York, Tokyo, London, Sao
Paulo. But what about Cairo? Lagos? Nairobi, Kinshasa, Johannesburg?
More than half of the world‘s population
lives in cities. Countries of the South, in particular, are facing fast-paced
globalisation, with the highest rates of urbanisation taking place in African
cities. Beyond Western models of urban development, African cities are creating
their own urban structures, topography and cultures.
How do these structures work? How do the
residents of these cities organise their daily lives? What discussions are
taking place in Africa about the history and future of cities? And how are artists
thinking about and representing urban life in Africa?
Lavishly illustrated and meticulously
researched, Afropolis is the product
of an exhibition developed by the Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum in Cologne,
Germany, focusing on the Big Five of African cities: Cairo, Lagos, Nairobi,
Kinshasa and Johannesburg. Edited by Kerstin Pinther, Larissa Förster and
Christian Hanussek, this is the first time the book is available in English.
Afropolis is published in paperback by Jacana Media ISBN 978-1-4314-0325-7.
Recommended retail price R320.
Posts
