A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
Planning the "Multiracial City" : architecture, decolonization and the design of stability in British Africa (1945-1957) ; Architecture, decolonization and the design of stability in British Africa (1945-1957)
Thesis: Ph. D. in History and Theory of Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Architecture, September, 2020 ; Cataloged from the official pdf of thesis. "September 2020." ; Includes bibliographical references (pages 221-246). ; In the two turbulent decades before most British African territories gained independence, British authorities reorganized rapidly growing cities such as Nairobi, Kampala, and Accra by constructing state-sponsored housing estates for African families. This dissertation examines how these late-colonial housing projects were part of a larger effort to maintain control over British Africa during a moment frequently described by colonial officials as "instable," but which for many others held the promise of a different, independent future. I argue that British architects and planners collaborated with labor experts, sociologists, and social welfare workers to prevent anticolonial protests, labor strikes, and mass demonstrations, and to create a "stable" black working class. Building on archival research and fieldwork in Ghana, Uganda, South Africa, and the United Kingdom, I explore four interrelated architectural and spatial strategies employed by British colonial architects and planners: the promotion of the sociological construct of the "multiracial city" to reduce racial tensions; the creation of community centers to stimulate social cohesion; the design of built-in furniture to modernize the domestic sphere; the engineering of new building materials to improve the durability of housing estates. While the political process of decolonization is frequently discussed as a moment of rapid change, this dissertation shows that architects and planners, such as Alfred Alcock and Leonard Thornton-White, participated in the drawn-out negotiation between colonial rule and self-government. Their designs aimed to impede anticolonial struggles for self-determination, racial equality, and social reform and thus postpone the looming prospect of independence. This dissertation ...
Planning the "Multiracial City" : architecture, decolonization and the design of stability in British Africa (1945-1957) ; Architecture, decolonization and the design of stability in British Africa (1945-1957)
Thesis: Ph. D. in History and Theory of Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Architecture, September, 2020 ; Cataloged from the official pdf of thesis. "September 2020." ; Includes bibliographical references (pages 221-246). ; In the two turbulent decades before most British African territories gained independence, British authorities reorganized rapidly growing cities such as Nairobi, Kampala, and Accra by constructing state-sponsored housing estates for African families. This dissertation examines how these late-colonial housing projects were part of a larger effort to maintain control over British Africa during a moment frequently described by colonial officials as "instable," but which for many others held the promise of a different, independent future. I argue that British architects and planners collaborated with labor experts, sociologists, and social welfare workers to prevent anticolonial protests, labor strikes, and mass demonstrations, and to create a "stable" black working class. Building on archival research and fieldwork in Ghana, Uganda, South Africa, and the United Kingdom, I explore four interrelated architectural and spatial strategies employed by British colonial architects and planners: the promotion of the sociological construct of the "multiracial city" to reduce racial tensions; the creation of community centers to stimulate social cohesion; the design of built-in furniture to modernize the domestic sphere; the engineering of new building materials to improve the durability of housing estates. While the political process of decolonization is frequently discussed as a moment of rapid change, this dissertation shows that architects and planners, such as Alfred Alcock and Leonard Thornton-White, participated in the drawn-out negotiation between colonial rule and self-government. Their designs aimed to impede anticolonial struggles for self-determination, racial equality, and social reform and thus postpone the looming prospect of independence. This dissertation ...
Planning the "Multiracial City" : architecture, decolonization and the design of stability in British Africa (1945-1957) ; Architecture, decolonization and the design of stability in British Africa (1945-1957)
2020-01-01
1288577126
Theses
Electronic Resource
English
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ARCHITECTURAL PROPORTION IN BRITAIN 1945-1957
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