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IAS Hosts Symposium on Infrastructural Legacies and Futures of the African City

The Institute of African Studies hosted a one-day symposium under the theme, “Infrastructural Legacies and Future of the African City” at the J. H. K Nketia Conference, Hall, Kwame Nkrumah Complex on Monday, 4th November, 2019. The symposium was a collaboration between the Institute and the University of Basel, Switzerland and it sought to bring together actors and thinkers from multiple backgrounds across the North/South divide. The actors were representatives from the University of Basel, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology’s Architecture and Planning Departments, key Urban Specialists from the Institute of African Studies as well as actors who are well equipped with urban policy making and management planning. The focus of the symposium was to address matters concerning infrastructure, decolonization and post-colonial state formation through the lens of the city.  

The workshop started at 9:00am with an opening remark delivered by Dr. Osman Alhassan, a Senior Research Fellow of the Institute of African Studies.

Professor Kenny Cupers, a facilitator of Urban Studies, University of Basel gave an account on how infrastructure defines urban space and the manner in which African monuments describe their colonial past.  

The event which attracted several participants from academia, industry and the professional cadre in urban space planning was coordinated by Dr. Irene Appeaning Addo, Research Coordinator of the Media and Visual Arts Section of the Institute.

Also in attendance were 14 graduate students from the University of Basel, eight graduate students from the University of Ghana, one graduate student from the University of London, one graduate student from the University of Cape Town and one graduate student from the University of Development Studies (UDS), Tamale.