ARU CityLAB Launch — CityLAB-Dar

By Priscila Izar

Dar es Salaam City Lab – Framing an agenda for investigating the co-production of space

February 1, 2019 marked the kickoff of the Dar es Salaam CityLab (CityLab), hosted at the Institute of Human Settlement Studies (IHSS) at Ardhi University. CityLab’s core goals are twofold, to generate grounded knowledge on the multiplicities of urban transformation in and around Dar es Salaam by involving local and international networks of practice and research, and to be a safe space for re-imagining possibilities of urban production that reflect the interests and desires of Dar es Salaam’s own urban dwellers.

The CityLab is putting forward its action research agenda through strategic projects and initiatives. In particular, a 24 month experimentation series, funded by the German-based foundation Robert Bosch Stiftung and consisting of thirteen territorially bounded and exploratory events, will facilitate discussions and propositions related to the production and appropriation of space in Dar es Salaam. Through this series the CityLab will convene local actors who are seldom present in public debates, such as urban activists, local artists, the creative community, community leaders, and youth, in order to understand how these groups help shape everyday transformation in the city.

A morning lecture at Ardhi University and an evening social gathering at the Dar Center for Architectural Heritage (DARCH) at the Old Boma in the central city, marked the CityLab launch. During the morning lecture, Ardhi’s Vice Chancellor, Professor Evaristo Liwa officially launched the research platform. His speech, a celebratory moment for those who have been involved in the establishment of CityLab, was followed by presentations by IHSS Director Dr. Makarius Mdemu on the rationale of IHSS hosting the research platform, and CityLab’s Project Lead Dr. Nathalie Jean-Baptiste on recent accomplishments and future goals. The session concluded with a lecture and debate with international guest Michael Uwemedimo, visiting Senior Research Fellow at King’s College London and Director and Co-Founder of Collaborative Media Advocacy Platform (CMAP), a grassroots organization based in Port Harcourt and working with predominantly poor urban dwellers to place themselves in the city map.

The evening event at the rooftop of DARCH was CityLab’s first Urban Night. It combined presentations by Dr. Nathalie Jean-Baptiste and Michael Uwemedimo with a more extensive public debate that the CityLab team facilitated. Later, during a Swahili cocktail, conversations continued between smaller groups, about the role that citizens and organized interest groups (can) play in transforming the city, and how can initiatives such as CMAP, and the CityLab event series, help understand these efforts and their effect on the city’s production.

CityLab offers additional opportunities for popularizing the debate about urban transformation and co-production in Dar es Salaam and Tanzania more broadly. Given the response of the events’ participants, this is a timely initiative. So far, discussions about urban transformation in the city often occur in academic circles, while there is interest in integrating the population into these debates. Furthermore, there is not a tradition in academia to produce and debate grounded urban theory based on community based initiatives. A platform such as the CityLab will help fulfill this gap.

CityLab Urban Night at the Dar es Salaam Center for Architectural Heritage, at the Old Boma in Dar es Salaam city center