Shooting Lagos ~ Wecyclers on My Africa Is!

Africa Is A Country spotlights Shooting Lagos by Nosarieme Garrick who's creating My Africa Is documentary! First in the sequence of Lagos Chronicles is our own Bilikiss Abiola co-founder of our MIT Development Ventures class alumco Wecyclers Check out the other two in the Lagos sequence as well... Producer/Director Garrick writes...

"The next season of My Africa Is will be available in September of 2014, and will feature three amazing stories from Dakar, Senegal."

Wecyclers ~ Tech Awards 2013 Laureate!

Excellent to see MIT Development Ventures alumco Wecyclers winning Tech Awards 2013!

CcHUB Vision ~ Bosun Tijani on CNN in Lagos...

CcHUB founder Bosun Tijani interviewed by Errol Barnett of CNN on co-creation and innovation in Nigeria...

Co-Creation Hub ~ Venture Center in Lagos...

Excellent to have Bosun Tijani join us for the MIT Africa Innovate conference. Bosun's running the Co-Creation Hub in the Yaba neighborhood of Lagos, Nigeria...

"CcHub delivers a range of programmes that contribute to our mission of accelerating the application of social capital and technology for economic prosperity in Nigeria. [...] CcHUB is a membership based community of hackers, designers, tech companies, entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs, academics, investors and everyone interested in technology innovation."

Currently on the 6th floor of their building, they have big ambitions for i-HQ Project which...

"...will leverage the innovation assets within the technology cluster located around Herbert Macaulay Way, Yaba in building an ‘innovation city’ -- a hotspot for creative ventures where all key stakeholders (academics, industry and government) find adequate infrastructure, resources and an enabling environment to thrive while collaborating. i-HQ = Silicon Lagoon"

Rethinking Slums ~ Towards Inclusive Upgrading

Thanks to Africa Unchained's Emeka Okafor for Reframing 'Slums' and pointing to Bombastic Elements and spotting this piece by Stretch Ledford on Ajelogo: After the Bulldozers in Lagos...

"Since 1997, Funmilayo Omotosho lived and worked in a market in Ajelogo, a neighborhood in Lagos, Nigeria. For reasons it has not made public, the Lagos State Government ordered that the Ajelogo market be destroyed during the early morning hours of March 7, 2010. More than 10,000 residents and vendors were displaced. With her business, home, and community in ruins, and with nowhere else to go, Fumilayo still lives in Ajelogo, amidst the ruins of her home and business."

Destroying markets seems like the very last thing one should do in order to improve peoples lives. What the hell is going on here? And here's a similar situation in Mumbai's Dharavi... And in Nairobi's Kibera...

Eko Atlantic ~ Huge Nigerian Urban Development!

Very intriguing to read more about the progress of the huge 9 square kilometer Eko Atlantic gigaproject off Victoria Island in Nigerian megacity Lagos... As of last year, the landfill and seawall are progressing...
And here's one view of the envisioned future city... With various planned districts of Eko Atlantic... Here's the official developer's "inside story" promo video... CNN Inside Africa reports... ABN interviews David Frame, MD of South Energyx Nigeria Limited part of the Chagoury Group, developers and city planners behind the project... Finally, here's Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola speaking about Eko Atlantic... (See also 2009 piece by Africa Unchained's Emeka Okafor)

Slum Learnings ~ Density, Vitality, Resilience...

Thanks to Africa Unchained's Emeka Okafor for spotting Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow's Globe piece Learning from Slums...

"The world's slums are overcrowded, unhealthy -- and increasingly seen as resourceful communities that can offer lessons to modern cities. [...] No one denies that slums -- also known as shantytowns, squatter cities, and informal settlements -- have serious problems. They are as a rule overcrowded, unhealthy, and emblems of profound inequality. But among architects, planners, and other thinkers, there is a growing realization that they also possess unique strengths, and may even hold lessons in successful urban development. [...] slums have assets along with their obvious shortcomings. Their humming economic activity and proximity to city centers represent big advantages over the subsistence farming that many slum dwellers have fled. Numerous observers have noted the enterprising spirit of these places, evident not only in their countless tiny businesses, but also in the constant upgrading and expansion of homes. Longstanding slum communities tend to be much more tightknit than many prosperous parts of the developed world, where neighbors hardly know one another. Indeed, slums embody many of the principles frequently invoked by urban planners: They are walkable, high-density, and mixed-use, meaning that housing and commerce mingle. [...] And there are thinkers who take the idea a step further, arguing that slums should prompt the rest of us to reconsider our own cities. While the idea of emulating slums may seem absurd, a number of planners and environmentalists say that we would do well to incorporate their promising elements."

Very compelling concept indeed. And with fast growing cities in emerging regions, such slum learning could lead to urgently needed urban innovations.

Makoko Ways ~ Street Life in Lagos, Nigeria

Thanks to Africa Unchained's Emeka Okafor for spotting Street Life in Lagos, the Nigerian megacity, by filmmaker Joe Loncraine on Al Jazeera's Witness program...