+ 21 st Century African City; “re-imagined” +
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What’s In Here // 4
Abstract
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Geography
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History
12 Theory 14 Locations+Interventions 46 Future-Proofing Strategy 48 Wrap-Up!
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What this is about // Abstract
The Following Document is an analysis, a continuum, a theoritical and experimental study on the recently released proposal for the city of Ningo-PramPram.It discusses different narratives, scenarios from which the new city could gain a strong competitive edge, in the modern era, by holding on to its original agricultural roots and fishing heritage, and escelating from there to a self-sustained, regenerative city, and a global trading center. It experiments with multi-saled interventions in the various layers of the city, looking for answers to one central question; ---How Can “food production� work as a catalyst for urban growth in the Twenty-First Century African City?
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“---I think our governments will remain virtuous for many centuries; as long as they are chiefly agricultural.” Thomas Jefferson // 1787
21 st Century African City; “re-imagined”
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21 st Century African City; “re-imagined”
Historical Reflections
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Building Manuals
“DIYs”; Between Past, Present and Future
Through out the history of Ghana, Tema in particular, urban planners and researchers have proposed a series of building manuals, DIY tool kits and guides that can be easily customized according
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living and working purpose of dwellers, provided with a general framework or area building codes. Fry and Drew’s manual published in 1947 is considered the first in the world of building schemes for Africa.A couple of years later it was followed by Alfred Alcocks “How to Plan your Village”, but unfortunately with much less success.In the years that follow, Tema becomes a living experiment of Doxiadis’s planning schemes science and theories, that changed and transformed cities drastically at the time. One of the most recent releases for African cities building manuals, was made by Michelle Provoost and Rachel Keeton in 2019.The very same planning framework, can be imposed on the dwellers of future cities, and will hopefully transform cities to environments, that are tailored to specific puposes, and flexible to live, work and produce in.
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Idea Mapping
Integration+
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Food production systems, are like any other systems, very complex and multi-layered.Starting with the very basic key-word; “integration”, and that “wholes” are higher in values than sum of the “parts”, the proposals deal with the theme of food production from various different perspectives.
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21 st Century African City; “re-imagined”
Info-graphics
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21 st Century African City; “re-imagined”
The Case Study of Thailand
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Objective //
Strategy //
+A master plan that offers a revolutionary vision for
+Integrate ningo prampram with Tema // Food
how urbanity and agriculture can be integrated to
production manufacturing + export zone
enhance the relationship between people and the land, creating new economic opportunities. +The master plan
envisions a series of self-
sustaining communities that are designed to encourage creative pursuits, offer a high quality of living, and integrate with larger regional open space, sites of production and hydrological systems. +This integration is a critical component of the innovation process that will fuel the economy.
+Integrate food production with housing // urban farming +Integrated
communities
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Diverse
functional
communities + Input-output cycles that feed on each other. +integrated
educational
programs
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University
campus: Live experimental laboratory +Integratiive Alternative Medicine+Bio-technologyplant absed- lab // Farms as Research Labs +Green web // Showroom for food production +Participatory Agriculture // awareness pavillions + public urban gardens +ÂŤAgri-PreunershipÂť//Future=Agriculture+ Technology= Digitalisation
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Tema + Ningo PramPram
“Anchoring” Strategy //
Starting with connecting Temas Industrial Zone to Ningo Pram-Pram with an extended «arm» from the the structural green web, with the aim of creating a multiple-link production cycle, where crops would be farmed in Ningo Prampram, shipped to the factory zone in Tema, a potential area for food production factories. When the food is processed, food production escelates to a new level of production, creating a broader job market and diversifying food production possibilities.Temas Fishing Harbour could also act as an important factor contributing to the overall food production cycle. In the future, if the plan continues to blossom, Ghana could become one of the leading exporting countries of crops and food products. Ningo Pram-Pram will consequently become an attractive arrival city, after its “anchored” by Temas industrial zone and harbour.
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Te m a ; C l o s e u p .
Looking closely at Temas industrial zone, where the
territories.
majority of the regions factories and oil refinement facilities are located, it appears that the percentage
“The principles are organised in a way that loosely
of “food processing” factories is barely noticable
follows the order from long-term and large-scale
in copmarison to the percentage of the rest of
decisions and processes to smaller scale and urban
the factories in the region.Not only does the zone
design advice. The first three guidelines therefore
create a great potential both for Ningo PramPram
address issues related to process and site selection
and Tema on the social and economic level in terms
such as the need for long-term planning and planning
of food production but this integration also easily
for adaptivity, affirming the need to view New Town
fits in “the manual” Michelle Provoost prescribes
planning as a process of evolution over time, rather
for building new towns in Africa.
than a product that is ‘complete’, as well as integration into large-scale spatial planning and existing networks
“We distilled a set of ten principles specifically geared
at different scales.”
towards the design and planning of New Towns and presented them as an addition to the New Urban Agenda at Habitat III”. Principle #3 in the manual; -No New Town is an island- articulates the way new towns should be planned in order to guarantee successful attractive
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The Three Stage Rocket
“Core” Food production Strategy //
“The plan is perceived as a ‘three-stage rocket’, starting with food production, then focusing on light industry and finally attracting and developing a service industry. First, the city will contain its own food production in the estuaries and in the fishing communities that already exist. Hence, the base for the current local economy to exist and expand is there. Secondly, a zone for logistics and (light, nonpolluting) industries is planned close to the Trans African highway. This zone could attract investors and industrial companies who can set up shop there. The area is attractive for both local and global investors to step into, due to its closeness to airport, port and road connections, and Ghana’s overall stable environment. This allows from a transition from just the production of food to ‘off farm’ production in which farmers can expand their production to other parts of the food (and value!) chain. These include planting material, supply, application, logistics, sales and consumer thus generating more income for the community. This same goes for the fishing industry: an industry can be set up for fish processing.”---UN Habitat Ningo-PramPram
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F ro m Te m a To N i n g o - P r a m P r a m F o o d P ro d u c t i o n P ro c e s s
The invisioned food production process will simply
the cocoa beans and coconut export markets for
be as follows; crops will be planted & harvested
years.
in Ningo PramPram to fulfill individual need, excess will be moved to local markets or the new
Building on this history, the new scenarios hope for
local port for exports. A portion of the crops will
Ghana to continue in the same direction, and build
be transported to the industrial zone, where new
an urban image thats both based and integrated in
products will be created for both local and global
food production and manufacturing.
use.The manufactured goods will then be exported from Tema’s industrial port to the world.Ghana has been home to chocolate production factories like Hersheys for decades now, and has been leading
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---“Food impacts on more than our personal wellbeing and enjoyment. If we look at it from a sustainable and spatial perspective,we begin to understand the complex nature of its importance for the urban image” Bohn & Viljoen Architects, 2002
21 st Century African City; “re-imagined”
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Ningo-Prampram.
Accra.
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Ghana. +
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Disclaimer //
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The following interventions might be seen as rather imaginative or experimental.They are very different in aproach, scale and implementation.However, All five interventions contribute collectively to the main strategy; “food production as a catalyst for urban growth in new African cities�. The proposed ideas are imposed on different layers of the new city. Each of the ideas contribute in a way to the overall strategy.They can be considered as blueprints that fit in within the larger framework. + +
Potential Food Production Zones
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“By establishing new foundations that embrace the country’s cultural heritage---the fisherman’s village will become an important landmark for the city”
Village
The Fishermen’s
T h e f i s h e r m a n ’s “ + a r r i v a l ” v i l l a g e .
Ningo-Prampram; the new arrival city. Ningo Prampram is expected to be an attractive site for workers from all over Ghana, typically village dwellers or the existing Ningo-Prampram inhabitants, who will see potential job opportunities for them in the city thats just beginning to reform.This exact area, near a possible secod local harbour, creates an anchor point for a fisherman’s village. The fisherman’s village will house the people, within a flexible modular structure, on the outskirts of the new metropolis.The units can be tailored to different dwellers needs and uses.The village will alllow the dwellers to build the place they live in by themselves within a standardized framework. The structure also investigates the connection of people with their food and creates modules that connect architecture with agriculture. By establishing new foundations that embrace the country’s cultural heritage, through introducing mixed urban typologies, the fisherman’s village will continue to attract people from all over Ghana.
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Structural Modules
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+ Aquaponic Farming //
Apart from the flexible module, the new Fishermen’s village will offer,It will also incoporate the latest farming technologies, making the maximum output from the available resources. Aquaponic farming for instance, relies on fish waste as a fertilizer for plants, and simultanously, fish feed on the plants.
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“And with the fourth industrial revolution striking up, the age of internet and digitalisation, Agriculture has to be incoporated in the fast changing technology”
The University Campus District
Live Experimental Agricultural Laboratory //
The -University Campus District- is considered an essential zone to kick-start the food production strategy. Agriculture Education is a very important tool at the beginning of the implementation process, many of the millenials lack enough knowledge and awareness about the possibilities and potential the agriculture sector holds for their future and the future of their country.Around the campus area, is a vast area of land, which will be used as a “live experimental laboratory” for the students to recieve professional agricultural knowledge. The area could also withhold educational pavillions and modular structures for reading, experimenting and relaxing, in order to enhance the quality of the experience.The space should be flexible, to be used for a various number of purposes, to host a speech or an open market event for instance. This proposal for the University Campus District could be considered as a new urban combination/ integration, where new ideas and concepts revolving around food production, could flow freely between farmers and the young generations.
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“The Farming Pavillion can also function as the “New City Service Centre”, an on ground facility that delivers the necessary knowledge to express the importance of the plan. ”
The BusinessDistrict Pavillion
Farming Pavillion // The new city Service center
In order to make people of Ningo-PramPram an integrated part of the proposed strategy, the right amount of general knowledge and awareness needs to be spread, and a sample show case project needs to be shown to the genral public, as small proof that it coould actually work and cause grate impact on the long run.The Trans African Highway will become a fundamental spine in the city and a tourist head-to area reflecting the image of the city, it will be a zone for offices and businesses, and will attract loal and global investors. The Farming Pavillion can also function as the “New City Service Centre”,
an on ground facility, that
delivers the necessary knowledge to express the importance of the plan.This Service Center is more than just a technical facility; it is a hub bringing together people for engagement. The New City Service Center will link local knowledge and expertise to the network of specialists
in
Ghanaian
universities
and
the
networks of the Urban Lab.
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Envisioned Scenarios For Visitors inside the Pavillion.
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“This cycle allows for a transition from merely production of food ---to “off farm” production, in which farmers can expand their production to other parts of the food value chain”
The Research Lab
Factory of Alternative Medicine //
This facility is meant to take “food production” to a whole new level, beyond corn kernells & cocoa beans.The research lab runs in a different scenario, that also starts with herb harvesting. Ghana can create medicines and remedies that are 100% naturally extracted from its lands, and in the future export them to the whole world. This cycle allows for a transition from merely production of food from the planted crops to “off farm” production in which farmers can expand their production to other parts of the food value chain. These might include roles like vendors of planting material, suppliers for plants and herbs, doctors, techicians, representative members for the overall application process, logistics, and sales, thus generating more income and elevating the city’s urban image.
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“This cycle allows for a transition from merely production of food ---to “off farm” production, in which farmers can expand their production to other parts of the food value chain”
Factory of Alternative Medicine //
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“It merges the specs of the traditional village structure, as an outset to create a modern structure & landmark for the new food based city.”
Farming in the “Y-axis”
Ve r t i c a l F a r m / / C a t t l e + C ro p s
With the new identity, the city aims to shape for itself, creating a resilient economy from food production, the process will have to be faster and smarter. Vertical farming could be a very convenient option. Regardless of its many advantages of saving land area and creating a moden image for the city, vertical farming could be a very useful tool, not only for crop planting, but also for live stock operations. The Vertical Farm answers this question: how to farm, produce, store, and sell in the same place, regarding the vital needs for its functions, while interacting harmoniously with its urban context? The structure offers an unseen integration of functions. Inhabited research and experimenting areas are contrasted by efficient, spaces of production, and storage.It merges the specs of the traditional village structure, as an outset to create a modern structure and landmark for the new food based city.
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“And with the fourth industrial revolution striking up, the age of internet and digitalisation, Agriculture has to be incoporated in the fast changing technology�
Future
Proofing
Ghana’s
Agriculture
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AgroDigitalisation
Economy //
For the Srategy to work effeciently now and even 100 yeras later, Ghana will have to build a strong IT network all over the city connecting farmers, land owners, markets, producers etc. And with the fourth industrial revolution striking up, the age of internet and digitalisation, Agriculture has to be incoporated in the fast changing technology in order to continue to become the backbone of development in the city. With the use of mobile applications, drones, sensors, IoT, green houses and Artificial Intelligence, food production processing and manufacturing will be easier, and will secure a stable place for most Ghanians in the economic cycle.
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“but working across different layers and scales all over the master plan and imposing diverse changes that respond -integratively- to the surrounding context, will eventually realize the reselient -African City- dream.”
Wrap-Up!
Conclusion //
Just like a Marionette operates, The “Food Production as an Urban Catalyst” strategy will. It can be easily understood that none of these proposals can contribute significantly on its own to the whole city, but working across different layers and scales all over the master plan and imposing diverse changes that respond -integratively- to the surrounding context, will eventually realize the reselient “African City” dream. The imposed interventions will be controlled in a systematic way, so that each has a powerful effect operating on its own, but an even more powerful one when all interventions operate simultanously.
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Mariam Omara Israa Al-Khalil
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