• 115
        • Unsettling Landscapes: The Volta River Project
          New Settlements between Tradition and Transition

        Abstract
        In this essay Viviana d’Auria and Bruno De Meulder present a critical reading of the Volta River Project, a large-scale infrastructure project that is emblematic of the unique historical juncture in which various African countries made the transition from colony to independent nation. They show how such a project, as an icon of modernization and a representation of Ghana’s national identity, relied on attracting the expertise of renowned experts from abroad, such as Doxiadis Associates, or Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew. Through a close reading of the plans, on a regional and urban as well as architectural scale, this article provides an evaluation of the reciprocal relationship between the formal and planned modernist city (Tema) and the ‘self-build’ constructions and irregular urban patterns we find in Tema New Town today. 
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        Citation
        d'Auria, V., & De Meulder, B. (2010). Unsettling Landscapes: The Volta River Project. New Settlements between Tradition and Transition. L'Afrique, c'est chic. Architecture and Planning in Africa 1950–1970, OASE, (82), 115–127. Retrieved from https://www.oasejournal.nl/en/Issues/82/UnsettlingLandscapesTheVoltaRiverProject

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