Development in Post-Colonial West Africa: Building the Nation

国家主导的发展项目是“不列颠西非”殖民统治结束和向新的独立政府过渡的特征。基础设施、声望工程和宏伟的建筑计划经常被用来推断权力，或暗示现代性、发展和进步。更多(看似)平凡的发展，如住房，在权力结构和更广泛的雄心方面也可能同样显露出来。在一个有问题和有争议的政治局势中，这些类型的项目成为一个国家集体身份(通常是有争议的)的高度负责和重要的表达。在殖民背景下，建筑、城市规划和基础设施成为殖民权力的象征性表达，这一点甚至更有意义。该项目将利用国家档案馆的大量藏品，探索西非的建筑环境是如何被塑造成对各种政治、经济和福利野心的回应。时间框架将涵盖从殖民统治过渡到独立时期。该项目最初将重点放在前英国殖民地之一的范围内，并考虑：1.‘自我’、身份和自由的概念是如何通过新的建筑和城市规划表达的；2.前殖民者和其他外国群体在‘后殖民’时期如何试图塑造和影响这些发展；3.后殖民国家对身份、民族、‘新的开始’的表达。本项目的目标是考察殖民后期和后殖民早期西非背景下的这些概念。虽然波动不定，但这一时刻充满了兴奋和乐观，以及重新开始的愿望和重建国家的新愿景。建筑和规划将从殖民统治和亡国的表现转变为民族主义、希望和现代化的表现。有时，人们很容易将独立事件视为一个突如其来的时刻。时钟敲了12下，一切都突然改变了--虽然这是真的，但它也过度简化了一个复杂的事件，在某种程度上，它至今仍在上演。建筑环境中也有一种惰性的感觉，现有的城市规划、开发方法和专业知识网络顽固地存在并超过了政治王朝。新独立国家希望通过有形的、往往是大规模的胜利(有时是基础设施)项目来表达他们艰苦斗争的自由，但前殖民大国继续提供技术援助、专业知识和贸易的愿望得到了满足。它导致了民族主义、重新想象/重新创造身份和泛非雄心的复杂混合，进一步混合了“不结盟”的社会主义援助以及美国、世界银行和联合国的关切的额外影响。因此，独立不是与前殖民强国的突然断绝，而是一种有羽毛的、渐进的过渡，伴随着渴望保持或培育影响力和贸易优势的强烈全球利益。因此，该项目将质疑围绕身份、国家地位和治国方略的政治思想和概念是如何通过建筑环境来表达或体现的。除了国家档案馆的收藏，这项研究还将纳入英国和尼日利亚的档案资料来源。此外，还将对建筑师和建筑用户进行采访，并进行实地观察。人们对全球南方的建筑越来越感兴趣，对建筑学校教授这种材料的专业要求也越来越高。已经有一些关于“殖民城市”的优秀研究，并越来越关注非洲城市，但学术和分析的缺乏仍然令人震惊，形成了我们理解上的一个重大差距。这个项目将调查从殖民地扩展到独立国家的门槛，并存在证书

State led development projects were characteristic of the end of colonial rule in 'British West Africa' and the transition to new independent governments. Infrastructure, prestige projects, and grand architectural schemes are often used to infer power, or suggest modernity, development, and progress. More (seemingly) mundane developments, such as housing, can be as revealing in terms of power structures and wider ambitions. In a problematic and contested political situation, these types of projects become highly charged and significant expressions of a nation's collective (often contested) identity. This is even more meaningful in a colonial context, where architecture, town planning and infrastructure become symbolic expressions of the colonial power.Using The National Archive's extensive collections, the project will explore how the West African 'built environment' was shaped to respond to various political, economic, and welfare ambitions. The timeframe will cover the transition from colonial rule into independence period. Initially scoping all 'British West Africa', the project will focus on one of the former British colonies and consider:1. how notions of 'self', identity, and freedom were expressed through new construction and town planning;2. how former colonisers and other foreign groups attempted to shape and influence these developments in the 'post-colonial' period;3. expressions of identity, nation, 'new beginnings' by the postcolonial nations.The objective of this project is to examine these notions within the West African context over the late colonial and early post-colonial periods. Whilst volatile, this moment, was charged with excitement and optimism, and a desire to 'start again' and rebuild the nation with a new vision. Architecture and planning would shift from being expressions of colonial dominance and subjugation to being expressions of nationalism, hope, and modernisation. It is sometimes tempting to see the event of Independence as an abrupt and sudden moment. The clock strikes twelve and everything suddenly changes - and whilst this is true, it is also oversimplifying a complex event that is, to some degree, still being played-out today. There is also a sense of inertia in the built environment and existing city plans, methods of development, and networks of expertise stubbornly persist and outlast political dynasties.The desire for the newly independent nations to express their hard-fought freedom through physical, often large-scale triumphant (sometimes infrastructure) projects was met with the former colonial power's aspiration to continue offering technical assistance, expertise, and trade. It resulted in a complex blend of nationalism, reimagining/reinventing identity and Pan-African ambition, further mixed with the additional influences of 'non-aligned' socialist assistance and US, World Bank, and UN concerns. Independence was therefore not an abrupt severance from the former colonial power, but a feathered, gradual transition coupled with intense global interest eager to retain or cultivate influence and trade advantage. The project will therefore question how political ideas, and notions surrounding identity, nationhood, and statecraft are expressed or manifest through the built environment. Alongside the National Archives collection, the research would incorporate archival sources from the UK and Nigeria. Also interviews with architects and building users, as well as fieldwork observations will be conducted.There is growing interest in the architecture of the Global South and increasing professional requirements for this material to be taught in architecture schools. There has been some excellent research on the 'colonial city' and increasing focus on African cities, but the lack of scholarship and analysis remains shocking and forms a major gap in our understanding. This project will investigate the extended threshold from colony to independent nation, and there is cert