Considering plurality and miscegenation: the case of Michenzani Blocks, in Zanzibar

Abstract

Ng’ambo was, until the mid–19th Century, an agricultural area adjacent to Stone Town, Zanzibar. With the city’s development, Ng’ambo became progressively residential, revealing typologies of urban, residential and constructive settlements typical of the Swahili culture. Its apparent ‘disorganization’ made this territory a fertile field for international urban planning models, and Ng’ambo became a laboratory for a political program aimed at a post–colonial and socialist city. Within the scope of international collaboration, plans and projects designed in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) brought an interventionist vision disconnected from the local culture, a condition considered indispensable to the ambitioned modernization. Living standards would be increased through an urban organization based on western logic, and apartments would replace Swahili dwellings. Under the direct intervention of President Karume, Michenzani underwent the heaviest intervention through the construction of apartment blocks bordering extensive avenues that overlapped the pre–existing organic fabric. Over time Zanzibari families redesigned the domestic space, adapting it through various occupancy strategies. Thus, the Michenzani neighbourhood has incorporated activities that enrich its mono–functional fabric, often recreating public–private relations and sociability areas. Yet, despite this apparent socio–urban acceptance, the buildings function as extensive dividing walls. It seems necessary, along with the qualification of the surrounding space, to find strategies that perforate these barriers, transforming Michenzani “Trains” into a catalytic and porous membrane.