IN-PERSON Barcelona. Section A
Abstract
The backbone of Tanzania’s rural development and progress lies in the hands of devoted civil servants such as doctors, nurses and teachers, yet they face a significant hurdle – locating suitable housing. Current housing options fall short, but the government sends them there anyway leaving them discontented to the extent that it makes it hard for them to do their job effectively or to choose to stay. This research argues that poor quality housing is holding back the rural development initiatives by the government. The research uses ethnography and two case studies to demonstrate the complications of transplanting urban patterns of housing into rural areas. The findings show that the housing patterns are unbefitting to the people of their status and so many choose to leave or build houses for themselves. Furthermore, they show that the civil servants in rural areas are agents of a whole new aspirational way of designing and constructing houses in rural areas. The research illuminates the paradoxical relationship between urban aspirations, rural needs and persistent traditional practices in the housing culture. Comprehending the aspirations of civil servants and their fundamental needs and aspirations has implications beyond rural Tanzania and this project goes beyond investigating processes to develop rural homes that work to meet contemporary aspirations. In doing so it bridges the gap between past and future, between the urban and the rural contexts, to transform rural Tanzania into thriving areas of progress and opportunity.
Margaret Sisila is a Professional Architect registered by Tanzania’s Architects and Quantity Surveyors Registration Board (AQRB) as of June 2021. She has a 10-year experience of working as an academic in the field of Architecture in Tanzania. Commencing her PhD at the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, University of Melbourne, Australia in June 2023, her scholarly contribution is around the fields of architectural heritage, sustainable architecture and building technologies.
Dr David O’Brien is an associate professor at the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, University of Melbourne, Australia. He is the director of the award-winning Bower Studio program – internationally recognised for its innovative work co-designing and co-building community infrastructure with remote, marginalised indigenous communities in Australia and internationally. David’s academic publications are focused on links between housing cultures and technology with a specific focus on mass produced housing developed in the aftermath of disasters. He has a particular interest is the ways residents self-modify this housing to suit their aspirational and functional needs.
Dr Kelum Palipane is Senior Lecturer in Architectural Design at the Faculty of Architecture Building and Planning, University of Melbourne. She obtained her PhD by Creative Works from the University of Melbourne. Kelum’s doctoral research involved developing a design framework that would help retain and foster the diverse place-making practices of multi-cultural communities in neighbourhood regeneration projects. Her research uses creative ethnographic methods to explore migrant experience and identity, exploring how unprogrammed place-making practices of marginalised groups can inform design.
3:30 pm - 5:00 pm
Monday 15th July, 2024