The Construction Boom in the Anthropocene (20 minutes)
Concrete Everywhere
Concrete Everywhere
The Construction Boom in the Anthropocene (20 minutes)
In Mogadishu, Shabaz Abdulkadir remembers the stories her elders told her of a different city: wide sidewalks, open parks, people meeting at cafes. What she found on arrival was walls. Concrete fences around houses, schools hidden behind gates so tall you cannot tell they are schools, a city built without consideration for the human beings who live in it.
This episode moves between Somalia, Nigeria, and Tanzania to trace what concrete does to a body, a neighborhood, a history. In Abuja's Mpape community, Comrade Blessing describes the blasting from a nearby quarry that sent residents running for cover, poisoned the air with dust, and shook the ground hard enough to feel like an earthquake.
In Dar es Salaam, Bernard Ntahondi watches the last buildings made of coral stone and mangrove give way to a skyline that erases the architecture that once made the Tanzanian coast uniquely legible.
The episode insists that these outcomes are a choice, made by developers, policymakers, and investors, and it can be made differently. As Shabaz says, Africa does not have to repeat every mistake the rest of the world already made. There is still time to build cities for the people who live in them.
PRODUCTION CREDITS
Featuring Bernard Ntahondi / Comrade Blessing Yusuf / Shabaz Abdulkadir
Executive Producer Wangui Kimari Creative Director Jim Chuchu Producer Njeri Gitungo Country Productions Ajabu Ajabu / Movement Lab Collective / Said Fadhaye Research Lead Brock Hicks Project Communications Cynthia Kemunto Post Production Africa Post Office (APO) Post Production Supervisor Carole Kinyua Editors Gloria Ndiritu / Winnie Ndirangu Supervising Editor Jim Chuchu