MUSICAL URBANISM: Accepting Informality as the dominant mode of city-making in Accra
Joseph Dennis N. Quarcoo, MGIP
Inspiring Social Justice Advocate and Youth Empowerment Pioneer. Bridging the gap between academia and activism, fostering social change. Applied Social Psychologist and Urbanist.
Do you buy stuff from hawkers, eat at the chop bar/restaurant, admire a clean office, fix your car at the mechanic shop, join public transport (trosky/taxi/uber), etc. and still think slum dwellers are - (informality is) - unproductive, troublesome and illegal? Re-think!?
We must move beyond the binary of legal and illegal, official/unofficial, legitimate/illegitimate in the formation or construction of our cities. This dichotomy is problematic, because we all, even the government engage in informality - it is a 'southern mode of practice'. Informality is here with us and it's going nowhere! We must redirect our energies to make meaning of it in order to harness its benefits.?
Southern cities i.e. cities in developing countries - in Asia, Africa, and Latin America - are as much a product of the masses/ordinary citizens as official state plans, policies, and logics.
As part of the musical urbanism project, I composed this piece and collaborated with my Southern Urbanism colleagues at the University of Cape Town. I hope you find it informative.
Consider this a Provocation!
The song, “Southern Cities”, is (quite possibly) the first original song and music video ever about urbanism and even more possibly the first about urbanism in the Global South (Africa, Asia & Latin America). It’s a love song for Southern cities. It’s an angry call to action. It’s about the messy, multiple challenges we grapple with, the difficulty even of naming them. Informality is a characteristic trait of these cities, yet they aspire to be inclusive and healthy cities. Bold methodologies and approaches would be required to attain this aspiration.
The musical urbanism project is an experiment on enlarging the conversation beyond planners, academics, and other important folks to reach the people (especially the youth) who live in our cities. It is an open-ended question, an urban experiment.
Acknowledgment: 2020/2021 cohort MPhil Southern Urbanism, University of Cape Town & MA Critical Urbanisms, University of Bazel. Special shout-outs to my professors - Sophie Oldfield, Edgar Pieterse, Anna Selmeczi, and Laura Nkula-Wenz.
Copyright ?De Joe Quarcoo ?African Centre for Cities (ACC). All rights reserved.
Southern City Lyrics
Hook: Da da da li lada da da
Verse 1 (Mandisa Mteshana)
Here it is
Alas we see a bit clearly
It's here with us
And it's going nowhere now
Informality, struggle for inclusiveness
The voice of ordinariness
Shaping our cities
Chorus 2x
Southern city
Balanced city
There's inclusivity
Mixed uses
Healthy city
Balanced city
There's inclusivity
Mixed uses
Hook: Da da da li lada da da
Verse 2 (De Joe Quarcoo)
A force so strong
It cannot be stopped, now
The everyday lives of millions of people
Characterized by shacks
领英推荐
Informal settlements
Oh! Informal economy
Emergence, Insurgence
Oh slums everywhere
Slum Urbanism!
Repeat Hook & Chorus 2x
Vamp
African Cities
Balanced Cities
QUOTE NARRATION
Hend: We strive for decency, Respect for human lives, Dignity, and well-being
Bronwin: Peripheral urbanism does not mean an absence of the state or planning,
But rather a process in which citizens and governments interact in complex ways.
Kadria: Incorporating informality into official logics opens up new perspectives of understanding the city
The state also practices informality, we know
RAP (Romeo Dipura)
Our cities are our futures, the truth is, they elude us,
They treat us like we’re losers and polluters of the futures
In Shona:
Mapumba, it’s hard living here; they’ve made the city their own
De Joe, it’s hard being here; they’ve made the city their own
Arabic: Bread, Freedom, Social Justice
?Hook: Da da da li lala la la
Chorus 2x
Southern city
Balanced city
There's inclusivity
Mixed uses
Healthy city
Balanced city
There's inclusivity
Mixed uses
By: Joseph Dennis Nii Noi Quarcoo. The writer is an urban practitioner. The Founder of the Nkosuo Initiative Foundation and the pan-African youth movement, Voice1Africa. He is a member of the Ghana Urbanization Think Tank and the Ghana Institute of Planners (GIP).