To Survey, Control and Design: Doxiadis and Fathy on Africa’s Future and Identity, 1959-63

Abstract

In an era that appeared to solidify a dichotomy between East and West, the newly independent countries of Asia and Africa emerged as the terrain on which to experiment global theories and practices of architecture and planning. Beyond the circulation of models and ideas, political and economic circumstances fostered the rise of innovative and alternative strategies, particularly when unfolding ambitions of global control could be supported by technological progress. This work aims to reveal how experts in architecture and planning approached the African continent and its modernization. By analyzing the fruitful but conflicting collaboration between the Greek planner Constantinos Doxiadis and the Egyptian architect Hassan Fathy, this work helps to shed light on some diverging aspects in the path of modernization and growth, ultimately revealing how alternative evolutionary and developmental strategies resulting from a new approach to Africa ended up shaping a new discourse on global design and planning.