Urban assessment: slums of Freetown
Freetown, Sierra Leone
Freetown, capital city of Sierra Leone, is unique among West African towns as it was founded by British philanthropists in 1789 to give an home to freed African slaves.
Liberated slaves from different African cultures built a polycentric town, made by small ethnic villages with different languages, religious beliefs and traditions.
During the recent rebel war Freetown had to face widespread destruction and the invasion of a great number of refugees. In less than 10 years, the urban population doubled and it is now estimated to be around 2 million, many of them living in slums.
The research examines the development of spatial frameworks of Freetown, focusing on the actual role of urban slums and on the self-organization practices developed by several slum dwellers communities in town.
TaxiBrousse is a design and consultancy studio for international development, we works in the fields of engineering, architecture, urban planning and environmental protection.
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