The next generation of African architects and designers | Christian Benimana
TED Talks Daily
TED
4.1 • 12.1K Ratings
🗓️ 21 December 2017
⏱️ 13 minutes
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Summary
Christian Benimana wants to build a network of architects who can help Africa's booming cities flourish in sustainable, equitable ways -- balancing growth with values that are uniquely African. From Nigeria to Burkina Faso and beyond, he shares examples of architecture bringing communities together. A pan-African movement of architects, designers and engineers on the continent and in diaspora are learning from and inspiring each other, and Benimana invites us to imagine future African cities as the most resilient, socially inclusive places on earth.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This TED Talk features architect Christian Benimana, recorded live at TED Global 2017. |
| 0:08.0 | The longest journey that I have ever taken, that was in 2002. I was only 19 years old. |
| 0:16.0 | It was the first time I had ever been on an airplane, and the first time that I had left my country, Rwanda. |
| 0:24.6 | I had to move thousands of kilometers away to follow a dream. |
| 0:29.6 | A dream I have had ever since I was a child. |
| 0:33.6 | And that dream was to become an architect. |
| 0:41.5 | That was impossible at the time in my country. |
| 0:43.1 | There were no schools of architecture. |
| 0:46.6 | So when I got a scholarship to study in China, |
| 0:49.8 | I left my life and my family behind, |
| 0:51.8 | and I moved to Shanghai. |
| 0:54.6 | It was an amazing time. |
| 0:59.2 | This country was going through a major building boom. |
| 1:04.1 | Shanghai, my new home, was quickly turning into a skyscraper city. |
| 1:06.3 | China was changing. |
| 1:11.6 | Word class projects were built to convey a new image of development. Modern, striking engineering marvels were going up literally everywhere. |
| 1:17.6 | But behind these facades, exploitation of huge numbers of migrant workers, |
| 1:24.6 | massive displacement of thousands of people made these projects possible. |
| 1:31.2 | And this fast-paced development also contributed significantly to the pollution that is haunting China |
| 1:36.8 | today. |
| 1:38.4 | Fast forward to 2010, when I went back home to Rwanda. |
| 1:43.3 | There, I found development patterns similar to what I saw in China. |
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