Development in Post-Colonial West Africa: Building the Nation

State led development projects were characteristic of the end of colonial rule in 'British West Africa' and the transition to new independent governments. Infrastructure, prestige projects, and grand architectural schemes are often used to infer power, or suggest modernity, development, and progress. More (seemingly) mundane developments, such as housing, can be as revealing in terms of power structures and wider ambitions. In a problematic and contested political situation, these types of projects become highly charged and significant expressions of a nation's collective (often contested) identity. This is even more meaningful in a colonial context, where architecture, town planning and infrastructure become symbolic expressions of the colonial power.

Using The National Archive's extensive collections, the project will explore how the West African 'built environment' was shaped to respond to various political, economic, and welfare ambitions. The timeframe will cover the transition from colonial rule into independence period. Initially scoping all 'British West Africa', the project will focus on one of the former British colonies and consider:
1. how notions of 'self', identity, and freedom were expressed through new construction and town planning;
2. how former colonisers and other foreign groups attempted to shape and influence these developments in the 'post-colonial' period;
3. expressions of identity, nation, 'new beginnings' by the postcolonial nations.
The objective of this project is to examine these notions within the West African context over the late colonial and early post-colonial periods. Whilst volatile, this moment, was charged with excitement and optimism, and a desire to 'start again' and rebuild the nation with a new vision. Architecture and planning would shift from being expressions of colonial dominance and subjugation to being expressions of nationalism, hope, and modernisation.
It is sometimes tempting to see the event of Independence as an abrupt and sudden moment. The clock strikes twelve and everything suddenly changes - and whilst this is true, it is also oversimplifying a complex event that is, to some degree, still being played-out today. There is also a sense of inertia in the built environment and existing city plans, methods of development, and networks of expertise stubbornly persist and outlast political dynasties.
The desire for the newly independent nations to express their hard-fought freedom through physical, often large-scale triumphant (sometimes infrastructure) projects was met with the former colonial power's aspiration to continue offering technical assistance, expertise, and trade. It resulted in a complex blend of nationalism, reimagining/reinventing identity and Pan-African ambition, further mixed with the additional influences of 'non-aligned' socialist assistance and US, World Bank, and UN concerns. Independence was therefore not an abrupt severance from the former colonial power, but a feathered, gradual transition coupled with intense global interest eager to retain or cultivate influence and trade advantage.
The project will therefore question how political ideas, and notions surrounding identity, nationhood, and statecraft are expressed or manifest through the built environment. Alongside the National Archives collection, the research would incorporate archival sources from the UK and Nigeria. Also interviews with architects and building users, as well as fieldwork observations will be conducted.
There is growing interest in the architecture of the Global South and increasing professional requirements for this material to be taught in architecture schools. There has been some excellent research on the 'colonial city' and increasing focus on African cities, but the lack of scholarship and analysis remains shocking and forms a major gap in our understanding. This project will investigate the extended threshold from colony to independent nation, and there is cert