Critical Indigenism as Approach for Sustainable Urbanization

Abstract

Within the next 30 years, cities will grow dramatically. Rural areas will become new urban centers, and open spaces will transform into urban cityscapes. Population growth, demolition of natural landscapes, and urbanization are fuelling the already imminent threat of climate change. Indigenous structures with their own "critical regionalism" touch on a wide range of cultural, economic, and societal aspects. The authors of this paper examine the possible influence of indigenous vernacular structures and the important regional dependencies in African communities. Paradigm would be the use of materials, typologies, building layouts, urban planning, and ecological concepts as well as the question of the importance of a defined urban image. The paper is based on results derived from interdisciplinary and intercultural collaboration within the framework of the Female Academic Leadership Network for Conscious Engineering and Science towards Sustainable Urbanisation FALCONESS.