African New Towns:
An Urban Planning Perspective
One of the most effective ways to communicate research to a large audience is through film and animation. Theories elaborated in long articles and journals can be complex and difficult to understand, and often not accessible to non-field experts. One such experiment was to convert a PhD thesis on the pitfalls and issues of the current planning paradigm in African New Towns into a video for architects, urbanists, civic bodies and policy makers. Watch the complete video on youtube.
Services: Storyboarding, Illustrations, Animation
Credits:
Script & Narration: Dr Rachel Keeton
Music: Art of silence by uniq
My role in this project was to create a visual story of the research through illustrations and animations that speak of the pitfalls of the current planning paradigm in Africa. I was inspired by the warm Saharan desert colours to depict rural Africa, and contrasted the growing urban jungle with cold greys and blues.
Communicating science with empathy
Meet Adugna, a resident of a village-turned New Town in Ethiopia, Africa.
This is what an Ideal New Town means to her. She sees opportunity and hope.
But the reality is very different. New towns come with a different set of issues and problems.
Because only the rich have the means to luxury and comfort of New Towns.
With more Africans migrating to urban areas, housing cannot keep up!
And this is how it fares with rest of the world..
The past however, holds some answers.
A significant part of the video is a historical reflection of planning methodologies. Timeline was presented in the form of a ticker tape and photomontages of the bygone eras.
Storytelling dates back to an era even before the written word. In this next project, I was able to explore a traditional form of Japanese children's storytelling called the Kamishibai to explain a technical and modern concept of offshore monopile transportation logistics.