Paper long abstract:

This paper examines the power of the built environment, in shaping the socio-political imagery of the nascent independent nation states in Africa from the late 1950s to the end of the 1960s. It tests the thesis that the new 'international-style modern' architecture and planning that was adopted after the Second World War, became synonymous with progress and the development aspirations of the newly independent republics. By using three case studies, one educational, one residential and one commercial, it examines the visual significance of these edifices in influencing the view and imagery of progress and development in newly emerging nation states. Its conclusion comprises a critique of the success of these edifices then - in the 1960s, and their legacy now, - 50 years, on as images embodying a past era of thwarted progress.