Waterfront Metropolis Abidjan. Between everyday urbanity, spontaneous urbanisation, town planning and real estate development

• Applicant: Dr. Irit Ittner
• Subject Area: Social and Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology ; African, American and Oceania Studies
• Term: from 2017 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 371001808

The research project refers to discussions about the right to the city (Lefevbre 1968), as well as to debates on rebellious cities (Harvey 2014). Abidjan will be examined as empirical case study for African metropolises with a waterfront where sustainability is debated on the one hand side. On the other hand side, an increased engagement of transnational real estate companies has been noticed in town planning. At the same time, unplanned settlements and informal business areas evolve along the waterfronts and with them every day urbanity. Public space appropropriated by inhabitants and owners of businesses is forcefully claimed back by the town administration in order to re-establish public order and state control. Spontaneous quarters and business areas often also face conflict with urban projects of modernisation, which should increase the economic value of public space, as well as should contribute to ecological sustainability. The research follows three objectives: (1) to write an ethnography about the settlement Adjahui, which has spontaneously expanded on a peninsular in the middle of the metropolis after other spontaneous settlements had been evicted; (2) to contextualise the Adjahui case by analysing the historical and political interplay of every day urbanism, unplanned urbanisation, town planning and real estate development in Abidjan; and (3) to analyse discourses on sustainable waterfront development along the Ébrié-Lagoon and citizenship in Abidjan. The main research question is: How does the waterfront metropolis Abidjan changes as a result of the dynamic interplay of every day urbanity, unplanned urbanisation, town planning and real estate development and whose interests are safeguarded?The anthropology of the city investigates material infrastructure, the production of space under conditions of global capitalism, as well as practices of the inhabitants. A functional-aesthetic approach (Pieterse 2013) was selected, which considers the supply in Adjahui, as well as the history of the settlement and the evolution of urbanity on the peninsular. Urban citizenship, the political claim and practical implementation of rights to access housing, employment, mobility and political participation will be researched in the context of Abidjan (Baégas & Marshall-Fraterni 2007, Isin 2009, Newell 2012, Fredericks & Diouf 2014).The ethnography will be based on the following methods: transect walks, photo documentation, and spatial description of the settlement, ethnographic census, biographical interviews, participant observation, and the establishment of individual case studies. These methods will be complemented by remote sensing. For the implementation of the contextual study and discourse analysis, especially expert interviews will be conducted and media reports analysed.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Côte d´Ivoire
• Co-Investigator: Privatdozentin Eva Youkhana, Ph.D.
• International Co-Applicants: Dr. Gilbert Fokou; Dr. Estelle G.G. Kabran; Dr. Tia Lazare