Newcomers to the Megapolis: Lessons from Urban Villages in Shenzhen (China) and Favelas in Sao Paulo (Brazil), by David Mangin

IFRA Nigeria/Institut Français/IAS Lecture

On Thursday 22nd October 2016, IFRA Nigeria organised its first lecture in collaboration with the Institut Français of Nigeria and the Institute of African Studies (IAS).

Titled “Newcomers to the Megapolis: Lessons from Urban Villages in Shenzhen (China) and Favelas in Sao Paulo (Brazil)” it was given by David Mangin, well known French urbanist and architect, professor at the School of Architecture of Marne-La-Vallée and at the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées in Paris, France.

David Mangin, who was invited by the Institut Français to give several lectures and meet Nigerian fellows in Abuja, Ibadan and Lagos, is an associate, co-managing partner and joint founder of SEURA architect agency. He has achieved several urban development projects, including the realization of infrastructure, public spaces and housing projects in France (Paris, Toulouse, Douai, Marseille) and Cambodgia (Sihanoukville). David Mangin was awarded the Grand Prize for Urban Development in 2008. The architect’s very interesting lecture sparked off an enthusiastic debate with the public, notably about the urban growth of Ibadan and Lagos, and the part played in it by the newcomers to the city.

After a break with refreshments in the entrance of the Institute of African Studies, the lecture was followed by the screening, with the help of the Thursday Film Series movie club, of the documentary "Lagos Wide and Close" (Netherland, 2005), by Bregtje van der Haak, in cooperation with the architect Rem Koolhas and the Harvard Project on the City, about the urbanization of Lagos.

This first event of the new academic year gathered numerous students and teachers/researchers from the Institute of African Studies (African Music, African History, Culture and Media Studies), the Institute of Peace and Strategic Studies and from the departments of European Studies, Urban and Regional Planning, Sociology, Anthropology, Geography and Philosophy.