DESIGN OF AN EXPERIMENTAL COMMUNITY IN MAKENI, SIERRA LEONE
OPTIMISING THE SOCIAL, ENVIRONMENTAL, HEALTH AND ECONOMIC RESPONSE TO THE 2030 AGENDA
The research consists of the design of a small community in the environment of the City of Makeni in Sierra Leone. A new settlement of 10 families is proposed in one of the existing villages in the Panlap-Kunshu corridor (3 mile, Yelissandra, Yoni, Makpr Kunshu). The design of this sustainable experimental community is a cross-cutting approach to the 2030 Agenda. It is based on the essential role played by cities and an approach based on participation and equity throughout the process. To this end, the quantitative methodology that had already been applied in different neighbourhoods and villages around Makeni (Perea, L.) is pursued, collecting critical components to be considered in 10 elements of basic habitability. The leap in the applied research that is now presented consists of transferring this same methodological structure of analysis of existing settlements to design a new community.
GOALS
The research enables a largely unexplored avenue for international cooperation in the field of cities and their environments. The design of a new community provides an essential and integral vision that supports a new field for Madrid City Council, where development cooperation between cities shows a key role in the new international context frameworks (Agenda 2030, New Urban Agenda, Paris Agreement, mainly).
CHALLENGES
Being able to anticipate the settlement of these new communities is critical in Makeni, its surroundings and in Sierra Leone in general. Usually, informal dynamics (mainly articulated according to the traditional hierarchical structure of the territory) guide the development of the place, without an overall medium- to long-term vision. The lack of qualified personnel (architects, town planners, engineers, etc.), the lack of an advanced legal framework for urban planning, the weight of tradition and its overlap with formal structures, the lack of resources and the existence of a context marked by significant deficits and short-term priorities, all hinder the real capacity to implement urban planning actions on a certain scale. Little by little, the city of Makeni and its surrounding territory are growing without an overall plan, without a comprehensive and transversal vision.
Collaborators
In this context, the USP CEU-UNIMAK (University of Makeni) collaboration, which started in 2009, has strengthened several multidisciplinary lines of action (health, urban planning, architecture, economy, communication, …) in the time covered. In the field of habitability work, urban proposals have been developed on different scales, in addition to architectural projects. For this research, the relationship with the Makeni City Council and with the main actors of the city and its surroundings, with whom progress has been made in the framework of the so-called Makeni Strategic Plan, is of particular importance. Various participatory meetings and urban proposals have put graphic materials, proposals on the table, as well as alternatives for debate and providing an important route at all levels. In parallel, several actions have been developed on a neighbourhood-village scale (Ropolon 2013, Robuya 2017, Masuba 2018, Makenkita 2019, Yoni 2020 and Panlap 2021).
The work on commercial activity, with the city's hospitals, schools, and other local institutions, is a complementary basis for knowledge of the territory, fundamental for the research presented here.
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Finally, in accordance with the Strategic Framework for Global Citizenship and International Cooperation Policy of the city of Madrid, our project will focus on key issues such as development cooperation, proposing the design of a small sustainable experimental community in the area of Makeni, Sierra Leone. This follows the quantitative methodology that has already been applied in different neighbourhoods and villages in the area in previous years. Education for global citizenship, including education, awareness-raising, training, and communication actions, and finally, humanitarian action, including emergency actions to be carried out in relation to the pandemic, oriented towards hygiene issues. With all this, we propose to establish a partnership with the Madrid City Council so that it can, in turn, strengthen its direct cooperation with vulnerable communities, in its efforts to promote local public policies that contribute to increase the degree of social cohesion in the communities and that can become models of reference.
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Thus, through the project of this small community in Makeni, interesting conclusions or methodologies can be drawn that can be applied to the city of Madrid, such as, for example, greater citizen involvement, which will lead to strengthening local democracy by increasing the responsibility and solidarity of society. Furthermore, this decentralised cooperation can make a significant contribution to strengthening the government's capacity to implement public policies in line with the 2030 Agenda, which can facilitate the acquisition of knowledge, experiences and innovative solutions for the sustainable development of the region, promoted by universities, companies and NGOs, as is the case in this project with researchers from University CEU San Pablo and the University of Makeni, the NGO Manos Unidas and the company TPF Getinsa.
