Zachary Edelson

Freelance Writer
New York, NY, USA

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  • "Andile,Thank you for your feedback; you raise some good points I'd like to address!In terms of the legitimacy of the exhibition, Hulshof and Roggeveen spent three years travelling to major African cities, photographing, interviewing, and conducting scholarly research. This was hardly a piecemeal analysis of a few scattered projects. As the image credits indicate, none of these photos were taken off the internet: all were taken by Hulshof and Roggeveen and then given to Core77 (either by Hulshof and Roggeveen or the Storefront gallery).In terms of my providing of context, I do so at the article's first paragraph: the industries, businesses, and expertise that grew Chinese cities are finding new opportunities to work in Africa. There is certainly a great deal of historical, economic, and cultural context I could add. However, that's far outside the scope of a short article such as this. Instead, the first paragraph of this article works to introduce the actors and recent history most immediately relevant to the exhibition.In terms of providing a portrait of Chinese urbanism or African cities, hopefully I can clarify my terminology. By 'portrait' I mean the forces that guide how African cities are growing: to quote from the review, Facing East "does not explore any projects in detail but articulates the broad tensions that are shaping the design and construction of Africa's new infrastructure and cities." There are two essential tensions that I mention: 1) the goals of Western vs. Eastern development and 2) imported Chinese planning/design vs. African needs/uses. Facing East (and my review) argues that those are important ways to look at the growth of African cities. Lastly, I wholly agree that buildings and infrastructure don't make a neighborhood. Cities are immensely complex landscapes of people and places. I think you know that well: according to your LinkedIn profile, you are a private-sector management consultant who focuses on city and infrastructure planning. Given that you work in South Africa, and that most of your clients are African governments, I'm forced to highlight that you may have a personal or professional stake in how African cities are portrayed. That aside, your expertise and firsthand experience means you're very well-equipped to highlight the shortcomings of the exhibition and my review! I'd be very curious to hear what context or portrait you would've provided, as well as any concrete examples that may shed light on the subject of African cities at large. Best,Zach"
    on: A Startling Portrait of African Cities—And How China is Building Them
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