Asmara: Africa's Modernist City (UNESCO Nomination Dossier)
- Submitting institution
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University College London
- Unit of assessment
- 13 - Architecture, Built Environment and Planning
- Output identifier
- 4814
- Type
- N - Research report for external body
- DOI
-
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- Commissioning body
- Asmara Heritage Project
- Month
- January
- Year
- 2016
- URL
-
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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2
- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- Yes
- Double-weighted statement
- This was a collective multi-disciplinary effort, 1300-pages long. The main 400 pages drew on twenty years of research by the author. As a capital and postcolonial modernist city, Asmara’s dossier required historical research be combined with critical theory to provide the basis for the site’s future management and protection. Asmara was successfully inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2017, a first both for Eritrea and for modernism in Africa. The work won the RIBA President’s Medal in 2016 and has seeded new initiatives, such as the pan-African Modern Heritage of Africa project.
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- The author was responsible for compiling the 1,300-page UNESCO World Heritage Nomination Dossier and writing the main 400-page body of the Dossier. This included framing the overarching narrative and argument; the Statement of Outstanding Universal Value; the detailed Historical Description of the entire site and its key urban planning and architectural features; a comprehensive Comparative Analysis; and the State of Conservation survey.
The methodology was intentionally critical of the UNESCO nomination process, which has disadvantaged the African continent. The nomination was framed by a decolonising and decentering narrative that looked beyond the singular role of Italy in planning and designing Asmara and included the wider experiences of Eritreans and the essential role they played in the realisation of Asmara’s modernism. The nomination also challenged convention in the way it was compiled to promote Asmara’s sustainable development and not its preservation.
The research process spanned more than four years and was undertaken in collaboration with colleagues at the Asmara Heritage Project (AHP) in Eritrea. The research included: digitising 80,000 architectural drawings, photographs and documents from the Italian Municipal Archive; sourcing late 19th century maps and drawing new accurate maps for the AHP; surveying 4,346 buildings and 38 open spaces; and, interviewing all the building owners.
The underlying research won the RIBA President’s Medal for Research in 2016, and in 2017, Asmara was successfully inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List – a first for Eritrea and a first for Modernism in Africa.
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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