Here we are. We knew it would have arrived sooner or later and now the time is ripe: Corporate are trying to drag up some big money from this “climate changes” hysteria, so they’re pointing-their-pointed-eyes to the fastest growing economies of the third world. Why the third world? Because they’ve already taken the other two.
Lagos is a port and the most populous city in Nigeria. It is the second fastest-growing city in Africa and the seventh in the world. The latest reports estimate the population at 21 million, making Lagos the largest city in Africa.
Lagos was originally inhabited by the Awori subgroup of the Yoruba people. Under the leadership of the Oloye Olofin, the Awori moved to an island now called Iddo and then to the larger Lagos Island. In the 15th century, the Awori settlement was attacked by the Benin Empire following a quarrel, and the island became a Benin war-camp called “Eko” under Oba Orhogba, the Oba of Benin at the time.
With a bitter sense of humour, the corporate “struggling” to save Lagos from the sea rising and devastating flooding, dredging up more than 5 mln sqm of land from the sea bottom to the seafront of the city, called itself Eko Atlantic.
The Guardian journalist Martin Lukacs called Eko Atlantic “climate apartheid” built by “disaster capitalists”. Here’s more from his stimulating artcicle:
“Eko Atlantic is where you can begin to see a possible future – a vision of privatised green enclaves for the ultra rich ringed by slums lacking water or electricity, in which a surplus population scramble for depleting resources and shelter to fend off the coming floods and storms. Protected by guards, guns, and an insurmountable gully – real estate prices – the rich will shield themselves from the rising tides of poverty and a sea that is literally rising. A world in which the rich and powerful exploit the global ecological crisis to widen and entrench already extreme inequalities and seal themselves off from its impacts – this is climate apartheid.”
On the other hand, here’s what they think about themselves: “Eko Atlantic will change the face of Africa and will help Lagos State transform itself into megacity status on the world map. This state will provide space for the 25 million people expected to live and work in the region by the year 2015. Eko Atlantic is a creative and ambitious development and is rapidly becoming a source of great national pride in Nigeria.”
The funny thing is, that if you look at the design concepts on their official web site, 90 per cent of the people in those renderings are white!
Take it as a game: try to find the black man in the new Lagos! The first reaching ten wins!
Via Gizmodo Uk: “The Makoko slum–where about 100,000 people live on boats and stilted homes in a lagoon–is only about a mile away from Eko Atlantic. Parts of this slum and other communities like it have already been demolished or forced to relocate due to development. Some claim that Eko Atlantic’s construction and dredging have even made the coastal surges worse for these floating neighbourhoods.
While a barrier island would likely help protect the city from a storm surge, this particular idea of a massive privatised development designed for millionaires and their corporations seems particularly insensitive to solving the larger issues around climate change and inequality in Lagos.”
In the end, I need to specify something. When I say this is yet another Corporate bullshitting, that’s what I mean (from urbandictionary.com): Bullshitting – 1. When someone has no fucking clue what they are talking about, Yet insists on trying to get others to belive him/her.
Text by: Enrico Mancini
Where: Lagos, Nigeria
Architecture: city planners of Eko Atlantic
Traslated by: Bianca Baroni
