Design Studio WiSe 2022/2023
Dr. Jakub Galuszka, Dr. Oliver Lah, Prof. Dr. Elke Beyer, Prof. Anke Hagemann

Sustainability Transitions and Urban Mobility in Africa

Solutions for Kigali's transformative living labs

Streets in urban Africa are more than just a hard infrastructure. Particularly in central urban locations, they are a vivid space of interactions, culture and economy. While assuming multiple functions essential for the city, they are also character-ised by significant traffic congestion, lack of public transportation, CO2 emissions and safety issues resulting in a high number of accidents. This studio works towards merging the socio-cultural vivacity embedded in street life in Kigali, Rwanda, with a trans-formation approach oriented toward sustainable, ecological and safe transportation. The PIV component is realised in cooperation with Wuppertal Institut.

In cooperation with the local municipality and the University of Rwanda we tackle this problem by integrating new sustainable transportation modes into urban and street design solutions. This work will incorporate solutions for leveraging multimodality and public transportation in the context of the country’s transition to sustainable energy modes.

At a city scale, we will focus on proposing strategic approaches for including e-mobility for two and three-wheelers as well as charging and battery swapping infrastructures. On a street scale, we will zoom into crucial locations in Kigali to propose design solutions which can ensure the integration of public and non-motorised infrastructure, enhance road safety and align culturally and economically relevant uses with the ecological sustainability principles. The studio is a part of three interrelated projects: SOLUTIONSplus, SESA and TRANS-SAFE.

The PIV component is realised in cooperation with Wuppertal Institut. It works towards mainstreaming the design process in the form of a dedicated project brochure.

Photo: © Jakub Galuszka

Download the Poster here.