Unruly Spaces

🎧 And finally, don’t forget to check out the latest additions to our Open playlist – a curated sound journey through the moods, voices & vibes that inspire the Unruly Spaces project. open.spotify.com/playlist/4G…

Another recent highlight in our Resources section: The Abidjaner. Launched in 2022, this collective art project celebrates the spirit of Abidjan through weekly illustrations. Led by Corotoum Symakan, it brings together diverse artists to honour the city's beauty and complexity.🖼️

🕊️ In memory of Mamy Tall More than an architect, she was a visionary who believed in design as a force for dignity, heritage & humanity. Gone too soon at 32, her luminous work continues to inspire. ➡️ Read the tribute in our updated Resources space: theunrulyproject.org/ressour…

4️⃣ Im-Mobilities What does it mean to move—or not—through African megacities? From moto-taxis to makeshift boats, this section documents the inventive, unequal & often precarious ways people get around. 🚖🚶🏾‍♂️🛶 Urban movement as resilience & critique.

3️⃣ Street Scenes Cities as “dense ecologies of presence.” These photos capture the blurred lines between public & private, formal & informal—where sidewalks become meeting points, businesses, shortcuts, or homes. 🚶🏾‍♀️🏠 Every corner tells a story.

2️⃣ Material Culture How does urban infrastructure reflect political life? This series links objects & cityscapes with public debate, civic practice & imagined futures. 🏙️ Sidewalks, walls, stalls, and signs are all political artifacts in Kinshasa & Abidjan.

1️⃣Portraits These images were co-created with interlocutors in Côte d’Ivoire & DRC - municipal workers, association leaders, street vendors. They chose how & where to be photographed, staging their identity, space, & role in the city. It's about gaze, power & self-representation.

🌈 Queer Urban Lives – PhD Results Dissemination Workshops in Kinshasa & Abidjan Two closed-door sessions led by @AlineNanko shared and confronted preliminary findings of her thesis with project participants on queer agency, resistance & subaltern urban citizenship.

The Unruly Team lit up #ECAS2025 by reaffirming its commitment to interdisciplinary dialogues on African urban politics, futures & imaginaries: - @sperazzone on daily urban governance - #KarenBüscher on digital war narratives - @AlineNanko on Afropolitanism & Decoloniality

🧑🏽‍🏫 Methodological Workshop – @BouakeA52009, Côte d’Ivoire In may 2025, PhD student @AlineNanko ran a session named ""Explore, Visualise, Co-create"" with MA students on creative, participatory & inclusive methods in social science.