The government of Southern Sudan, which is autonomous from Sudan and will vote on a referendum for independence next year, has revealed a plan to build new urban centers in all ten of its state capitals. The $10.1 billion plan, which would take about 20 years to complete, proposes remaking cities in Sudan’s south into shapes of animals and fruits found on regional flags. The Undersecretary for Housing and Physical Planning, Daniel Wani, says he hopes the plans will demonstrate the housing ministry’s desire to think creatively about how to remake southern Sudan for the future.
The government of Southern Sudan, which is autonomous from Sudan and will vote on a referendum for independence next year, has revealed a plan to build new urban centers in all ten of its state capitals. The $10.1 billion plan, which would take about 20 years to complete, proposes remaking cities in Sudan’s south into shapes of animals and fruits found on regional flags.
The Undersecretary for Housing and Physical Planning, Daniel Wani, says he hopes the plans will demonstrate the housing ministry’s desire to think creatively about how to remake southern Sudan for the future.
“This is very innovative. That is our thinking. It is unique,” says Wani. “It is from the Ministry of Housing thinking innovation; that we have to be different, so that people can see what we are trying to tell them."
Blueprints and maps illustrate Juba in the shape of a rhinoceros, Yambio fashioned after a pineapple and Wau as a giraffe.
The proposal, that has yet to receive final approval from the government, is hoped to reinvigorate southern Sudan’s major cities. “Juba, as an example, is a slum city. So our plan is to create a nuclear city outside Juba. We have been given land 15 kilometers west of Juba by the state, and we met the community, they are excited to give us this land. We call it Rhino City. And equally also we have been given land in the other nine capitals,” Wani states.
Since the war between northern and southern Sudan ended in 2005, the referendum on independence to be held in January 2011 brings high expectations of what independence would look like.
The regional capital city of Juba (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juba,_Sudan) will be modeled after a rhinoceros (pictured above). Another state capital, Wau, is set to resemble a giraffe. The placement of buildings will correspond to parts of the animal. For example, the president’s office in Juba is set to be located in the eye of the rhino, while the city’s industrial area will be along the animals back. Fittingly, in Wau, the sewage treatment plant will be at the giraffe’s backside. The town of Yambio will resemble a pineapple.
Distinct figures have long been referenced as inspiration in design and planning, as the case is with other famously shaped cities around the world. Dubai created several palm-shaped residential islands off its coast. In Argentina, planners went as far as shaping the town of Ciudad Evita into the form of Eva Peron, an actress and wife of former President Juan Peron who was known as Evita.
Furthermore, there is a whole observational science: Cartozoology, although not to be found on Wikipedia, described as, 'The science or practice of discovering and studying animals outlined paradigmatically by street layouts as they appear on maps, especially with reference to physical evidence of the animals’ presence in the corresponding terrain'. This definition offered by the Norwegian Cartozoologic Society website (http://www.kartozoologi.no/English/index.html) lists animal shapes they have found mostly in Oslo.
Animals on the Underground is a site that finds cartoon-like animals in the maps of London’s metro system(http://www.animalsontheunderground.com). Graphic artist Kentaro Nagai has also produced a series of illustrations rearranging the map of the world in to the animals of the Chinese zodiac in a piece called “Twelve Animals” (http://pinktentacle.com/2009/02/twelve-animals-world-maps-as-chinese-zod...).
Although Southern Sudan’s total annual budget this year is less than $2 billion, the ministry says it can get the additional funds needed for this ambitious project through private financing.
