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PROJECT

ILASA CONFERENCE 2023: FESTIVAL OF

AFRICAN LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

At the recently held ILASA Conference in October 2023, Anthony Wain of Planning
Partners gave a presentation on Zanzibar’s historic beachfront. The article below
is a shortened version of his presentation, covering Forodhani Park and the

Mzinghani Promenade.

CITY SPICE, ZANZIBAR!

he historic centre of Zanzibar is its
capital Stone Town, a World Heritage
TSite, the survival of which is a local and
global cultural imperative. The historic and
social context of this seafront required a new
and comprehensive planning framework
in order to reconcile its revitalisation. The
precinct is shared by monuments, tourists,
sun seekers, businessmen and most
importantly, the residents of Stone Town.
Urban recovery involved the creation of
a contemporary, functional public space
whilst retaining a historic sense of place,
simply put “the city spice that is Zanzibar!”
Zanzibar lies off the coast of Tanzania,
east Africa, and Stone Town has long
been famous for its collection of eclectic
architecture from the 18th, 19th and early
20th centuries. It is a fusion of Swahili, Arab, Seafront after the upgrade
Persian, Indian and European influences,
forming a maze of lanes serving as a
pedestrian network. Stone Town, shared spaces that are a local
Monsoon rains necessitate projecting tradition for respectable social interaction.
eaves, creating a cross-town canopy Changes in the island’s economic
of shade. The pedestrian experience is fortunes and social demography, including
enhanced by crenellated parapets, tea both decolonisation and revolution,
houses, shadowy verandahs, shutters and impacted on the very fabric of Stone Town.
impressive brass spike-studded doors to Out of approximately 1400 conservation-
repel elephants! worthy buildings, 85% are in structural
It is theatrical to emerge from the decline, and over 200 have already fallen
narrow darkness of lanes into the tropical down. As original buildings disappear, less
greenery of public open spaces. Their rarity than authentic architecture appears in their Seafront before the upgrade
makes them very popular, and they are the place.
communal courtyards or public gardens of In 1988, the Aga Khan Trust for Culture
(AKTC) focused world attention on the
dilemma of Stone Town. This consequently
led to a plan for its collaborative rehabilitation
between the AKTC and the Government
of Zanzibar. An exhaustive survey of the
historical core and an integrated urban
strategy for Stone Town’s revitalisation
was developed by AKTC’s Historical Cities
Programme. A comprehensive work was
published as “Zanzibar, A Plan for the
Historic Stone Town,” which defined general
policies and described specific area plans.
Restoration of Forodhani Park
One such project was the restoration and
rehabilitation of Forodhani Park and its
protective sea wall, and subsequently it
became the focus of the seafront action
Master plan of Forodhani Park
area. The park is very conspicuous and the

4 Landscape SA • Issue 132 2023 Check us out www.salandscape.co.za