CONCRETE CITY
"Armelle Choplin's Concrete City weaves a novel and engaging analysis
of urbanization by tracing the journeys of cement and people making
urban life in West Africa. From post-independence high modernist
ambitions to building the opportunities to make a living, the emerging
transnational corridor along the West African coast provides a starting
point for insights which will expand and inform understanding of both
established and newly emerging urbanization processes in many different
contexts."
--Jennifer Robinson, Professor of Geography, University College of
London, UK
"In this very innovative and superbly illustrated book, Armelle Choplin
makes cement vibrant with affect, politics, economic interests and
cultural meanings. She takes us to a fascinating journey along the West
African urban corridor following the social life of concrete and showing
how this material shapes contemporary urbanization and everyday life."
--Ola Söderström, Professor of Geography, University of Neuchâtel,
Switzerland
Concrete City: Material Flows and Urbanization in West Africa delivers
a theoretically informed, ethnographic exploration of the African urban
world through the life of concrete. Emblematic of frenetic urban and
capitalistic development, this material is pervasive, shaping
contemporary urban landscapes and societies and their links to the
global world. It stands and circulates at the heart of major financial
investments, political forces and environmental debates. At the same
time, it epitomises values of modernity and success, redefining social
practices, forms of dwelling and living, and popular imaginaries.
The book invites the reader to follow bags of cement from production
plant to construction site, along the 1000-kilometre urban corridor that
links Abidjan to Accra, Lomé, Cotonou and Lagos, combining the
perspectives of cement tycoons, entrepreneurs and political
stakeholders, but also of ordinary men and women who plan, build and
dream of the Concrete City. With this innovative exploration of urban
life through concrete, Armelle Choplin delivers a fascinating journey
into and reflection on the sustainability of our urban futures.
