Place-making thanks to a power line. 2017
Master Theses

This master thesis project deals with a section of a transmission corridor in Zanzibar City. The high voltage powerline carrying electricity from the mainland to the island was once situated far away from town. Due to the vast urban expansion during the last decades, it now stands in the midst of the dense, informally developed suburbs. Due to security reasons, the authorities do not allow housing in immediate proximity to the powerline. As a result a blank line gets inscribed in the urban fabric. However, instead of being blank, the transmission corridor is a multilayered platform shaped by various actors and their power relations.
While unveiling how a place gets created through its nearby residents, it is discussed, how these slight tendencies of place-making can be used to further develop a by law monofunctional infrastructure space. In a final scenario it is demonstrated, how such a place can contribute to the improvement of daily lives by rethinking it in a new manner.