Getting started

To get started we met with our group the first week at one of our group member’s collective work studio in Kamppi. We brainstormed and started to gather information for our first assignment, the Background study paper on the city of Dar Es Salaam from a city planning point of view. The final paper can be downloaded from the “results” section.

The following week we met again with our group and another time also with our group mentor, architect Taru Niskanen. The meeting was really helpful in clearing out what was the main task of our group, and what things should we concentrate on. Now we will continue with doing further research on the city of Dar Es Salaam.

Check also the “References” section for additional reading and information!

Our group

We are a group of five students, with different nationalities and from different field of studies, traveling together to Tanzania. We are doing a project with Aalto University to create urban planning scenarios for the city of Dar Es Salaam. We view our work as including three consecutive parts: a comprehensive research on the city of Dar Es Salaam done in Finland, two weeks of field studies in Dar, and finally creating urban planning scenarios for the city.

  Hanna Kuivalainen

I am a master’s student of architecture from Helsinki. My major is in urban planning and design, but city culture takes also a lot of my free time. I also happen to have an underground mission for this course – I collect mugs with pictures of royalties and head of states, so I hope to find one of the President Kikwete from Dar Es Salaam.

  Mathilde Rue

 I come from a happy farm situated in a plain near Saint-Etienne, France, where the river Loire goes. I’m studying landscape architecture in Versailles. I’m curious about Dar es Salaam’s urban agriculture power! Home produced milk, eggs, green leaves vegetables, fruits, “leftovers” and improbable lands, small farms are my passions. I love African people happiness!

Merete Kemppainen

Hello everybody! My name is Merete, I’m 28-years old architect student, though I’m not quite yet sure if architecture is my career of choice. I enjoy traveling, dancing, organizing parties and hiking. I’d love to save our planet or at least to do something that doesn’t destroy it more. I can’t watch nature documentaries because I start crying when somebody dies.

Maria Fernanda González

I am a master’s student in Creative Sustainability with a background in civil and environmental engineering. I am from Colombia (far away from here) and every day feels like having a new experience. Sustainability is probably my most used word right now, and I’m very excited about this project in Tanzania.

Hanna Tuominen

Hi! My name is Hanna and I’m studying water and environmental engineering at Aalto University. I love to sing and I like to photograph at my free time. With this project two of my dreams are coming true! For a long time I’ve wanted to travel to Africa and now in a month we’ll be there!! Also I have wanted to work with development aid projects and possibly help people, and that’s what this project is about. I’m super exited and looking forward to travel to Dar es Salaam.