Heritage in the Dynamic City: The Politics and Practice of Urban Conservation on the Swahili Coast

Abstract

This study presents a series of everyday spaces in Swahili cities in order to problematize current urban heritage practices and to call for a more critical approach to conservation. Efforts to save elements of the Swahili built environment are hampered by colonial legacies that frame conservation in terms of pure archetypes, static taxonomies, and racially distinct building cultures. Conservationists draw on these legacies in defining particular architectural and landscape forms as ‘traditional’, and therefore worthy of protection. Ironically, these ‘traditional’ forms emerged within the crucible of an ever‐changing urban condition where the ‘tradition’ was innovation. The question thus arises as to the ultimate object of conservation practice: select buildings or the cultural processes that produced them? Through a careful reading of the Swahili built environment, this article examines key locations where urban spaces are formed, contested, and remade. The study concludes that to reflect the dynamic, multifaceted and cosmopolitan character of Swahili cities, conservationists must pay close attention to the ill‐fitting spaces where landscape innovations arise. Not only will this approach augur a more socially just organization of urban cultural resources, it will more accurately reflect the lived realities of Swahili cities in a global age. Résumé À travers plusieurs espaces du quotidien dans des villes swahilies, cette étude met en question les pratiques actuelles liées au patrimoine urbain et appelle à une approche plus critique de la préservation. Les démarches de sauvegarde d'éléments de l'environnement bâti swahili sont entravées par des héritages coloniaux qui enferment la conservation dans des archétypes purs, des taxonomies statiques et des cultures de construction racialisées. Les défenseurs de l'environnement utilisent ces héritages pour qualifier certaines formes d'architecture et de paysage de ‘traditionnelles’, donc dignes d'être protégées. Paradoxalement, ces formes sont apparues dans un cadre urbain en constante évolution où la ‘tradition’était une innovation. Ce qui pose la question du but ultime de la sauvegarde pratiquée: des bâtiments privilégiés ou les processus culturels qui les produisent? Tout en déchiffrant l'environnement bâti swahili, l'article examine les lieux prépondérants où les espaces urbains sont façonnés, contestés et remaniés. D'après les conclusions, s'ils veulent traduire le caractère dynamique et cosmopolite des villes swahilies aux multiples facettes, les défenseurs de cet environnement doivent prêter une attention particulière aux espaces mal adaptés où naissent des paysages innovants. Non seulement cette approche annoncera une meilleure justice sociale dans l'organisation des ressources culturelles urbaines, mais elle offrira aussi une image plus exacte des réalités vécues dans les villes swahilies à l'ère de la mondialisation.

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