bukka™ is a ‘think tank’ that aims to create a transcultural investigation into the potential optimisation of the way cities work in developing countries. The word ‘bukka™’ comes from the roadside restaurant in Nigeria: a place of incidental gathering, open to all; a place where the stratifications of society dissolve. The experience is one shared by all: young and old, rich and poor, educated and illiterate, urbane and rustic. They all ‘chop’ at the bukka™..
bukka™ is a resource and meeting place for anyone involved in the art, design, literature, architecture and urbanism of the city. it is an umbrella for the creative arts in the context of modernism in non-western cultures.
bukka™ will aim to use a wide range of frameworks to dissect the historical and socio-economic make-up of cities as they currently exist; and to evolve an architectural framework (amongst other methodologies). Cities have become an increasingly desirable paradigm in the context of a human ecosystem. Over half of the world's population lives in cities. A century ago it was less than 10%. The 21st Century is the first truly urban age with over 75% of the world's population living in urban areas, many in mega-cities with over 10 million people in the rapidly developing countries of Asia, Africa and South America. Meanwhile, many cities of the global north are shrinking, or have reinvented themselves to adapt to a post-industrial age.Over the next 10 years bukka will aim to investigate a wide range of cities from Lagos to Mumbai, Johannesburg to Brasilia, and Rabat to Accra.
bukka™ is a research and educational trust registered as a charity in the UK (charity number 11079963). We rely on donations from founder members and friends and receive no government or corporate sponsorship. Founded in 2003, our main concern has been the developing world city; our focus to date has been Lagos. We have sought to read the city through cultural artefacts and codes that cumulatevely unravel a city that is often read as a chaotic agglomeration that defies orthodox urbanism. It is bukka's ambition to influence not only architects and designers, but crucially those who make policy in the urban development context.
bukka™ further seeks to maintain a dialogue with architects, designers, economists, urbanists, sociologists, artists and policymakers both in the developing world, and the industrialised nations. We see this as a two way process, and would encourage/ seek to enable the passing of ideas and knowledge between developed and developing with the overall aim of fostering a more holistic approach to making and amending our urban centres.
