Course Overview
In a fast globalizing world, exposure to varied cultures is a key component to education. We can expand the classroom, increase the breadth of the free exchange of ideas and provide a different setting for continuing discourse. As designers we need to understand how others live – and to successfully carry out our craft, we are dependent on client and user satisfaction. We must also respond to ecological conditions. We must observe how peoples’ lives are organized, as well as the environmental, social and cultural conditions within which these patterns exist. Observing such relationships in a different culture and a different environment affords us the opportunity to shatter our stereotypes, re-evaluate our perceptions and sharpen our sensitivity to the individual, cultural and environmental richness in any context.
Cape Verdean culture is a mélange which is at once West African and Portuguese. The country is an archipelago in the mid-Atlantic, 450 km (300 miles) off the west coast of Senegal. It is about the size of Rhode Island with about 40% of the population. Formed from volcanoes, the soil is fertile but rain is sporadic averaging 24 cm (9.5 inches) a year, with frequent droughts and dust storms blown in from the Sahara. Other than salt, the islands have few natural resources – much of its energy needs and many goods are imported. Over the years, trade was been dominated by fisheries and ship building, but like many small island nations, Cape Verde is susceptible to cultural influence from abroad and global economic forces. It has resulted in increased migration, from rural areas to urban areas, as well as emigration abroad. In recent years, the capital Praia and other urban areas in Cape Verde have grown by over 50%. Such explosive growth is common across the globe – especially in the global south, posing serious challenges to governments, planners, policy makers and other stakeholders. We hope our investigations can be useful for its people and will prove instructive in understanding the relevant mechanisms and challenges of sustainable growth faced by many communities around the world.
