What makes a good city? Exhibition in Woodstock

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Two women looking at an exhibition of photographs. The Photographs show city scenes from around the global south and are mounted on a plywood structure.

The My City Invisible exhibition curated by Dr Ranald Lawrence from Liverpool School of Architecture and architect Kevin Fellingham from the University of Cape Town launched in LOCAL, Woodstock, Cape Town, on 25th August.

The exhibition forms part of the British Academy ‘My City InVisible’ project, led by Dr Lawrence, which set out to record the narratives, perceptions and experiences of what constitutes ‘a good city’ in the Global South. The project recruited partners and participants from six cities in the Global South (Accra, Ghana; Cape Town, South Africa; Kozhikode, India; Colombo, Sri Lanka; and Chattogram and Mongla, Bangladesh), who produced photographs and maps documenting the places and everyday life experiences that connect people positively with their home cities.

A bearded man sitting on a brick wall watching a nearby man stood halfway up a concrete staircase speaking.

The project coincided with the spread of COVID-19 in Africa and Asia, as well as protests against the government in Sri Lanka in March 2022. The result is therefore a record of a unique and challenging moment in the life of these cities, but also stands as a testament to the resilience of the communities involved.

People looking at an exhibition of photographs. The Photographs show city scenes from around the global south and are mounted on a plywood structure.

A catalogue of the exhibition is available to purchase here, or as a pdf download from the project website.

For more information about My City InVisible, please see the project website.