In July 2024, a team of architects, urban designers, and researchers from ISD and Jakupa traveled to Oniipa Town in Northern Namibia for our neighborhood development project. Our second site visit in 2024 was an opportunity to engage with our local partners, the Oniipa Town Council, Development Workshop Namibia, and community members.
We held a series of participatory workshops to test our design concepts and get feedback from neighbors and future residents. Through intensive fieldwork, on-the-ground data was gathered, and research on socioeconomic needs and opportunities to integrate our planned neighborhood into the specific context of Oniipa Town. We visited educational institutions, including neighboring schools, libraries, and early childhood development centers. We talked to business owners and entrepreneurs, learning about economic challenges and innovative business opportunities, as well as regional planners and decision-makers to identify institutional and knowledge gaps.
The pilot project is funded by the German development bank KfW. It will continue throughout 2024 and will be implemented next year, aiming to establish a new neighborhood development model for projects across Namibia and beyond in collaboration with our partner Development Workshop.
Development Workshop area coordinator Verena Aindongo, who manages the Oniipa project, wrote an article in the October 2024 issue of the Fly Namibia Magazine about our collaboration and participation workshops. Her article can be found here (p. 27).
Aindongo, Verena. "Shaping Our Stories: The Power of Urban Design in Namibia." Fly Namibia 35 (October, 2024), 27.