17 Nov 2022

Local architects and urban designers should explore opportunities outside the country to develop their trade.

The president of Architect Association of Botswana (AAB), Mr Moemedi Gabana made the call during a two-day architecture and urbanism conference, in Gaborone on Wednesday.

Mr Gabana encouraged locals to seek collaborations with their counterparts outside the country to do business.

“We should see opportunities in other countries,” he said.

He further said AAB was working with professional bodies from other countries to foster collaborations.

On other issues, Mr Gabana said the government had pledged more funds toward research from next year.

The idea, he said, was to find solutions to urban design and architectural problems bedeviling the country.

Thus, he urged architects and urban designers to ready themselves for practice based on research.

For his part, Nigerian Institute of Architects president, Mr Enyi Ben-Eboh also stressed the need for Africans to collaborate toward solving problems affecting their countries.

He said architects and urban designers had a role to play in solving current problems facing African cities and urban places, adding slums, that mushroomed due to failure to plan were a major challenge for Africa.

“As designers we should fashion our cities so that they are more livable and enjoyable,” said Mr Ben-Eboh.

He also said planning ought to be ahead of growth in order to build resilient cities.

Such cities must have alternative sources of energy and Africa would do well to utilise them, especially sun and wind energy, which he said were abundance in the continent, but remained largely untapped.

Doing so, he said, would help Africa to address many energy challenges that it faced.

Delegates from within and outside the country attended the two-day conference. It ended on Thursday. ENDS