The adventures of the French architect Michel Ecochard in post-independence Dakar: a transnational development expert drifting between commitment and expediency

Abstract

After many countries gained independence from the 1960s onwards, both continuity and change characterised development planning in the former African colonies. While new bi-lateral and multi-lateral development organisations emerged on the scene, other bi-lateral development agencies maintained their colonial functioning. In either case, independence and the subsequent increase in development projects opened up new opportunities within the domain of architecture and urban planning for architects to expand geographically their professional practice towards Africa as development experts. Whilst most authors focus on the way the transnational practice and geo-political framework of development experts affected their architectural and urban designs in the Global South, by looking at the work of the French architect Michel Ecochard in Dakar (Senegal) from 1963 to 1967 within the framework of the French Fonds d'Aide et de Coopération (FAC), I will explore to what degree the individual agenda and ambitions of development experts determined the outcome as well as the process of development projects. Hence, this paper illustrates that just as the high-level development plans of many development agencies were balanced between altruism and economic, cultural and political interests, the work of development experts also fluctuated intensely between social commitment and personal expedience. In this paper architecture and urban planning will thus be used to gain a more nuanced understanding of the mechanisms and logics of development planning, a topic which is still relevant today.