ABSTRACT
Figure 11.1 depicts an installation made of discarded tins by Congolese artist Bodys Isek Kingelez, of Kinshasa. His vision of utopia is a high-energy megacity, unlike the reality of Kinshasa which, according to locals, is a city composed of ‘swept up villages’. The expectations people have of the need for development is still so very much alive – in Africa, Europe, Asia, the Americas and Europe – despite the energy crisis we face, that I thought, like Kingelez, I would try to make up my own city for the new age, not in tins but in words. But, first I need to remind myself what it means when we say that fossil fuels are fast running out. The Utopian African City Through the Eyes of Bodys Isek Kingelez, Artist, (Kinshasa) https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780080455877/38992f46-bfca-4143-981a-5957a17b3196/content/fig11_1_B.jpg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>
