‘AT HOME’ IN THE CITY
NLÉ means ‘at home’ in Yoruba, the language of Africa’s first truly urbanized population. From the 11th century onwards, the Yoruba lived in a network of West African cities characterized by sophisticated commercial and governing structures.
But within NLÉ’s philosophy, the home is much more than walls, floors and ceilings. Instead, it refers to the fundamental building blocks of the city, to everyday life and the uses of public space in the emerging and endlessly complex urbanisms of developing regions.
Due to rapid urbanization and the forces of globalization, the people in such cities have redefined our understanding of cities through their innovative and economical appropriation of spaces, materials and infrastructure. The environment streets, bridges, side walks, raw materials and junk are acquired, cultivated and reconstituted to achieve maximum necessities through minimum means. This creates unique organizations and advanced social structures in which people live, work, trade and play in ways that are now rarely seen in the ‘developed worlds’, which are now ironically the ‘less developing world’.
We believe that these colorful and seemingly chaotic worlds hold some of the solutions to the problems faced by cities in the century of mega needs. Our aim is to work with, and be inspired by these worlds to create more social, political, and economically responsible interventions for and with the people who have made them home.