RECLAIMING THE LUZIRA’S WATERFRONT
EMMANUEL G. SSINABULYA
Supervisor: Anders Ese
Luzira, a waterfront town in Kampala, Uganda, is becoming
a predominately industrial suburb due to the rapid urban
expansion of the capital city Kampala. This has created a
huge impact on the economy and culture of the local fishing
community at the waterfront. The trend is that as the city
expands, more of the wetland is encroached on with soil fills
for developments, forcing the informal maritime fabric to be
pushed out.
The shrinking of the wetlands has resulted in increased floods
in Kampala as the natural catchment basins and mitigator of the
city’s wastewater disappears. This encroachment is happening
across the edge of Lake Victoria and if not addressed, the wetland
eco-system will be out of balance in a few years to come.
This project seeks to address the above issues by restoring
the wetland eco-systemwhile preserving the local marine eco-
nomic fabric and culture. This has been achieved through ex-
perimental landscape interventions that increase the wetland
coverage along the edge, allowing for an even spread of the fish-
ing community along the waterfront. A new housing typology
has been designed with influence from the local marine culture
and way of life, using cheap and locally-sourced materials, and
with the fishing community providing the labour force in a bid
to foster self-help housing.
AHO WORKS STUDIES 2012-2013
Diploma Projects
Master of Architecture
