Modalities of feedback - West Africa as a springboard for UN funded projects in socialist Yugoslavia

Keywords: West Africa, Socialist Yugoslavia, United Nations, Architecture and Urban Planning
Abstract Type: Virtual Paper Abstract

Abstract

The experience of practice in African countries by Yugoslav (Croatian) architects was generally viewed as a one-way process. However, the feedback loop acted latently by expanding the professional experience of architects, enriching their profile either as authors or managers. Acting in foreign relations, architects acquired the status of "experts", and companies gained their position on the international market. Relevant international experience will thus be transferred to the UN funded projects, developed and implemented in Yugoslavia at the time, first and foremost the Regional Spatial Plan of the Southern Adriatic (1966-1969). This research will therefore address the methodological and organizational qualifications acquired in Africa, that will serve Croatian architects for placement in the field of the UN expertise. In doing so, the bilateral technical cooperation in Ghana and Guinea will be examined. The Urban Development Plan of Conakry (1961-1963) enabled the admittance to the international sphere for the Urban Planning Institute of Croatia. Later on, the Institute became the bearer of the Southern Adriatic Plan and was added to the register of the UN consulting organizations. By leading the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology [KNUST] Development Office in Kumasi, Ghana, architect Miro Marasović gained a successful international experience (1961-1964). Upon return to Yugoslavia, he was appointed coordinator of the Southern Adriatic Plan and continued to work for the UN until the end of his career. These two trajectories thus merged into one, and the aim of this paper is to precisely detect the structure of their subtle relations.