Growing an Architecture: an exploration of form and materiality as catalysts to reurbanize and empower rural Tanzanian communities

Tanzanian rural migrants moving to cities in search of opportunity have triggered the country’s rapid urbanization. Many migrants, particularly women, are not empowered by the rural-to-urban move and suffer from a degraded quality of life. The rural landscape suffers environmental degradation due to deforestation resulting from the need to supply materials to the rapidly growing urban fabric. This thesis asserts that balance must be achieved between urban and rural development. It posits that balance will be attained by empowering rural communities through the provision of an architectural program, which responds to the communities needs, such as a clinic, primary school, and women's empowerment centre. The research explores the relationships between the contemporary discourses on development, on vernacular architecture, on the changing nature of the profession, and most importantly, on the catalytic potential of form and materiality. The above will be put to test in the representative community of North Muleba in rural Tanzania.