Book launch African Water Cities

African Water Cities is a vivid collection of essays, research, photographs and visions of African cities and communities by waterfronts evolving through two of the most significant trends of our time: rapid urbanization and a changing climate. On Thursday June 22, the book will be launched during An Evening with Kunlé Adeyemi at Nieuwe Instituut. 

In this edition of An Evening With – a series of conversations with emerging and established voices from the design world – Nieuwe Instituut welcomes Kunlé Adeyemi. The architect will discuss his practice, inspirations and fascinations, and his new publication African Water Cities, which will be launched this evening. This event is moderated by architect Aura Luz Melis.

About Kunlé Adeyemi

Kunlé Adeyemi was born in Nigeria and lives and works in the Netherlands. Together with his agency NLÉ, for the past decade he has been researching the relationship between cities and water, rising sea levels and housing shortages. He studies coastal African cities where rapid urbanisation and rising water levels are leading to major challenges and innovative solutions.

Floating pavilion

From 14 May 2023, visit Water City Rotterdam. By Kunlé Adeyemi, a collaboration between the Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam and architect Kunlé Adeyemi's Amsterdam-based firm NLÉ, providing a platform for the diverse ways designers respond locally to the global climate problem. Adeyemi has been researching the effects of rapid urbanisation combined with rising water levels in African cities for more than a decade. Based on this, he developed MFS IIR - Water City Rotterdam, an installation of floating pavilions bringing his ideas to the ponds of the Nieuwe Instituut. The parallel exhibition with historical and current examples of possibilities for living and designing on – and with – water, includes work by Studio Makkink & Bey, Shertise Solano and pieces from the National Collection for Architecture and Urban Planning.