Hello, today we will read photographs. We'll examine ways we can use photography to understand the African city. Of course we've already discussed this in previous videos, but I'd like to put the emphasis on reading these images. We'll review a certain type of images, and will see what these images might teach us about the African city. Now, some of the different types of images. Naturally, we have the traditional images, those we might take with a camera. We have satellite images, with the introduction of Google Earth and Google Maps. There are infinite possibilities for viewing images, to view recent images, and older ones as well. We have Google Street View. Of course it doesn't cover all cities on the planet. In Africa, we have Gaborone, which is covered, also certain cities in South Africa. It's coming little by little. In American cities there are already infinite possibilities, particularly if you take a stroll around New York, where you'll find 3D models. With Google Street View, you can actually take a walk around the city. Aerial images, which are not satellite images, which are either the old images used in making plans, or aerial views, which is to say taken from above, which are often 3/4 views, and which allow us to see relatively interesting things. Archival images, of course, all old images which can serve as sources of information. And then the series of images that we've already considered during our discussion of the question of public space. We'll return to that quickly. There are, of course, others. If I refer to forensics, these are also many types of images, which may not be the kind we can use in African cities. The traditional images are those that you or I might take with our camera, more or less from a distance of 1.6 or 1.7 meters, from the ground, in the street, taken in the traditional way, which is why I referred to them as such. These are the photos, taken on vacation, while on a walk, all those photos which one might take on a more or less daily basis. In this first image we are in Dakar, and what is interesting is that right away we see colonial architecture, visible here. We have a tiled roof, here. Perhaps still the old tiles from Marseille. There is a certain style of façade which tells us that this is an old building, and behind it we've highlighted other, more recent buildings. So we are downtown. From this image alone we can already begin to surmise certain things about the architecture. We can do the same thing with, on one hand, a private car, which we see in the corner, a taxi, a blue bus, which is a Dakar Dem Dikk, the bus lines of Dakar. And thanks to this image we can already see three methods of transport. Of course the main method of transport is walking. We see pedestrians who are moving, others who are sitting or waiting, observing, but most of them are moving. What else does this tell us? We have a street, a road, which is full of cars. We have sidewalks, or a sidewalk, something that looks like a sidewalk, which is totally occupied by street vendors. Which means that the two pedestrians, the two people who are walking, here in the forefront of the image, have to walk in the roadway in order to move. We won't spend much more time on this image, but we can easily see how, from one image such as this one, we can already reasonably gather some information. Another image, another street scene. Here we have some waste, which brings up the problematic issue of waste treatment, but before that, of the management of its pick-up, of waste collection. We also see here that the sidewalk, or what appears to be one, has been totally occupied, both by garbage or cars, which makes it extremely difficult to take a stroll, to walk. Here we have a car without a driver, and here another, which means that these vehicles are parked directly on the roadway. Another example, this one dealing with public space. We have storage of mineral water, and of carbonated beverages, right in front of a large store. So large quantities are kept in stock, and these large quantities are stored not on the private property owned by the store, but directly on the street. Thus the street, the sidewalks, become storage spaces, a sort of privatization of space, of the street, in favor of the private sector. Another example of the privatization of the street, the rug maker, who spreads his rugs out in the sun or who displays them for sale. We see that the car, there, can no longer pass. In any event there is no driver, so the car is parked. It is a street which, ultimately, because of the placement of a few rugs in the middle of the street, becomes totally privative. No one will dare pass anymore through this street. Satellite images. With the introduction particularly of Google Earth, it is now possible to take a walk in many of the world's cities. In the country too, of course, but we're interested here in the cities. So in this way we can walk around, gain knowledge, see what's going on, from a bird's eye view. Here's a scene we've already visited. We are in Ndjamena, in the center of Ndjamena. The cathedral, in the middle. And then, we have dates, here we're in 2004, in June of 2004. Here we're in February of 2007, a scene where the colors have changed, yet the scene remains basically the same. We see the same cathedral, same time, same place. Still there is no change. 2008, still no change. Again, in 2008. In 2009, from behind we'll take a look around the cathedral, and will find that suddenly there is a change in the land, little by little. We see how the land changes, how trees are cut to make room for a large esplanade around the cathedral. If we go a bit further from the cathedral we'll see, here also in 2010, still in 2010 with little change to the trees, nothing over there. And then we see that on June 5, 2010, mid-year, from an aerial view just in front, we have demolition, we see traces all around of buildings. And then the systematic demolition of all the buildings, to make room for a huge square. This square is then is our reference point, in the middle, but we have the advantage of vacant lots ready for future use. Now we are in 2011, the beginning, first trimester. And then 2011, end of the year, one of the large land areas has been used to build a large park, a large garden. We have a square, a garden. And then, without doubt, we'll see the construction on the other sites are going to happen, little by little, either for housing programs or public facilities. Yet another example, this one in Brazzaville, in the Congo. If you're not familiar with the city, first we see there is an airport. We can see, quickly, the airport terminal. We see connections via a somewhat looser urban grid. We have a soccer stadium, large parks, perhaps a large palace. If we take a simple look at the map we'll notice a few things. We'll see a very clearly defined limit here, between the dense areas, which are the poorer neighborhoods, and the much less dense areas which are, of course, the historic, colonial neighborhoods. Without saying if this is true or not, with just a bit of knowledge we can begin to try to understand the city, and then to formulate questions regarding a number of elements which we don't understand at first. We can see these installations, at water's edge, which are hangars, directly, no doubt, connected to the river and at the same time connected to the possibilities the river offers, as a means of transport via boat. Street View offers a dynamic way for one to walk around cities. The coverage of Africa is still a bit sparse, in other words besides Botswana, a bit of Tanzania and South Africa, the rest of the continent has yet to be covered by Google Street View. This will come in the next few months, the next few years. So we've chosen some examples, particularly in Gaborone, where Street View is already present and where it is possible to walk around the city. Here we are in the center of Gaborone, in Botswana, with a few images. Now of course we can stroll around like this, looking at the vegetation, the people, a few images blurred out, of course, for privacy reasons. And then we can continue like this, moving around the city. We can learn about it and develop an understanding of it as if we were actually walking on its streets. So this is an extremely recent source of information, but extremely important for urban planners. Aerial images, the ancestors of satellite images, used to be taken from a plane, and restitutions were made from georeferenced aerial photos. All aerial images include all the images from above, all the images taken from a plane, so 3/4 views are also for us aerial images. Here we have the example of a neighborhood. We see the main roads of the area, here, and then the shacks within the neighborhood. We are in a shantytown in Nouakchott, Mauritania. Another view of Nouakchott, this one a bit more precise, still an aerial view taken from a small airplane, and then here, a shantytown, an installation which is no doubt a high school here, and then open terrain which is left, at least for now, with very sparse development. We're not certain of the very high density, here, but we can see its different elements, the traffic circle, streets leading to, in particular to the sea, others to the South, and this one which leads to the center of the city. So from this type of images we can reasonably obtain significant information. It's an incredible wealth of information, whether we're speaking of vegetation, or architecture. We see the type of building, and then we can see a small growth of shantytowns, or perhaps the existing shantytowns within its interstices. So there were several open lots, and then those which come right up to the street, thus facing a more precise city development plan. We truly have the two layers here, that of the shantytown, and here a more traditional type of housing. We still have little pockets, left and right, there too. So each time we begin a true analysis of the image we will see small things which we hadn't noticed at first. This is a rich way of learning, because it allows us to truly see in which type of housing, of habitat, we find ourselves. A school here, we can also see, we saw another one earlier. There is the possibility then, for those who can read these images, to really be able to, in this way, understand the city via these few images. Let's look at these archival images. Easily found on the internet, these were randomly chosen. Most of the time we don't really know who took them, or when they were taken. So they are merely illustrative. They lack the databases which would allow us to fully utilize these archival images. A series of images. We've already seen in previous videos, when it comes to public space, the possibility we had of taking, from one angle, every 30 minutes, a series of images and to comment on them. This offers us a dynamic view of the scene as it takes place before our eyes. Here, another series of images. A cigarette brand has built a small kiosk, a permanent structure, as you can see. A metal structure, a set-up which provides shade at all times and a step which offers a bit of a base to the structure. We see only these things, the children who run about are watch vendors, recognizable by their small bags, card sellers, newspaper vendors. We see, based on the time of day, that the images were taken every 30 minutes. We have very different scenes. This is where garbage is collected, at a time when it is crowded, for as we can see in the image many vehicles block the way. And then the newspaper vendors, who gather at some point, to exchange or restock their newspapers. One in the afternoon, no doubt a bit hotter, with more people around, the newspaper vendor still here. Now pay close attention to this zone under the tree, where we'll see that the limit is not defined by the sidewalk, which disappears, but by the shade of the tree. So it is truly the shade which defines the limits of the public space. Look at the people here, almost in the road, because they sought out the shade. and along the roadway this will slowly change, because they will move, based on the shade, and will either move on the road, under the tree, or even on the other side. There is yet another interesting element, which is that here we see a small trace of water, which means that an air conditioner is running, dripping in the street, which tells us that even if we don't know what is happening behind the wall, we know that it is inhabited, because there is air conditioning running, and this trace offers us proof that there is life behind the wall which we've captured in the photo. We'll continue quickly. Look here, once again, in the shade, which has disappeared, which has retreated. Before it was almost on the pavement, now it is once again retreating. Now we'll go on to a second series, here it is. Once again it is early morning, and little by little we can see the sun rising, growing stronger. Then soon we'll see an awning used as protection from the sun. After a certain amount of time it is opened further, to protect the fruits and vegetables. We can even count the number of bananas sold throughout the day, which we'll see, are not too many. But these images, taken every 30 minutes, allow us to understand the relationship that the people have to the sun, based on the time of the day, and offer us scenes of daily activity, of what goes on. We can see here that there is vegetation pretty much everywhere. So we are no longer in the center of the city, where at times no one is around, or where everything is closed. This tells us that there are rest times, no doubt the hottest hours of the day, and then life gradually picks up. The shade grows wider, so it is the end of the afternoon. We see that there are more cars, and it is no doubt rush hour. So play around with it. Take photos, study them, use Google Street View, feel free. It is an unimaginable source of knowledge. When one wants to approach the African City, it is not always possible to move quickly within different cities. It is possible, thanks to these images, in particular, but also to the videos and literature, of course, with more traditional methods, but these images offer us a deeper understanding of their context.
