2. RAINFALL & SEASONS
Dry Season Wet Season
Water sensitive urban design emphasises the benefit of stormwater
and waterways as a resource and an asset, rather than the
Luanda is strongly affected by its clanging seasons. conventional view of stormwater merely as a nuisance. It provides
many opportunities to integrate water features in urban design
With a variation from months without any rain, the city is not prepared for the amounts of and to enhance the social and environmental amenity of urban
water coming in only short time in the wet season.The sudden rain leads to huge problems development.
within the city core of Luanda
Water Sensitive Urban Design
Rainfall in Luanda (323 mm)
mm
Water is everywhere before it is somewhere.
It is rain before it is rivers, it soaks before it flows, it spreads
before it gathers, it blurs before it clarifies. Water
at
120
116 mm
these moments in the hydrological cycle is not
100
easy to picture in maps or contain within lines.
It is however to these waters that people are
increasingly turning to find innovative solutions
80
76 mm
to the myriad water-related crises that catalyze
politics, dynamics, and fears. Is it not time to re-
invent our relationship with water — see water
60
as not within, adjoining, serving, or threatening
settlement, but the ground of settlement? Could
40
this be the basis of a new vocabulary of place, history and
36 mm ecology? And can the field of design, by virtue of its ability to
28 mm articulate and re-visualize, lead in the constructing this new
25 mm
vocabulary?
20 mm
20
13 mm
5 mm
3 mm
0 mm 0 mm 0 mm
0
JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH APRIL MAY JUNE JULY AUGUST SEPTEMBER OCTOBER NOVEMBER DECEMBER
3. LUNADA’S CHALLENGES OF
INSUFFICIENT DRAINAGE “This happens every year when
the rains come and it proves the
Concidering Luanda’s extensive need of water, it’s
a contradiction that the big amount of water today
government is not prepared,” is only seen as a problem. How can the
Luisete Araújo
Political secretary for the Partidos de Oposição Civil (Civil
sudden water be turned from a
Opposition Parties) problem to a resource?
HEAVY RAIN
18.00-20.00
Still waters are comfort zones for
mosquitoes, and hereby promote
the spread of malaria.
EROSION
Erosion causing damage to building
mass.
The informal settlement close to
the edge of the coastal platau are
extremely vulnerable to ground
erosion.
Electrically charged water causes many deaths, especially
in the informal areas, where electrical solutions are not
always adequately secured.
“5 people died yesterday night due to rain. And it only rained for
ACCUMULATION about two hours. The most common way of dying when there is
heavy rain is from electric shock as the are so many open electric
Erosion causing damage to intrastructure conduits that easily come in contact with water when it floods.
INFILTRATION Some also get washed into drainage canals eighter due to erosion
or they fall into the closed canals as the drainage lids sometimes
Water affected og flooded roads causes
huge traffic jams after every rainfall. moves due to the pressure from the water underneath.”
Drainage problems causes
mix of different hygienic JOAO HANDANGA GIL
environments, promoting Administration Manager, DOF Subsea Angola
Despite regulations, green spaces are disappearing as
spread of diseases.
the private sectors buy land through corruption. This
Open, polluted waters are source
increases the problem of drainage. of deseases. Luanda is one of the
HERMENEGILDO NUNDA few cities in the world suffering
Master of Economy, Connector from urban polio. In 2006, the
worst African cholera epidemic in a
decade devastated the musseques,
killing 1600, spread by contaminated
drinking water as well as contact
with sewage.
4. CONSUMPTION
US
380 l/ person/ day
EUROPE
196 l/ person/ day
SUB-SAHARA
4,9 l /person /day
A MORE SUSTAINABLE RELATION TO WATER
Limited access to clean water results in more efficient usage of the resource. The mucceque dwellers have a high
consciousness related to water consumption, and uses it without hardly any spill. The water is a visible element playing
an active role in the urban life, where the resource is carried and kept in containers instead of hidden in tubes.
Water is valuable and is treated sophisticatedly.
These are values easily lost in a tubed society.
How to offer access to water,
yet maintain the awareness and
the sustainable way of using it?
5. ACCESS TO CLEAN WATER
Water destillation plants
outside Luanda
1 500 000 liters -
500 tank trucks of water
driven to Luanda each day
clean water tubes
Water plays an active urban
role in the musseques
The tank water supplying the
poorer population is several
times more expensive than the
tap water from tubes.
25% 75%
LUANDA WATER SUPPLY
Luanda, one of the fastest growing cities in the world, is desperately short of
clean water. Most of the inhabitants of the musseques (the informal areas that
constitute the majority of Luanda’s land area) are dependent on contaminated
water brought by trucks from rivers hours north and south of the city. The
price of water in the musseques can be very high. Shouldn’t clean water be
seen not as a public good
The formal water supply comes mainly from the Kwanzo and Bengo Rivers. The state of Luanda’s water supply system is -but as a public right?
in very poor condition, with the operating company, Empresa Provincial de Agua de Luanda, unable to carry out normal
functions such as maintenance, billing and maintaining accounts. Luanda’s two water production and treatment plants
distributes water to about 25% of the residents. The majority of the population, and virtually all low-income communities,
depend on private truck-distributed water that is frequently untreated and are also very difficult to afford.
People in the mussiques uses a lot of time, effort and money in order to access (at best) clean water. Can sufficient water be captured
Releasing this time and effort means to release huge resources! within the informal structure itself?
6. “Poor urban residents identified water supply and better
sanitation facilities as problems for which they require
assistance (...) Housing and constructions, however, were
not identified by the poor urban resident as problems for
which they needed assistance.”
ALLAN CAIN, Head of Deveolopment Workshop, Luanda
Considering this -what is our role as architects in such a context?
7. AT STAKE
TRANSPORTATION
We find ourselves stuck in the traffic jam. It is moving
slowly, when moving at all, and Mauricio takes the
opportunity to buy a newpaper out the window.
“It’s a good time to read the newspaper.“
INFRASTRUCTURE HAS NOT KEPT PACE WITH THE URBAN GROWTH
8. ROAD vs RAIL
LUANDA
CENTRE
NA
VIA
THE RELIABLE TRAIN
By train, the stretch from Luanda centre to Viana takes
approximately half an hour. When no traffic or rain, the same
stretch can be driven on 20 minutes . Yet, this is seldom the case.
The same stretch could also take up towards 3 hours.
to
Ma
lan
je
10min 20min 30min 40min 50min 1h 1h10min 1h20min 1h30min 1h40min 1h50min 2h 2h10min 2h20min 2h30min 2h40min 2h50min 3h
by train TIME SPENT ON TRAVEL
by car (incl. rainfall)
9. THE INFORMAL CHAPA BUS
The Chapa is an informal minibus system in Luanda, PAINT.
serving mainly the people in the musseques. The system is
flexible, cheap and user friendly. SIMPLE WAY TO FORMALIZE AND BENEFIT
In Viana the Chapas count roughly one third of the cars on THE EXISTING CHAPA CULTURE
the road, each able to hold at least twelwe passengers.
BENEFIT THE BEST PUBLIC TRANSPORT ON THE ROAD
THE BUS RAPID TRANSIT (BRT)
Bus rapid transit (BRT) was first implemented by Jaime Lerner in Brazil, and is a term applied to a variety of public
transportation systems using buses to provide faster, more efficient service than an ordinary bus line. Often this is achieved
by making improvements to existing infrastructure, vehicles and scheduling. The goal of these systems is to approach the
service quality of rail transit while still enjoying the cost savings and flexibility of bus transit Can the existing chapa culture, inspired
The BRT a high-capacity urban public-transit system with its own right-of-way, multiple-car trains at short headways, and by Lerner’s BRT system, form the
longer stop spacing than traditional streetcars and buses. BRT, however, uses buses on a wide variety of rights-of-way,
including mixed traffic, dedicated lanes on surface streets, and busways completely separated from traffic. backbone of a rapid transit supporting
The RBT provides improved riding quality as well as a specific image with a brand name marking stops and stations as well the rail?
as the buses. The system’s brand identity contributes to its attractiveness as an alternative to driving cars.
11. CFL RAILWAY HISTORY
1975 Independence 2002 Peace declearance
PORTUGESE COLONY CIVIL WAR
1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
09 75 77 87 02 04 05 09
CFL Railline (Caminho de 60-70s: The railway Train Conductor
Carolino Da Sousa Manuel
Railway shut down due
Ferro) between Luanda and played an important role starts working at CFL
to war damages 2005: Rehabilitation of the line started. Reported to cost 350 milll dollars.
Malanje inargurated in 1909. in portugese trade and Railline and stations constructed by the China Railway Construction Company
423 km of track transport
With credit lines from China,
in 2004 a US$4 billion project
was launched to rebuild and
modernise the three corridors. Reopening of the CFL Railway
Thousands of passengers will utilize the trains Luanda-
Malanje, and the trains will decrease transport times of
locally grown agricultural products and cattle to Luanda;
overcoming current problems that still exist regarding the
storage and conservation of fresh products.
Spending one month in Luanda, it became clear that infrastructure is one of the greatest challenges of the city.
Not only the obvious traffic problems, enhanced by heavy rains and the lack of proper drainage systems. In
Luanda 80% of the urban population do not have access to basic urban facilities.
The stations, all in two floors, have an administrative area,
restaurant, medical clinic, offices, residents for offices, area
The re-opening of the railway has started a new optimism. Many people of lines control and rooms with a capasity of 200-500
passengers.
see the rail development as key to gain more democratic access to urban
facilities. THE RAILWAY LINE FROM LUANDA CITY CORE WILL STRENGTHEN THE ATTRACTION OF
THE AREAS CONNECTED TO THE RAIL. THE TRAIN IS RELIABLE, AND BY FAR THE CHEAPEST WAY TO
TRAVEL IN LUANDA.
“The Government has a plan
Also on a bigger scale - to tie together the wide land as well as the whole continent, the railway development is of constructing one more track
so the trains can operate more
considered key. effecticely and they can expand the
timetables.”
CAROLINO DA SOUSA MANUEL
Commercial Inspector CFL
(Train Conductor)
12. Huambo Huambo Huambo
Benguela Benguela Benguela
Lubango Lubango Lubango
THE JOINING RAILWAY
Lubango Lubango Lubango
The inter-African rail-development
The railway system of the continent mirrors the colonial
mission to bring out the resources within each colony, as
exports to western markets.
Luanda
Luanda Luanda Ndalalando
Luanda
Ndalalando
Luanda
Malanje
Through extensive survey and research, the UN Habitat argue
Luanda
Malanje
Ndalalando
Malanje Ndalalando
Malanje that adequate infrastructure and access to public transport
Malanje
CONTINENTAL AFRICA
Malanje
is the second most effective way of reducing poverty, after
RAILWAY DEVELOPMENT access to health services. African Union work on several
Lobito
Lobito
levels with trans-continental initiatives “Towards Greater Unity
Lobito
Lobito
Lobito Huambo
Lobito Huambo Benguela
Huambo
Benguela
Huambo
Benguela
Benguela
Huambo and Integration Through Shared Values”. The rehabilitation of
Benguela
Huambo
Benguela
“Towards Greater Unity and the continental railways is a part of this program, allowing for
Lubango
Lubango
better connections and cooperation on an iter-continental
Lubango
Integration Through Shared Values” Lubango
Lubango Lubango
level.
Rain (A.U.)
Rain Vegetation
< 600 mm
Vegetation
400 A 600 mm < 600 mm Desert
600 A 800 mm 400 A 600 mm Brush Desert
Today’s railways mm
800 A 1000 600 A 800 mm Proposed railways Savanna Brush
Agricultural production
Agricultural production
Grassland Savanna normal
1000 A 1200 mm 800 A 1000 mm
no information normal
1200 A 1400 mm 1000 A 1200 mm Deciduous forest and grass Grassland
Undi erentiated woodland and grassland
Deciduous forest and grass a ected no information
1400 A 1600 mm 1200 A 1400 mm
> 1800 mm 1400 A 1600 mm Broadleaf evergreen forest Undi erentiated woodland and grassland highly a ected a ected
> 1800 mm Broadleaf evergreen forest highly a ected
P
P P
P
The three colonial railways of Angola were build only in the
PIC
purpose of transporting resources from the inlands towards
Luanda
PIC
Luanda
Ndalalando
Luanda Ndalalando
The CFL Rail Luanda
the coast in Ndalalando of export.
Luanda
order
Malanje Malanje Malanje Malanje
Ndalalando
Malanje
Today the continental markets are growing, and the rail will
NATIONAL ANGOLA
regain their importance -this time inwards, and with broader
RAILWAY DEVELOPMENT C
Lobito Lobito
The Benguela Rail Lobito purposes.
Lobito
C
Lobito Huambo
Huambo Huambo Huambo
Benguela Benguela Benguela Benguela
Huambo
Benguela
Lubango Lubango Lubango Lubango
M The Lubango Rail
Lubango
M
Resources
Resources
Resources
M Marble Co ee I Iron/Steel Processing
Diamond Mining M Marble Sisal Co ee Wood Processing I Iron/Steel Processing
Iron Mining Diamond Mining
Export Timber Sisal Oil Re nery Wood Processing Colonial railways of Angola
Textiles P
Iron Mining Oil eld C
Export Timber Plant
Cement Oil Re nery
Cotton Textiles Fishing P XOil eld Explosives Plant C Cement Plant
Oil Re nery Cotton Electric Power X
Fishing Hydroelectric Station Explosives Plant
Agricultural Scheme Oil Re nery Livestock Electric Power Hydroelectric Station
Agricultural Scheme Livestock
Luanda
Luanda Luanda Ndalalando
Ndalalando
Malanje
Malanje Malanje
Lobito
Lobito Lobito
Huambo
Huambo Huambo Benguela
Benguela Benguela
Lubango
Lubango Lubango
Rain
CITY-SCALE LUANDA < 600 mm
Vegetation
RAILWAY DEVELOPMENT 400 A 600 mm Desert
600 A 800 mm Brush
Agricultural production
800 A 1000 mm Savanna
Grassland normal
1000 A 1200 mm
Deciduous forest and grass no information
1200 A 1400 mm
1400 A 1600 mm Undi erentiated woodland and grassland a ected
> 1800 mm Broadleaf evergreen forest highly a ected
P
P
1909: CFL Railline opens 1987: CFL Railline closed down due to 2009: Ringroad and re-opening of the CFL-line To be continued
war damage
PIC Luanda
Ndalalando
Malanje
C
Lobito
Huambo
Benguela
13. LUANDA- MALANJE
Travveling to what is today the end station
of the BRT Railline; Malanje.
There: 25.03.11, First Class
Back: 27.03.11, Third Class
VEGETATION Undifferentiated woodland and grassland
RAINFALL 400-600 mm 600-800 mm 800-1000 mm 1000-1200 mm
km 8 31 45 65 135 190
time 05.10 08.24
destroyed local train CFL railway, reconstructed
state of the rail
To understand the country, it’s dimensions,
landscapes, prides and huge contrasts of living.
07.18
LUANDA TEXTANG
LUANDA MUCIQUE
VIANA
BAIA
CATETE
BARAKA
N’DALAHUI
LUINHA
“Along the CFL rail line you will find houses made by sand bricks and ZENZA DO ITOMBE
thatched straw, instead of cement bricks and corregated steel. Building
with bricks was a technique introduced by the Portuguese, and was
common in rural areas. Small-scale farmers settled along the rail line are
called aldeias. They mainly produced food for survival, but also did some
selling of surplus along the rail. These small rural societies
are about to disappear, because the young people
prefer to move to the cities.”
HERMENEGILDO NUNDA
Master of Economy
14. Broadleaf evergreen forest Savanna Deciduous forest and grass
1200-1400 mm 1000-1200 mm 1000-1200 mm 1000-1200 mm
209 241 425
11.03 11.33 12.21 14.02 15.00
CFL railway, reconstructed CFL railway, reconstructed continuation
New, improved stretch with less curves?
10.53
“Angola has 100 000 hectares of wood land, but 12.42 14.13
The landscapes are stunningly beautiful and green -oppisite from
only 30 000 of these are in use for production. The what one would probably expect. And everybody seem so proud
country has more potential when it comes to this of their country in here. These are landscapes people really feel
production. But it’s an expensive investment, and attached to.
there is not much wood consumption internally in
Angola, so almost everything has to be exported.”
Most people in the city grew up in these landscapes and
JORGE LORENCO CONCEICAO many still consider their home.
Motor Claims Assessor
LUCALA
CANHOCA
KIZENGA
N’DALATANDO
LOMBE
CAMBUZE
CACUSO
MALANJE
