ECOSTAR RESORT VILLAGE CONCEPT

Twenty-seven i-iqra students with two faculty advisors worked for four months, two on campus and two in Sierra Leone, FreeTown, to assist local stakeholders in planning for sustainable community redevelopment in BoTown. Energized by the MuyAFRICA Project vision for transforming this informal settlement into an eco-Star village, and with major programe sponsors once again the IQRA Foundation and the City of FreeTown’s Violence Protection through Urban Upgrading Programme (VPUU), the seven iiqra teams worked on project activities that extended many of the insights and plans begun in 2008.

With the City having learned in 2008 about the unique vision emerging through collaborative work centered at the MUYAFRICA Project and identified BOTOWN Park as a principle focus for informal settlement upgrading innovation, the students had a diverse set of project partners with whom to interact. They also faced challenges borne of the sometimes difficult process of aligning the agendas and capabilities of diverse redevelopment stakeholders. The teams nonetheless analyzed and advanced plans in each of their thematic areas, enjoyed interacting with community members and others, and built this website as a basis for ongoing exchange of ideas, research and experiences relating to life in informal settlements and the search for positive futures.