Forum of Saint Louis (Senegal) – Ideation on ‘Cities and Metamorphosis’

On November 25th to 27th, the northern secondary city of Senegal, Saint Louis, welcomed its first Forum dedicated to ‘Africa: Thinking A World Anew’. The Forum of Saint Louis aims to be a platform for African creativities in all their forms and expressions, by shedding light on innovation from the continent to inspire Africans and the rest of the world.

Along architect and urban specialist Gaetan Siew (Port Louis, Mauritius), Jenny was invited to contribute on the Forum’s ideation focusing on ‘Cities and Metamorphosis’, sharing insights onto the relationship between culture, creativity and urban transformation in African cities; and reminding the importance of holding a people-centred, genuinely ‘civic’ perspective in such development processes.

For three days, this initiative of local entrepreneur and philanthropist, Amadou Diaw, thus welcomed a series of panels, ideations, debates, discussions, cultural and creative initiatives (fashion shows, cultural fairs, visual arts exhibitions and artistic performances). Over an hundreds of delegates from all over Africa and its diaspora, writers, thinkers, scholars, entrepreneurs, investors, creatives and public figures attended the event around themes as diverse as ‘Private equity’, ‘Learning differently’, ‘Education fo tomorrow’, ‘Organisational Innovation’, ‘Human finance’ or ‘Creativity for employment’.

The Island of Saint Louis is a university city (Gaston Berger University) with an historical landscape and architecture that made it part of the UNESCO World Heritage (http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/956).

For more information on the Saint Louis Forum: http://www.forumdesaintlouis.org