Master dissertation Haike Van den bergh

The post-war period brought with it a wave of technological innovation and demographic shifts across the globe. In many countries, the post-1945 reconstruction led to an unprecedented demand for housing. New construction techniques, such as industrial prefabrication, were presented as modern solutions for building large numbers of homes in a short space of time. Whilst in Europe and North America these methods served to repair war damage and support urbanisation, housing in colonial Africa took on a different significance: it became a tool for maintaining social order and shaping modernity in colonial terms.

In the Belgian Congo, this dynamic was reflected in the so-called Ten-Year Plan (1949–1959), an ambitious development program aimed at economic expansion and social reforms. During this period, the Congolese urban population grew rapidly, fueled by migration and economic changes. At the same time, the colonial administration was strongly committed to shaping urban living environments according to an ideal (housing) model defined by European standards. Prefabrication was introduced as an efficient construction technique designed to enable rapid, large-scale housing provision. The aim was not only to meet the material need for housing, but also to project a model of modernity and order that fitted within the colonial power structures. This prefabricated ‘African housing dream’ symbolizes the final phase of colonial housing policy in the Congo, in which architecture and town planning were employed as means of ensuring social control and political power.

This research examines how prefabrication in late-colonial Congo functioned as a crossroads of technological innovation, political strategy and (residential) cultural identity, and how these projects shaped the urban landscape in the run-up to independence.