L’Africaine d’architecture is an international organization encouraging a more integrated approach to the field of architecture and the African city.

Since July 2012, the association has been testing its urban utopia in Lomé; "HubCité Africaines", which triggered the establishment of the WoeLab incubator network, which has become the center of the Togolese tech-scene.

The HubCity project is about building a smart city from below with city dwellers.

It includes various programs and startup initiatives within a radius of 1 km around WoeLab, addressing different urban issues; waste management (SCoPE), food and energy resources (Urbanattic), digital currency (Sys'Woe), etc. All of the projects are managed and owned collectively, making it possible to foreshadow pioneering digital collectivism in the critique of digital capitalism.

Under the big umbrella of HubCity project, there are;

• Urbanattic: https://www.forcities.org/idea/0sQaTHTWulQ9c78fQDpv
• Woebots: https://www.forcities.org/idea/bPefVL3cU7HKD5M4dwxb
• Techcontainers: https://www.forcities.org/idea/84WJtYGBLwwCSVtXpiyR
• Syswoe: https://www.forcities.org/idea/sI6cCpoDMYDRmEMTO8kR
• Organa: https://www.forcities.org/idea/QTiL8rnC7GgHDqHFsUOW
• SCoPE: https://www.forcities.org/idea/otGqXQHwfkRyFPvUEDb4

In 2007, urban and rural populations were almost exactly equal at 3.33 billion each. Since then, however, urban populations have increased to more than 4 billion. If the future of human beings is urban, Africa will have to define its urbanity, since it will be home to some of the largest cities in the world in the decades to come.

New digital technologies have also emerged along with urbanization across the world, and we should see the same trend happening across the African continent.

New spaces such as third places, fab-labs, incubators, digital villas etc. that are dedicated to new technologies and democratized social innovation have been gradually popping up around Africa. Can these spaces be the driving force for the design of the African cities of tomorrow? This is the perspective that Sename Koffi Agbodjinou, L’Africaine d’architecture, WoeLabs and their community have been exploring since 2012 through the HubCity experiment.

It is in this context that the Smart City emerges as the preferred avenue to allow urban growth to serve the development of the continent. Yet this is a concept promoted by the Big Techs which, as Sename Koffi Agbodjinou strives to demonstrate, has the potential to institute new coloniality.

L’Africaine d’architecture and WoeLabs set out to go against this trend by launching the African smart city project; HubCity.

• 400+ young Togolese have been supported and sensitized since the launch of WoeLabs
• 12 innovative startups with a strong social and environmental impact currently incubated
• 63 events (training, hackathons, thematic event, etc.) organized since 2013
• 12 partners (both local and international) are involved in our current programs
• 1300 m2 are made available for innovation by young people and startups
• 30+ mentors and consultants are involved in the programs we offer

More on video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9lTPsecFZY&t=154s