Functional Environs: Austin Tetteh’s Situated World(mak)ing Planning Practice, 1950–80

Abstract

Abstract Functionalist sociologist and planner Austin Tetteh was the first African Dean of the Faculty of Architecture at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in 1971. KNUST soon became a pioneer anticolonial institution that nonetheless incorporated the neocolonial influences of its global staff in order to succeed. European planners in KNUST advocated for architectural functionalism and rapid action, reacted to European rationalist planning, provided paternalist education, considered expertise as universal, and saw humans as resources of the capitalist market economy. On the other hand, although continuist, Tetteh presented an approach to planning that was informed by sociological functionalism, emphasized the detriments of colonial legacies, sought collaboration instead of imposition from Europe, spoke to global networks from a socio-geographic situated position, and considered humans as active resources for national and continental developmentalism. The term “Environ”, used by KNUST staff and students in the 1970s, summons these aspects from an African situated cosmopolitan perspective on ecology and society.