Tamale’s Inner-Urban Ecologies (TIUE)

Tamale’s Inner-Urban Ecologies (TIUE) is a collaborative research project investigating the inner-urban ecologies of Tamale, Northern Ghana—one of West Africa's fastest-growing cities. This initiative is a joint effort between the Institute of Architecture (I oA) at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, the University for Development Studies (UDS), and the Nuku Centre for Photographic Research and Practice. Funded by the Austrian-African Research Network Africa-UniNet for the period 2023–2025, this lab focuses on the second part of the second research year, beginning in March 2025.

Our research explores three distinct urban open spaces in Tamale, chosen for their spatial and environmental characteristics, socio-cultural significance, and layered histories. Through these spaces, we examine the lived experience of the city, the status and potential for multi-species cohabitation, and their impact on the broader urban fabric. The goal is to deepen our understanding of Tamale’s unique inner-urban ecologies and develop methodologies to interpret and enhance living conditions and ecological in the city.

Each [A]FA student or team member has been developing a methodological, thematic, and artistic research concept, shaped through intensives in Vienna and their individual interests, between October 2024 and February 2025. These concepts were refined and implemented during a three-week lab intensive in Tamale in February 2025, in collaboration with students from UDS and young photographers from Nuku. The applied research culminated in a collection of "fragments of knowledge," presented as a "set of cards" in a work-in-progress exhibition at Nuku on February 27, 2025.

Between March and October 2025, selected participants will continue to evolve their projects, with the flexibility to translate their research into any medium that best reflects their investigations.

Participating Institutions

• University of Applied Arts Vienna’s Institute of Architecture (I oA)
• University for Development Studies (UDS)
• Nuku Centre for Photographic Research and Practice

Project Duration

2023-2025 / [A]FA lab from March 2025 covering the second part of the second project year

Outcome

The research will result in a substantial and diverse collection of insights, presented in an accessible format to engage a wide audience in Tamale, Ghana, in February 2025, and in Vienna, Austria, in October 2025

Teaching [A]FA

Baerbel Mueller (head), with Daniil Zhiltsov and Abdul-Rauf Issahaque

Teaching UDS

Elizabeth Apuseyine

Teaching Nuku

Nii Obodai

This is an ongoing closed project, with selected participants from the winter term 2024/2025, unfortunately not open to new students