ECON-AD 213J | Class 10 Reflection: Rwanda's urban future... and penguins

A seal resting by the Cape Town wharf.

A student reading in University of Cape Town, where we stayed for the week.

The inner terrace of the UCT Biology building.

Toma Berlanda, Chairman of the Architecture Department in the University of Cape Town, came to our class today to talk about Rwandan urban planning. I learned that Kigali following urban models from Singapore and Denver, while Cape Town is emulating Curitiba’s city planning style. It was difficult to find an immediate connection between Prof. Berlanda’s lecture and the theme of this week’s course, which is South African political economy in the context of the urbanism and development issues we discussed in class. His lecture talked more about the architectural challenges in Rwanda, which focuses on its hilly geography, and his data visualizations were clear and concise. Kigali can therefore be used as a foil against Cape Town urbanism issues, but the similarities are limited precisely because of its different geographies. Nevertheless, Prof. Berlanda spoke eloquently about the topic and is a clear expert on his topic.

After the lecture, Jyothi surprised us as we scrambled back into the bus.

“We’ve had a change of plans,” she begins.

“Are we going to see the penguins?” Myera asks in the back expectedly. Jyothi has a smile on her face and nods.

“We’re going to see the penguins!”

* * *

Visiting Boulder Beach was such a pleasant surprise. I was mentally prepared to continue my academically rigorous schedule (our trip itinerary indicated a 4.5 hour visit to the Khaleyitsha township in the afternoon), but I didn’t complain that we decided to go to see some penguins instead. My suspicion is that this surprise trip has been planned all along. All of the trip supervisors I have asked have denied this. We stopped by a town to buy some souvenirs and board shorts. 

We took plenty of photos throughout the day. Everyone was elated that they had a leisurely Friday afternoon. When we climbed back aboard the bus when the day was over, the driver almost clapped in surprise. “You guys wrote history today. Since the beginning of the year, two people have already been attacked by sharks. One man has already disappeared. I’m glad none of your students had the same fate.” Jyothi’s face went pale. “You should have told us!” she complained, but the drivers smiled and said we wouldn’t have gone in if we knew this. He was correct.