Downtown Kampala

Kampala's Central Business District, commonly referred to as 'downtown', is home to various businesses in the city; one can find banks, hotels, retails shops, transport hubs, markets and more. It forms a large part of the context around my site and I have spent time observing the styles of building, qualities of streets and activities undertaken to build a picture of the urban character of the area. It is common to hear people saying that downtown Kampala is ' congested', 'busy', 'dirty' and 'dangerous'. Whilst these terms may be true, a range of unique qualities of buildings, spaces and activities in this part of the city contribute towards a colourful, vivid and dynamic character of the area that cannot be missed

Drawing of shop along Luwum street - a wide range of materials are compressed into a single façade.

Selected blocks in downtown area

Downtown, different kinds of music blare out of stereos in buildings and streets, taxi drivers call out their headed locations and prices of travel, mobile vendors roam the streets (at times they are chased away by law enforcement officials) and small spaces along side walks are filled with individual items for sale. These are just examples of audible and visible activities, but there are also 'behind the scène' activities constantly at work; for example, taxi drivers hire people to search out and bring customers to them and traders buy products that have been passed through various chains of sale.

Street sketch capturing shoe trade on Nakivubo road (location on map above)

Speaker on the fourth floor of plaza neighbouring the taxi park market (location on map above)