Consider Africa as one mega-city. Neighborhoods with intertwined fates. Highways of travel and commerce. Several Central Business Districts opening up to sprawling suburbs that accommodate waves of urbanization. Mayors manage utilities and civics, not like Presidents who preside over militaries and formalities.
Africa is a continent of misconceptions. Traditionally viewed as a rural savannah or desert setting, it actually boasts some of the world’s largest cities. Around 40% of Africans live in cities, slums, and suburbs, not villages. Africa is often, to this point almost humorlessly, referred to as a “country”. This act typifies an ignorance in the West of Africa’s storied and complex history. Ancient kingdoms and traditional groups were reshuffled arbitrarily during the Scramble for Africa, leading to a continent fractured spiritually, culturally, and politically. Global cities have a much better history dealing with these fractures than countries. What if we co-opt the continent as a country idea into a thought experiment; a continent as a city?
TEDxStellenbosch 2011 | CityAfrica | Spier | 29 July | Applications closed
TEDxStellenbosch is a unique community that celebrates world-changing African ideas. Ideas control the world. They are the single most powerful force in our universe, and yet rarely do we openly test, celebrate and develop them in a communal setting. For ideas to impact the world, develop into innovations, ripple through communities and spread between cities, we need to tell their stories and rediscover a child-like state of wonder.
Africa is a continent with extreme constraints and disparities but also with under-utilized opportunities and unique cultures. In a post-recessionary world of uncertainty and scarce resources, we will depend more on local communities, require rapid technological progress, and see our fate merge with that of mother nature. Perhaps now more than ever, the world can learn from Africans – from our methods, our cultures and the unique blend of circumstances that inspire our resourceful nature. After all, if it can work in Africa, it can work anywhere.
The intersections and contrasts between African and Western history and thought fuel a growing international conversation. Increasingly, ideas are challenged, adopted, and exported from the so-called developing or dualistic economies to the first world. The idea economy is open, and no longer flowing one way.
We want to share exciting African concepts and export ideas rather than minerals and skilled workers. What better locale than Stellenbosch, South Africa’s oldest university town and meeting point for African and European cultures, industry, startups, multi-cultural art, interdisciplinary science, and viticulture, as well as being home to some of the oldest games we play.
Now it is your turn. Plant the seed of an idea wherever you can, and water it with passion and energy, so that it may one day sustain us all.
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx [x = independently organized event] is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized. (Subject to certain rules and regulations.)
TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California 25 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. The annual TED Conference invites the world’s leading thinkers and doers to speak for 18 minutes. Their talks are then made available, free, at TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Al Gore, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Isabel Allende and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The annual TED Conference takes place in Long Beach, California, with simulcast in Palm Springs; TEDGlobal is held each year in Oxford, UK.
TED’s media initiatives include TED.com, where new TEDTalks are posted daily, and the Open Translation Project, which provides subtitles and interactive transcripts as well as the ability for any TEDTalk to be translated by volunteers worldwide. TED has established the annual TED Prize, where exceptional individuals with a wish to change the world are given the opportunity to put their wishes into action; TEDx, which offers individuals or groups a way to organize local, independent TED-like events around the world; and the TEDFellows program, helping world-changing innovators from around the globe to become part of the TED community and, with its help, amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities.
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