Tradition and Transformation. Co-Designing with the Fishing Communities of Nyandiwa, Kenya.

This article presents a case study rooted in a decade-long academic partnership between the Università Mediterranea di Reggio Calabria and communities in sub-Saharan Africa. Focusing on the town of Nyandiwa, on the shores of Lake Victoria, the work explores how participatory design processes—conducted through a thesis lab involving architecture students and NGOs—can support identity preservation amid rapid urban transformation. Nyandiwa exemplifies a growing number of African "city-villages," suspended between traditional rural structures and uncontrolled urban expansion. Initially a small fishing village, it is now undergoing dramatic growth driven by internal migration and localized economic activity. In the absence of planning, the settlement risks devolving into an informal sprawl, erasing both physical and intangible heritage. The student-led projects developed in this context focused on supporting the fishing economy through community spaces, productive facilities, and vernacular-inspired architecture. They aimed to reconcile contemporary needs with local traditions—an act of spatial and cultural resistance against speculative urbanism. The article reflects on the broader implications of this pedagogical and design experience, interrogating the ethical position of architects from the Global North operating in contexts of systemic inequality. It argues that co-design processes can help foreground local narratives and reimagine modernity from within—rather than in opposition to—vernacular forms. By engaging with Nyandiwa as a site of negotiation between tradition and transformation, the work calls for renewed attention to intermediate African towns as strategic locations for sustainable development and identity recovery.