The Capital City of Trees: Realism and Fantasy in West African Town Planning, 1680–1874

This paper examines the intrinsic essence of Kumase, the capital of Asante, one of most formidable empires in nineteenth century West Africa. I demonstrate how the respect for the natural environment inspired autochthonous design, planning, and building. As the capital of the Asante empire, Kumase was established in a tropical rainforest within the interior of West Africa in 1650. Its inhabitants developed an urban form that was fundamentally shaped by the geography and shared socio-cultural values of the Asante, against the backdrop of Afro-European trading interactions along the Guinea Coast of West Africa. Thus, Kumase was already built as an urban center with sophisticated planning and administrative systems by the time Europeans made their first visit to the city in 1817. Yet the local story of the city’s origin is virtually neglected. The city’s story, whether in prints or on the streets, is mostly associated with European imperial projects and concepts, particularly with respect to settlement and planning design. This characterization has aligned with the pattern of global imperial studies where European conquerors are elevated as trailblazers, with Africans merely acting in response, as if created de novo by the act of colonization. But in this paper, I show how local Asanteans demonstrated power through the meticulous designing of communities around the natural environment of ancient Kumase, which subsequently informed urban planning under British colonial rule at the turn of the twentieth century. Ultimately, this paper not only underscores West African inventiveness, it shows how their thoughtful management of the ecosystem could serve as a framework toward efforts at building sustainable cities in the twenty-first century world.