He first announced Akon City in 2018, in a shock to Mbodiène’s 6,000-strong population. In recent years, the R&B artist has added philanthropy to his portfolio, including a youth empowerment organization in Senegal, and a solar-energy nonprofit that operates across the continent. He says it will boost Senegal’s economy and attract other foreign investments, including in tourism. Journalists have compared it to Wakanda in the blockbuster “Black Panther.” Others deride the project as an unrealistic stunt.ĭesmond Tutu: Anti-apartheid icon and moral compass for a nation Akon’s ambitionĪliaune Damala Badara Akon Thiam was born in the U.S., but spent much of his childhood in Senegal before moving to New Jersey at age 11.
The singer has called his city a refuge for the African diaspora, and “the beginning of Africa’s future”. And onto that backdrop, observers near and far have projected all sorts of visions, long before a single building goes up.
#Akon right now metal version windows#
Undulating rose-gold towers reach up toward the sky, their vast windows and curves reflecting the sea in front of them.
In architects’ sketches, the unbuilt Senegalese city is a labyrinth of warped metal and glass, with miles of palm-lined roads – a scene from science fiction. Its success or failure will have real consequences – and for no one more than the people next door. Akon City has been compared to Wakanda: the fictional city in “Black Panther” that captured imaginations, giving a much-needed revamp to images of Africa.