The inheritance of modern architecture and urban landscape in the “cement city”: Maputo, Mozambique
The social revolution of the initial period of the independence in Mozambique had to confront the
status
quo
assimilated by generations of the “colonized”. Access to the “cement city” (city built to European
standards during the colonial period) required the adoption of a new role by the incoming resident
in the new social and political conformation, within the same petrified urban structure conceived by
the former colonial regime. This metamorphosis took time and assumed its own material expression,
which still requires a better understanding. This paper will examine not only the refashioning of public
space precipitated by the process of decolonization, but also the cultural complexities of post-colonial
negotiations on colonial built heritage. Such endeavours challenge our perception of post-independence
struggles as primarily concerned with the decoloniality of the minds and the construction of cultural
repertoires conflicting with those of the former colonizer.
