Initially overlooked by many historians of modernism, these ‘informal’ settlements  have recently been examined by certain historians with calls for their inclusion in the historical heritage of modernism. Some have asserted that, given the striking commonality (some might even say universality) of their material and spatial strategies, these should be included in the ‘international style’(Elleh, 2011, p. 59; 2014). How can we understand these ‘city doubles’ (Murray, 2015, p. 92)  – one group designed from scratch and built primarily according to a master plan and the other challenging the master plan? Or how might we complicate hegemonic narratives of new cities and modernist master planning through multidisciplinary approaches, and creative uses of sources? How have these projects addressed social disparities, or otherwise? And how might re-examining histories and narratives inform the continued quest for sustainable and equitable cities?

But what is generalised as informal architecture and urbanism includes not just marginal constructions such as ‘slums’, ‘kiosks’, and ‘shacks’ but also a vast assortment of carefully constructed and capital-intensive buildings created outside the purview of professional institutions and governments such as shopping complexes, factories, and mansions. Indeed, I contend that this latter group makes up a significant proportion of this informal category and, thus, a substantial portion of the African built environment. Focusing on the case of present-day Ghana, in this essay, I show how a significant proportion of the African built environment has been misunderstood in academic research and overlooked as ‘informal’, distorting research and policies around architecture and urbanism on the continent.

Kuukuwa Manful has won the 2023 African Studies Association Graduate Student Paper Prize for her article titled “Building Classes: Secondary Schools and Sociopolitical Stratification in Ghana”

In this paper, I discuss the formalisation, regulation and bureaucratic control of architecture and the people who build in the Gold Coast and Ghana through a concept that I term unformalisation.

Kuukuwa Manful was awarded the Scott Opler Graduate Scholar Fellowship to deliver a paper at the Society of Architectural Historians' 76th Annual International Conference in in Montréal, Canada, April 12–15, 2023.