Edited Conference Papers

Pedagogies in architectural education have recently received a great deal of criticism on the relevance of the curriculum to the lives of the students and to the issues of our era, and its impact on both students and the profession. Many have called for the urgency to reinvent the discipline of Architecture, resolve the crisis of its identity, and transform the curriculum in higher education in order to enable interdisciplinary, equality, inclusion, resilience, the capacity for critical thinking and therefore the skills to engage with and shape the field itself. This paper looks at interdisciplinary teaching through the lens of the trans-African dialogues (TADs) approach, which first takes the shape of a module introduced as an elective course for architecture students at the German University in Cairo (GUC), and second, explores relevant and meaningful ways in which this approach may be adapted to other regions of Africa, specifically the renowned Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Ghana. The TADs approach engages with the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, notably SDG4, SDG11, and SDG17 directly. It provides a platform for collaboration and the sharing of empirical knowledge on innovation, entrepreneurship and issues of sustainability, inclusion, cultural identity, authenticity and technology, through the lens of human settlements in Africa. TADs’ study reveals the students’ increased awareness and profound grasp of the built environment principles through an interdisciplinary lens. It provides a conceptual framework for future architectural education.

In recent times, there is growing interest among many countries in the global south in the use of manufactured sand (quarry dust) for concrete production instead of natural sand (pit sand), the traditional sand for concrete formulation. However, the engineering data underpinning the interest in the use of quarry dust is not well documented. In this study, a comparative investigation was made between the use of the two fine aggregates, quarry dust (QD), and pit sand (PS). Two different batches of concrete with a strength class of 30MPa were prepared. The engineering parameters investigated included compressive strength, water absorption, porosity, and chloride penetration. The late strength of 28 and 56 days of pit sand (PS) was approximately 18 and 19% higher than quarry dust (QD). The chloride penetration at the late curing period of 28 and 56 days for pit sand was 4 and 7% lower than the quarry dust concrete. The test results indicated that the strengths and transport properties of the pit sand concrete performed much better than those of the quarry dust concrete

Paratransit trips on minibus vehicles have reportedly been unreliable, and users are unsatisfied with the quality of service they receive. Providing travel-related information, such as travel time information and introducing interventions along the roadway, may improve service quality and user experiences. To do this, there is a need to understand the nature of paratransit travel time and the factors affecting it. The study investigated factors affecting travel times of paratransit at the route and segment levels on two selected routes in Kumasi. A travel time survey onboard the vehicle was used to collect GPS, stop related and other information with the help of a mobile application. The Backward Stepwise Regression technique was used to determine the most significant factors which were drawn from literature and a careful study of paratransit operations. The results indicated that dwell times rather than stops contributed to paratransit travel times. Deviation from the route was found to increase travel time, contrary to the logic of using deviation to bypass apparent traffic congestion ahead. The study proffered interventions that can help improve travel time and the quality of service and made policy suggestions