One of the splashy headlines from today’s newspapers concerned an American mogul’s plans to build a second planned city in Uganda….even though he hasn’t finished his first. I did not know that American moguls were building any cities in Uganda, but strange, futuristic planned cities interest me, so I was quick to click on the headline! Apparently the mogul in question is the rap/R&B singer Akon, whose family emigrated to Missouri from Senegal. Akon’s first planned city, “Akon City” is set to be built in Senegal, not Uganda (I guess I misunderstood the Post’s somewhat misleading headline). All financial transactions which take place in Akon City will be made with “Akoins” a cryptocurrency also devised by Akon.
Although urban planners and economic development experts are…skeptical…about both cities, Akon and his collaborators aver that they have raised $4 billion dollars of the required $6 billion dollars to get stage one of the city (in Senegal) started. I am going to gloss over the pointed questions which auditors and activists have raised concerning how so much real estate was pledged to these projects by cash-strapped governments and just show you some pictures (in fact, all of these pictures are designs/conceptions for how Akon City could look).
I am not going to speculate about whether Akon can build Akon City and finance it with Akoins, however I would like to propose that if he does manage to do so, he should immediately extend a sister city deal (and most-favored-trade status) to Akron, Ohio. I feel like that post-industrial rustbelt city has been desperately looking for someone with Akon’s interests. In fact, I wonder if they couldn’t raise some quick cash from the rap mogul by getting rid of their “R” (which they could make some extra money off of by selling to Pune, India or Vigo, Spain, or some similar metropolis).
ferrebeekeeper 
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April 7, 2021 at 3:07 AM
Isobel Necessary
As you say, difficult to know how likely this project is to be completed, but the images are great!
April 7, 2021 at 8:11 AM
K Hindall
It really gives me the creeps when people go around naming everything after themselves, like this guy and Donald Trump. Sort of the way Alexander “the Great” ran about naming cities “Alexander” or “Alexander’s city” in the local languages of everywhere he conquered (e.g., Iskenderun). Maybe one, but if it doesn’t end there, it seems to me that’s a huge warning that the person in question should not, for the good of their community, have very much power at all. They might as well put up a giant neon sign that can be read from space saying “I am a dangerous meglomaniac! Stop me before I name something after myself again!”
But no one ever does. I get that in Alexander’s day—there wasn’ tmuch to be done about a despotic monarch—but I really don’t get why people today don’t see it and say, “Aha! No more of your wandering about without a keeper with veto powers!”
April 11, 2021 at 6:53 PM
Wayne
I wholeheartedly agree. One of the things which freaks me out about humankind overall is our disturbing weakness for “celebrities” (or however we style high-status individuals whom everyone breathlessly pays attention to). Perhaps it is a ghastly by-product of hierarchical organization of society, but I feel like we give too much power and influence to these characters. This isn’t just true in terms of founding new cities, but in pretty much all walks of life. I have no idea how to address our shameful proclivity for popularity though (not without becoming a famous social philosopher, at any rate).
April 10, 2021 at 2:47 PM
Jonathan Mwesigwa S.
Akon City or A con city?