During the month of October, it became apparent from previous tourism assessments
of Dar es Salaam and comments from members of the Tourism Executive Board that a major tourism asset in danger of being lost was the city’s heritage architecture - a combination of Arabic, Swahili and Indian architectural styles alongside British and German colonial designs. As heritage conservation is closely related to urban planning, I adopted the research project as it aligned with my own interests.

In initiating the project, I have obtained the local antiquities laws and have also organized a meeting with a Division of Antiquities representative to obtain their list of protected buildings. There are few books that provide background information on many of the protected buildings, which will be located and photographed. Because I am from Vancouver and have seen the excellent job the City of Vancouver and Vancouver Heritage organizations have done, I will be looking into programs that might be of relevance for Dar es Salaam. In particular, I am gathering information on Vancouver’s heritage plaque program in order to propose a similar program to Dar es Salaam, which I will be presenting to City Council and interested stakeholders in Dar es Salaam.