A view of urban density and street life in Nairobi, where local residents shape the city's future through lived experience rather than external design frameworks.
NAIROBI · May 1, 2026 : As Paul Joseph J. Kang officially launches "Sim Eternal City" today, the global conversation around future urbanism has shifted from speculative blueprints to a fundamental question of perspective. Sim Eternal City: a framework for a floating, elderly-centric urbanity designed for climate extremes and the reality of death: debuts in New York, yet its implications are being scrutinized in Nairobi through the lens of Edgar Pieterse.
The Critique of "Airbnb Urbanism"
Edgar Pieterse, Director of the African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape Town, argues that future city frameworks are often designed by a global elite: those who move between "100 Airbnbs" without ever planting roots. In Nairobi, where the majority live in informal, autoconstructed settlements, the "shanty city" is the actual city. Pieterse suggests that a city designed for the transient cannot possibly serve the permanent resident. The person who has never left their neighborhood holds a narrative just as vital as the architect in Manhattan.
Sim Eternal City as a Global Bridge
While Sim Eternal City originates from Kang’s narrative experiments in New York, it serves as a provocation for cities like Nairobi. The project’s focus on aging and climate adaptation resonates in a region where the elderly population is set to triple by 2050. However, the application of such frameworks requires a "homegrown" starting premise. If a city is to float, it must be buoyed by the stories of those who inhabit it, not just the technical specifications of global designers.
Urbanism as Fiction and Fact
The launch of Sim Eternal City reminds us that cities are built from fiction before they are cast in concrete. In Nairobi, the future is currently being narrated by those navigating its daily complexities. To design the city of tomorrow, planners must look beyond the mobile nomad and engage with the stationary citizen who understands the rhythm of the local street. The future city cannot be an import; it must be an emergence.
Source: http://bcd-w.xyz / http://simeternal.city
