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International Union of Women
Architects as well as becoming an active member of the Kenya Association of University Women". In a memoir Mann said, "I have generally tried to put both my head and hands to good use, always guided by my heart. From this point of view, I have maintained that I was a complete person in that I have used every gift granted by my Maker." Writing shortly after Mann's death, Betty Caplan, in an obituary titled "A Woman of Substance", described her as "Town planner, architect, ecologist, project manager, conservationist, bee keeper, speaker of seven languages, avid promoter of women's equality, jeweller, potter, craftswoman, gardener, collector."
248:" movement which encouraged a holistic approach to planning harmonious human settlements. Mann was interested in traditional African house designs, repudiating any idea that they were "primitive", and wrote and lectured on the subject. She saw urban planning as "an ideal profession for a woman because it builds on her innate capacity for providing an orderly and aesthetic environment for herself, her family and the community in which she lives".
223:. In 1942 they moved to Kenya, then under British rule, and made their lives there. They became British citizens in 1948, although Mann did not always feel welcomed by the British expatriate community in Kenya. She and her husband became known for hosting "open house" afternoons where they welcomed guests of all ethnicities: colleagues, artists, politicians and other people from the "
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include sustainable development and human rights issues and she described herself as a socialist. In 1972 she founded the
Council for Human Ecology: Kenya, also known as CHEK, concerned with empowering rural women as well as environmental protection. CHEK became the umbrella for numerous NGO efforts over the years. With CHEK, Mann led the
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After retiring from government employment in 1984 some of Mann's creativity went into her unique collection of succulent plants from different parts of the
African continent, arranged in an artistic and carefully designed garden. It drew international attention from botanists including some from the
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who believed in continuity and gradual administrative change. She went to many international conferences and lectures as a representative of postcolonial Kenya, and between 1964 and 1968 she was intermittently seconded to take charge of overseas trade exhibitions. Her interests broadened out to
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Mann was given the title of
Architect Laureate in 2003. Four years later she died, on 4 June 2007, shortly before her 90th birthday. At her memorial service a former chairman of the Architects Association of Kenya, said she was "a lone woman in a forest of men - one reason why she joined the
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Not long after she settled in Kenya, the colonial administration set up a town planning department in
Nairobi. Mann applied to join it and worked on the 1948 master plan for the city. Although some aspects of the original plan still exist, like the suburbs of Jericho and
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She was soon recognised as a talented and committed urban planner and became the senior planning and development officer for many major projects, in charge of researching and evidence gathering for strategic planning decisions. She was attracted by the ideas of the
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conference in 1996. Mann became known for her deep respect for the wisdom and knowledge of the indigenous peoples of Kenya, working for example to preserve the knowledge of healing botanicals held by many traditional healers.
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After Kenyan independence in 1963 Mann was one of the
Europeans who continued to serve under the new government. She supported independence and was happy to work under President
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She kept in touch with the ideas of architects and thinkers across the world and promoted the work of "ecological" and innovative architects in the magazines she founded:
322:. The documentary was directed by Erica's daughter, Kenny. The title of the film is a reference to Erica's maiden name, Schoenbaum, which means "beautiful tree".
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designed by Mann, she said in the 1990s that
Nairobi was not the city she and her colleagues had planned, although she did plan some of the broad boulevards.
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she headed across Kenya, many of them engaged in fostering women's cooperatives. In 2003 she was honoured with the title of
Architect Laureate for Kenya.
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and other parts of Kenya. She became interested in development projects seeking to improve living standards and was director of the "Women in
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rural development project which offered several thousand women support in building self-sufficiency, including training in
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290:(bee keeping), brickmaking, and rabbit breeding. This was recognised as a valuable and successful project by the
306:, London. Erica also accumulated one of the largest private collections of African art anywhere in East Africa.
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199:. She married her husband Igor Mann a few weeks after meeting him and falling in love. He was a Polish
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428:"On The Delight of the Yearner: Ernst May and Erica Mann in Nairobi, Kenya, 1933–1953"
460:"Women of Kibwezi - A Case Study of the Kibwesi Women's Integrated Rural Development"
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Germany. In late 1940 the Manns, who were both secular Jews, escaped across the
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In 2013, Erica's life in Kenya was memorialized in a documentary film titled
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conference in 1996. The "Woman in
Kibwezi" project was but one of several
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For the German actress and writer, daughter of novelist Thomas Mann, see
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259:. In 1952 she started planning work on the city of Mombasa and
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before spending some months in a
British-run refugee camp in
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who had had to leave his homeland when it was invaded by
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for almost all her adult life, after fleeing her home in
433:. Journal of Contemporary African Art. Archived from
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23:Austrian-born urban planner, active in Kenya
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179:She was born Erika Schoenbaum in
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187:where she went to school in
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344:Mann, Rhodia (2013-09-01).
100:Women in Kibwezi initiative
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400:Lee, Rachel (2013-04-01).
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136:who lived and worked in
86:Urban planner, architect
480:Kenyan women architects
183:in 1917 and grew up in
55:Vienna, Austria-Hungary
382:"A Woman of Substance"
269:North-Eastern Province
97:City planning in Kenya
128:(1917 – 2007) was an
490:Women urban planners
193:École des Beaux Arts
77:École des Beaux Arts
485:People from Nairobi
384:. The East African.
350:Nation Media Group
495:Romanian refugees
221:Northern Rhodesia
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66:(2007-06-04)
253:Build Kenya
144:during the
64:4 June 2007
474:Categories
444:2016-10-12
326:References
295:Habitat II
288:apiculture
165:Habitat II
126:Erica Mann
119:Kenny Mann
30:Erica Mann
18:Erika Mann
281:Women in
213:Palestine
189:Bucharest
130:architect
111:Igor Mann
276:Kenyatta
246:Ekistics
116:Children
283:Kibwezi
185:Romania
158:Kibwezi
154:Mombasa
150:Nairobi
142:Romania
310:Legacy
231:Career
209:Danube
181:Vienna
108:Spouse
438:(PDF)
431:(PDF)
238:Ofafa
217:Egypt
197:Paris
138:Kenya
255:and
215:and
205:Nazi
169:NGOs
132:and
61:Died
52:1917
45:Born
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