After heavy rain, the restored wetland at Nyandungu changes character. Water spreads through reeds and shallow basins, slowing before it reaches the neighborhoods beyond.
The landscape is attractive, but beauty is only one of its jobs. It stores stormwater, supports bird life, cools surrounding streets and gives residents a public place to understand the ecology beneath their city.
Infrastructure that breathes
As African cities expand, wetlands are often treated as empty land waiting for construction. Kigali’s experiment suggests the opposite: keeping natural systems intact can be a practical form of urban engineering.