Developing Global Interdependencies: Consulting Firms and Nordic Aid in Postcolonial Tanzania's Rural Economic Development

The globalization of developmentalist architecture has become a major topic in architectural history, but less is known about the funding mechanisms and national development policies that supported consulting firms as they competed for contracts in the global South. This article examines the application of the integrated rural development (IRD) approach in postcolonial Tanzania, taking as its point of departure two IRD-based regional economic plans developed for the regions of Mtwara and Lindi that were financed by the Finnish development organization Finnida and prepared by two Finnish consulting firms, Finnplanco and Finconsult. While the Nordic countries actively promoted developmentalist intervention in the late 20th century, the role they played in this context has been overlooked. Attempts to implement these rural economic development plans are relevant to architectural history, even if the implementation failed, because they shed light on the modernization projects promoted by ‘global experts’ worldwide, drawing attention to the long-term dialogue between developmentalist forces and architectural state-making in the global South.