Akon City is a labyrinth of gleaming metal and glass, with miles of palm-lined roads. Undulating rose-gold towers reach up toward the sky, their vast windows and curves reflecting the sea in front of them.
At least, that’s how the city looks in architects’ sketches. The Senegalese “smart city,” the brainchild of Senegalese American singer Akon, hasn’t yet been built. For now, the land is still the sleepy coastal town of Mbodiène, home to mostly fishers and farmers.
Akon has called the city a refuge for the African diaspora, and a boost for local communities. Journalists have compared it to Wakanda in the blockbuster “Black Panther.” Others deride the project as an unrealistic stunt, or a boon for only the…