The area known as the Region des Palmes (literally, the region of the palm trees) is located to the southwest of the Port-au-Prince urban conglomeration. It brings together a series of four
communes that extend from the coast into the "mornes" (mountains).

The spatial organization of the Region des Palmes is characteristic of the urban and rural geography of Haiti, and numerous challenges that can be found in other regions of the island are concentrated in the area : internal migrations, informal urban development, agricultural pressures, environmental degradation...

Lastly, located at the epicenter of the earthquake that shook the country on January 12, 2010, the Region des Palmes suffered considerable damage, which led the communes to
gather into a Community of Municipalities, a unique and unprecedented experiment in Haiti. The future of the region is nevertheles strongly tied to that of Port-au-Prince, whose development profoundly impacts the region’s spatial organization and economy (mostly rural and touristic).

In this context, the interest and need in constructing a shared vision for the future of this territory presents a double agenda – both local and national. Since 2010, the Haitian government, has been preparing a strategic national vision for long-term land development and management in order to bring foresight and action that goes beyond simply emergency or transitional periods. As for the Region des Palmes, though it had created the Community of Municipalities of the Region des Palmes (CMRP) in order to face emergency, it now aims at developing a strategic vision for its territory.

This ‘territorial’ approach needs to strike an ‘internal’ balance between rural and urban areas and an ‘external’ balance between the region itself and Port-au-Prince, all within a context of profound demographic, social, and economic change. As a national pilot for this intercommunal approach, a successful outcome in the Region des Palmes could have a demonstrative value that extends well beyond its borders.

*This workshop took place from February 26 to March 12, 2016.

Following the workshop, the work of the teams was utilized and implemented within the framework of decentralized cooperation between the Community of Municipalities of the Région des Palmes (CMRP) and the Agglomeration Community of Cergy-Pontoise (CACP), through watershed management policies.

A round table, an exhibition, and a booklet were produced in 2024 by Les Ateliers, the CACP, and the CMRP to share the progress of this project - you can also find the booklet on this page.