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, which aimed to take place il July, has eventually been postponed to 2016, from February 26 to March 12. New places are open to application, and the deadline for application has been reported to November 30, 2016. Experimented profiles are welcome.