Urban Prospective Lab for African Intermediate Cities
An action_oriented training program aimed at exploring, inventing, and experimenting with the future of intermediate cities in Africa.

Activity co-created, co-produced, and co-facilitated by the Ateliers from January 2022 to April 2023, together with our partners from Campus AFD and the Institute for Desirable Futures.

For this first Urban Lab cohort, 17 participants were selected from 6 African intermediate cities: Bohicon and Porto-Novo in Benin, Maradi in Niger, Thiès in Senegal, Kayes in Mali, and Nkayi in the Republic of Congo.

Over 6 months, they followed an intensive program of collective and individual work across their own cities, as well as in Bohicon (Benin) and Marseille (France), to discover or rediscover the challenges, questions, and solutions to be collectively built for the territories.

The six (6) cities identified as intermediate, from which the Urban Prospective Lab participants originate, were revisited throughout the training. This allowed for a deeper understanding of the characteristics of intermediate cities through case studies. The cities are Bohicon (Benin), Kayes (Mali), Maradi (Niger), Nkayi (Congo), Porto-Novo (Benin), and Thiès (Senegal).

The photos illustrate the learning trip to Bohicon from November 28 to December 3, 2022. An exchange forum was held in Bohicon with local and international stakeholders, including the Mayor of Bohicon, Mr. Rufino D’Almeida, and the Director of AFD Benin, Mr. Jérôme Bertrand-Hardy.

We also invite you to discover the final analysis report on the member site !

The dedicated Ateliers team for the UPL – Urban Prospective Lab project was composed of: Vincent Bourjaillat, Christophe Bayle, Lamine Ousmane Cassé, Halimatou Mama Awal, Cécille Mattoug, Christine Lepoittevin, Véronique Valenzuela, and Guy Tchakam.