English

Douala 2013 Cameroon Professional workshop

Douala, the «intertwined city»

How can formal and informal activities share the urban space and cross-fertilize?

NB : all the documents produced by the workshop are available in French on the French version of the website.

The city of Douala, economic capital of Cameroon, faces two issues for urban development : improve the living conditions of inhabitants in the existing city, and take in the new arrivals in the short and medium term.
Every year, 100 000 migrants settle in the city, and the prospect of a further 1,5 million inhabitants in the next 15 years will take the agglomeration from a population of 2,5 million in 2012 to 4 million around 2025.
This unprecedented growth in population takes place on a background of multi-dimensional crisis : * economic : loss in competitiveness and attractiveness as industries redeploy across the region ;

  • environmental : site degradation and constant industrial risk ;
  • social : issues of access to work and lodgings ;
  • identity : thinning link between the city and its Estuary.

    New issues are appearing in the wake of the demographic growth : * linked to the reaction of the informal sector to this inflow of migrants, in all domains of economic life including transport and lodgings ;

  • linked to the overflow of public spaces, which weighs on the general attractiveness of Douala.

    Those issues are closely interwoven. An immediate consequence of the economic crisis, they could also - if handled in the right way - give the city levers to enable the informal sector to improve urban economics and keep Douala strong as the economic capital of Cameroon.

    • staff

    Pilots : Christophe Bayle, architect-urban planner and Marion Talagrand, landscape architect-urban planner.
    Assistant-pilots : Hamadou Yalcouye and Réana Tahélary
    Contact for Les Ateliers : Claire Vigé Hélie, Director

    workshop's partners