Cote d’Ivoire, which is eager to become a sub-regional hub, is poised to transform its urban ecosystem through dense and intelligent cities, which are sustainable and frugal, with a landscape responding to the new challenges of sustainable development.
“In the country’s largest cities, we have very spread out cities, with serious problems of mobility, water consumption and access to energy,” says Dr. Alain Serge Kouadio, the Director of Green Economy at the Ivorian Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development.
In terms of sustainable cities, he says, “we have to promote dense cities and build these cities vertically (high-rise) and not horizontally.”
To this end, the state encourages real estate operators to make buildings and energy-passive buildings (low energy consumption).
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Large hotel operators are increasingly integrating intelligent systems into their buildings, in an attempt to reduce their energy consumption.
These energy-passive buildings offer low energy consumption.
However, the systems used are still expensive for many households.
The sustainable city, according to experts, must be open, protect its inhabitants, facilitate mobility, offer the greatest modern comfort, preserve the environment, offer diversity, promote cultures, create jobs, promote a wide variety of leisure activities, innovate and respect its heritage.
In addition, it should be an area of freedom and security.
Traffic should not impose a single route, but a multitude of circuits built around a series of major axes framing neighborhoods with parks and recreation areas.
Sustainable Urban Planning
The arrangement of cities in Cote d’Ivoire still shows functions that are unsuited to new urban challenges.
It can be observed that people are still preoccupied by environmental challenges, such as cleanliness, green spaces, sanitation and the covering of canals.
For that reason, the authorities seek to transform the city through sustainable urban planning.
In this regard, a code for town planning and urban land was required, as well as a Master Plan for town planning in Greater Abidjan, the cities of Yamoussoukro and Bouake (center).
According to the Ivorian government spokesperson, Sidi Toure, this system aims to improve the quality of the rules of town planning; it is also intended to reinforce the protection of land ownership in the urban setting and secure at best, the transactions on the urban grounds, so as to reduce the volume of land disputes.
Despite a legal arsenal to supervise urban constructions and structure the housing spaces in cities, often complex administrative procedures lead populations to settle on public rights-of-way.
Read also: Towards Better Urban Mobility in Abidjan
The death in early January 2020 of Laurent-Barthelemy Ani Guibahi, a 14-year-old Ivorian student, found dead in the landing gear of an airplane on the Abidjan-Paris flight, has led the authorities to evacuate residents near the Abidjan International Airport.
The sustainable city involves several concepts.
Today, the leaders are ostensibly looking for solutions on the themes of housing, energy, mobility, health, education, financing, security, agriculture, access to basic services and the management of vulnerable populations.
AP/ls/Dng/te/fss/as/APA