Participatory planning shapes a neighborhood : upgrading of Sokoura in Aboisso, Côte d'Ivoire

Abstract

From 1985 to 1992, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded a squatter settlement upgrading project in the Sokoura neighborhood of Aboisso in Cote d'Ivoire, West Africa. This thesis examines the neighborhood design results of the Sokoura project in the context of the social, cultural and political factors and local planning processes in Cote d'Ivoire and Aboisso. Given a history of centralized urban planning in COte d'Ivoire, development projects in Aboisso have mostly relied on the authority of the national government, and there has been little room for public participation in planning. However, Cote d'Ivoire's efforts to decentralize administration and development since 1980 have delegated more responsibility at the local level to municipalities. USAID's upgrading project in Sokoura departed from the traditional top-down methods of planning in Aboisso by addressing the needs of a poor, largely immigrant community, and organizing their participation in the implementation of the neighborhood upgrading. Although participatory planning did not prove sustainable after the departure of the coordinating non-governmental organization, it succeeded in creating a physical design that was better adapted to the needs of Sokoura residents than the urban design standards normally used in Aboisso. A comparison to other neighborhoods in the city however reveals an imbalance between Sokoura's new infrastructure and the lesser amenities in the rest of the town. The inequality has been a source of contention for Aboisso residents, which, together with the lesser social and political status of the Sokoura population, led to a lack of interest from the Mayor's Office in continuing the participatory methods introduced during the upgrading. In contrast to Sokoura, projects undertaken by the municipality since 1992 have been nonparticipatory and focused on improving city amenities in the downtown area.