Bamboo Urbanism: The Proven Way to Reclaim Flood-Prone African Streets
Not every African city began beside water. Many Sahelian settlements grew around wells, wadis and seasonal rivers rather than permanent waterways. Yet whether water arrives daily or rarely, it now returns with unfamiliar force. Rain falls harder. Dry seasons lengthen. Urban form, once guided by climate knowledge, now strains under strategies borrowed without adaptation. The […]
Human-Scale Neighbourhoods: The Proven Way to Build Strong, Sustainable Cities
Urban life thrives when its parts fit the human body and mind. Streets, squares and homes work best at a scale we can read without strain. I see this truth in every courtyard of Hausa cities and in the shaded passages of old Moroccan quarters. Each space meets real needs. Each form builds sociability. Each […]
Bamboo Cluster Neighbourhoods: The Proven Way to Advance African Eco-Urbanism
Last week’s post revived sociability through human-centred streets. This post shifts towards the home. I explore an ideal biophilic community conceived as a best-practice benchmark. It informs future action without claiming literal construction. I walk the imagined site as though it stands before me. Natural slopes suggest how people might instinctively walk across the terrain. […]
Human-Centred Streets: The Proven Way to Reclaim African Urban Sociability
Every city tells a story through its streets. They reveal how people live, how they meet, and what they value. In much of contemporary urbanism, the street has been stripped of meaning. It has become an instrument of movement rather than a medium of connection. Yet in the towns and cities of West and North-West […]
Biophilic Design: The Proven Way to Shape Sustainable African Communities
A city breathes when its architecture remembers nature. Too often, our modern buildings forget this. They stand aloof, smooth-faced and sterile, as though ashamed of the earth that birthed them. Yet the human mind seeks pattern, texture, and the slow irregularities of growth. Biophilic design aims to answer that longing. At its heart lies a […]
Open-Source Urbanism: The Proven Way to Empower African City Builders
Urban design cannot succeed if knowledge remains locked behind bureaucracy. The tools of planning must be shared, adapted, and co-created. In West and Northwest Africa, open-source frameworks offer a path towards equitable and resilient cities—ones that return agency to local hands while embracing sustainable, place-based practices. Bamboo, laterite, rammed earth, and reclaimed timber are not […]
The Just Transition: The Proven Way to Empower Local Builders and Communities
The question of equity in green building is not academic. It is moral, environmental, and deeply local. In West and Northwest Africa, the transition to sustainable construction must resist both imported dogma and technological fetish. What is at stake is not style alone, but survival. Bamboo, often dismissed as rustic, has become a quiet revolutionary. […]
Nature-Led Design: The Proven Way to Reclaim African Urban Spaces
Cities breathe best when nature is not a guest but a resident. Across West and Northwest Africa, too many urban spaces still resist the landscape rather than live with it. Streets, squares, and waterfronts once shaped by wind and water are now dominated by concrete slabs and fenced-off lawns. The result is a loss of […]
Green Transport: The Proven Way to Power Africa’s Bamboo Cities
Transport shapes how we live, connect, and experience our cities. Yet, in much of West and Northwest Africa, mobility infrastructure still depends on concrete, asphalt, and steel. While these materials remain serviceable, they carry a heavy carbon burden. Consequently, a shift toward bamboo, laterite, and other local composites can unlock a gentler, more sustainable path […]
Bamboo Cities: The Proven Way to Build Africa’s Resilient Future
Bamboo and laterite have proven themselves as strong, sustainable materials for housing. But their potential goes far beyond walls and roofs. Streets, plazas, bridges, and street furniture can all be reimagined with these resources. Scaling bamboo in urban infrastructure transforms not just buildings, but the city itself. Concrete and steel dominate most urban networks. They […]