How Better Urban Planning Codes Lead to Greener, Sustainable Cities

As cities across West and North West Africa continue to expand rapidly, they face immense pressures—from climate shocks to population growth and deepening inequality. Yet the policies and planning frameworks governing these urban spaces often lag behind. They are shaped more by colonial legacies and outdated models than by the needs and creativity of their people or the unique intelligence of place.

Much of West Africa’s current urban planning inherits colonial zoning systems, European building standards, or reactive by-laws that prioritise control over creativity. These frameworks favour concrete, glass, and rigid grid-based designs. These materials and forms are often ill-suited to local climates and economies that demand more adaptive, regenerative solutions. This mismatch marginalises indigenous building knowledge, criminalises informal settlements, and disconnects city-making from cultural and environmental context.

To foster greener, more sustainable cities, we must fundamentally rethink urban planning codes—not as mere regulatory updates but as visionary frameworks grounded in climate resilience, material equity, and social inclusion.

1. Embracing Low-Carbon, Local Materials at Scale

Building materials define not only structures but also a city’s carbon footprint, affordability, and adaptability. Across West and North West Africa, low-carbon materials like laterite, bamboo, raffia, and treated earth have long been part of traditional construction. Laterite, found from Senegal and Mali to Nigeria, offers excellent thermal properties and is easily sourced. Bamboo grows quickly and regenerates naturally, while raffia fibre—an agricultural by-product—adds strength when integrated into composite materials.

Despite their proven performance, formal codes often restrict or outright ban these materials, favouring imported concrete and steel, which typically perform worse thermally and generate far higher emissions.

One innovative example is the honeycomb brick system: modular bricks made from compressed laterite combined with bamboo or raffia fibers in an interlocking cellular design. These bricks outperform conventional breeze blocks by moderating heat transfer more effectively, providing natural cooling benefits akin to rammed earth but with fewer resource demands.

Importantly, these bricks can be produced with minimal mechanisation, supporting localized economies and sustainable supply chains. This isn’t about romanticising tradition—it’s a pragmatic, tested approach to low-carbon building suited to regions with limited infrastructure but abundant natural resources.

2. Designing Codes That Prioritise Climate, Not Just Compliance

Green urban codes must move beyond basic safety enforcement to actively promote thermal comfort, energy efficiency, and dignified living spaces.

West Africa’s climate—with its intense heat, strong sun, and seasonal rains—demands architecture that responds intelligently. Traditional designs, from Hausa homes to Yoruba compounds, Fulani structures and beyond, incorporate deep eaves, thick walls, shaded courtyards, and screened verandas to optimize ventilation and protection. These are practical climate solutions, not mere stylistic choices.

Yet many codes restrict these features: limiting roof overhangs, treating courtyards as unusable space, or deeming ventilated walls non-compliant. Such restrictions force buildings to overheat, increasing dependence on energy-intensive cooling systems.

Truly green codes would incentivise climate-responsive strategies—thermal mass, cross-ventilation, daylighting, rainwater harvesting, and smart orientation—measured by real-world comfort and resilience rather than abstract or imported “green” certifications.

3. Embedding Community Participation in Planning

Urban planning must shift from an elite, top-down exercise to a democratic, inclusive process co-created with communities.

Too often, residents are only consulted after decisions are made. The most resilient, liveable neighbourhoods emerge when people actively shape their environment. Elders carry vital spatial memory; youth contribute digital know-how; women often manage critical infrastructure like water and sanitation; builders understand what works and what doesn’t.

Better planning codes should mandate participatory design processes, legally require community involvement in resettlement and redevelopment, and integrate informal knowledge into formal frameworks.

Moreover, codes must accommodate incremental growth. Many homes in West Africa are built over time, reflecting resource constraints and evolving needs. Rigid, all-at-once completion requirements alienate many from compliance. Green codes must allow for staged construction, adaptability, and local ingenuity—offering flexible frameworks rather than one-size-fits-all formulas.

4. Legitimising Informal City Innovations

Informal construction is often portrayed as a problem, but it actually represents a vast, decentralised infrastructure of ingenuity housing the majority in many cities.

Rather than criminalise informal practices, planning codes should recognise and legitimise successful informal solutions—whether sanitation layouts designed for shared use, market stall clusters supporting livelihoods, or housing that balances density with airflow.

Where informal methods demonstrate safety, climate responsiveness, and social cohesion, they should be formalised. A bamboo-framed kiosk or a laterite school block need not remain informal if their performance meets standards.

Green codes can bridge informal knowledge and formal recognition, empowering communities to be co-authors of city-making rather than subjects.

5. Supporting Local Supply Chains and Circular Economies

Planning must engage with the entire building ecosystem—from sourcing materials to construction and maintenance.

Green codes should incentivise local production, reduce transport emissions, and encourage modular, repairable systems. Policy tools like tax incentives, procurement requirements, and pilot projects can support decentralised manufacturing of materials like honeycomb bricks or treated bamboo panels.

Circularity must be a foundational principle—materials should be reused or returned to the ecosystem. In regions with weak waste management, codes must promote composting toilets, greywater recycling, salvage yards, and training centres as part of urban infrastructure.

Thus, green codes become active instruments for nurturing regenerative construction ecosystems—not just documents to check boxes.

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Planning as Infrastructure

Regulation is not inherently restrictive. When designed thoughtfully, it becomes a form of soft infrastructure—enabling equity, creativity, and resilience. But this requires evolving beyond colonial legacies and outdated models.

Across West and North West Africa, builders, artisans, youth, and elders are already pioneering the future in markets, compounds, kiosks, and classrooms. Urban planning must catch up—embracing codes that codify intelligence, inclusion, and adaptability.

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Coming next:
“The Honeycomb Brick System” — a closer look at how bamboo-reinforced laterite bricks can transform community building and what their success reveals about the future of African urbanism.

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