Sponge Cities: The Proven Way to Beat Floods in Africa
When rain falls in West and Northwest Africa today, it too often becomes a crisis. Streets flood within hours, homes are damaged, and businesses lose stock. The problem lies less with the amount of rainfall than with the way cities are built. Asphalt and concrete shed water instead of absorbing it, and drains, when present […]
Regenerative Finance: The Proven Way to Build Thriving Communities
When people speak of financing urban development, the discussion often drifts toward loans from international agencies or grants from distant NGOs. Yet these routes risk debt traps, donor dependency, or projects that fail to match local needs. If regenerative development in West and North-West Africa is to be truly resilient, the answer must start closer […]
Interlocking Bricks: The Secure, Sustainable, and Smarter Way to Build
Minimal Mortar, Maximum Strength Walls can be smarter. They can lock together for strength, breathe for comfort, and last decades. Interlocking bricks demonstrate that minimal mortar is enough to create secure, climate-adapted buildings. Drawing inspiration from Japanese joinery and West African vernacular, this system combines precision geometry with low-carbon, locally sourced materials. The result is […]
Honeycomb Bricks: The Proven Way to Beat Africa’s Heat
Rethinking the Fabric of Construction In much of West and North-West Africa, the default building block is still the concrete breeze block. It is cheap, uniform and familiar, yet it is ill-suited to the climate. Its low thermal mass means interiors heat rapidly during the day and release that heat too slowly at night. Mechanical […]
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 They are shaped more by colonial legacies and outdated models than by the needs and creativity of their […]
Reclaim Tomorrow: Co-Create Greener, Safer, More Regenerative Communities
The future of our cities will not be delivered to us. It must be built—together. Across West and North West Africa, climate stress, rapid urbanisation, and widening inequality call for a profound shift in how we shape the places we live. But this shift won’t come from concrete alone. It must emerge from collaboration, material […]
Why Bamboo Is the Ultimate Solution for Disaster-Resilient Building
Bamboo is more than a building material. It is the ultimate tool for resilient, low-carbon, affordable construction. Across West Africa and beyond, it offers speed, strength, and sustainability unmatched by conventional options. Bamboo’s Material Intelligence: Rediscovering Resilient Solutions Bamboo frames withstand shocks while keeping interiors cool, flexing under strain instead of breaking. This strength and […]
The Future of Food, Energy & Waste Lies in Circular Cities
The future city must not simply be built; it must be cultivated. It must feed itself, power itself, clean itself, and renew itself. And it must do this without extracting more than it can give back. Rethinking the Foundations of Sustainability Circular cities are cities that remember how to breathe. At their heart lies a […]
Cluster-Based Planning: The Key to Better Urban Living
“Architecture is not the outcome of drawings but of lived choices shaped around place, ritual and rhythm.” Cities across West and Northwest Africa are expanding fast. Too often, that growth flattens local identity, fragments community life, and intensifies ecological pressure. Yet it need not. The urban cluster offers a grounded alternative: compact, walkable, and materially […]
Bamboo Urbanism So Far: Powerful Takeaways and Surprising Lessons
The enthusiasm for bamboo in West African urban design has been both exhilarating and sobering. We’ve seen workshops, pilot blocks, and research units rise. We’ve heard declarations of a “new material age.” But what has this bamboo moment really taught us? It has taught us that no single material is a magic bullet. Bamboo is […]