Why Writing Turned Out to Be Better Than Podcasting
When I set up bambouorile.site in April, it was meant to be a low-tech test for a podcast I had been imagining—The Bamboo Urbanist. The blog would let me explore ideas, refine themes, and see whether there was enough substance to carry a series of conversations in audio form. Five months and nineteen posts later, […]
Bamboo Cities: Forgotten Wisdom Building Sustainable Urban Growth
Across the tropics, bamboo has proven itself as more than a humble material. Its tensile strength rivals steel. Its rapid growth ensures sustainability. Its aesthetic warmth lends cities a living grace often absent in concrete jungles. In Latin America, Colombia’s Guadua bamboo frames span public spaces. They shape schools, pavilions, and cultural centres. Each structure […]
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 […]
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 They are shaped more by colonial legacies and outdated models than by the needs and creativity of their […]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 […]
Bamboo Urban Village: Inside 2040’s Bold New Eco Cities
The Myth of the Fad The belief that bamboo is a passing trend is an insidious myth. This is not architectural fashion. It is material realism. Beneath our roads lies laterite. Older than the nation-state buildings still breathe through lime-rendered walls. These materials were never primitive—they were always appropriate. Our task is not to import […]
Circularity in Construction: Where Bamboo Belongs
Urban planning should serve both the city and its people. That principle lies at the heart of sustainable development. When we speak of circularity in construction, we speak of more than recycling. We refer to a system where buildings respect resource limits, regenerate natural systems, and strengthen social bonds. In this, bamboo has a rightful […]
Designing with Bamboo: Sustainable Materials for the Urban Public Good
Through the analogy of urban metabolism, there is an understanding in policy cirlces that cities breathe. Their streets pulse with movement, their parks hum with conversation, and their buildings stand as witnesses to history. Yet, beneath this liveliness, an old challenge lingers—how to build with care, for both people and the planet. Bamboo, often dismissed […]
Lessons from Paris Centre Parcs: Cluster Planning for Sustainability
In the search for a future where human living spaces are in harmony with nature, the concept of sustainable communities is no longer a far-off dream. It is becoming a reality. One example that demonstrates this vision is Centre Parcs Paris Village Nature, where nature, human-scale living, and smart design work together to create a […]