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 […]
The New Building Code That Could Free Cities from Concrete
Last week, I reflected on why writing surpassed podcasting. Today, the focus returns to the material world—the very substance of our cities. Bamboo, laterite, and other local resources demand a serious reconsideration of how we build. This is not nostalgia, nor a fetishisation of exotic timbers. It is a pragmatic response to carbon-intensive construction dominating […]
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 […]