Socially Constructed Negotiations between Actors and Informal Appropriation of Urban Public Green Space in Abidjan

Abstract

In the African city, once placed under the control of the colonizer and then a regulatory state in the aftermath of independence, public green spaces (parks and public gardens) are now under the governance of decentralized communities, in favor of the policy of decentralization. The will of the rulers (state, decentralized collectivities etc.) aims at setting up frame-works, structures, instruments and strategies, capable of establishing authority, control and space control "stumbles" on the social practices and behaviors of other actors. This will “stumbles” on the social practices and behaviors of the non-institutional actors involved. These clashes of practices between actors in their intention to use public green spaces rationally undermine the management of those who govern. Then the development of the conflicts of use around the urban public space deserves to be intelligibly analyzed through the social sciences of the organizations in order to restore to the parks and public gardens their social functions. As data collection tools, documentation, interview guides, direct observation and photographic collection were used. Also seventy-four (74) actors made up of agents of town halls, agents of the district of Abidjan, NGOs, associations, local residents, farmers etc. In terms of results, it emerges that between the actors in a situation of co-presence, eviction operations, police seizures, verbal and physical violence and illegal activities constitute forms of conflicts of use around space, public green.