Urbanisation sans bidonvilles

Abstract

Abstract The role of decentralized economic structures for the urban development of Cotonou/P.R. Bénin The problems of growth in industrial towns and the persistence of slums in some of them poses the question of decentralization. One has to analyze situations where decentralization is a prevalent sector like in Third World towns. To overstate our point we might say that somehow a bucolic picture of some Third World towns provide elements for the construction of an Utopia for industrial cities. The most important factors which explain the particular urban structure of Co tonou are seen as the following : Immigration : in the hinterland, an agrarian structure based on smallholders combining subsistence production with petty commodity production hinders the development of an «agrarian crisis», and thus of a «push factor» which might cause massive migration into the towns. Distribution : subsistence production (production for own use) of habitat and petty commodity production and trade for neighborhood markets reduce the need for transport and reduce the dependence from outside cyclical developments. Revenues : the long-term development depends on the revenues which secure an input of capital for the town. The foreign-oriented nature of the national economy — a heritage from colonial times — gives rise to high risks for investments and, simultaneously, a plethora of bureaucracy, which in the long-run will hinder the development of the town.