Antananarivo is experiencing rapid urbanisation that is difficult to control and is generating an increase in informal and precarious housing. This expansion has negative impacts on public spaces, and neighbourhoods are often densely populated, with little or no spaces for people to meet and relax.
In addition, urban growth has an impact on traffic and the capital is facing significant mobility problems (traffic jams, lack of pavements, overcrowded pavements, etc.). Through its “Lalankely” and “Mobilité douce” projects, Agence française de développement (AFD) is working to open up mobility in the capital and make it cleaner.
The Antananarivo urban fabric initiative (AUFI) is being rolled out in this context. The objective is to support major AFD projects through co-design and co-construction of public spaces and urban developments in favour of active mobility, via the promotion of participative approaches and facilitation of events.
The initiative is being implemented by GRET and Cabanon Vertical in close collaboration with the Antananarivo Urban Council.
How to avoid poor ownership and rapid degradation of public facilities and infrastructure that are unsuited to their contexts and users’ expectations? How to generate a change in relationship between project owners and inhabitants so that users and local economic actors can take part in the production of the city? How to bridge the gap between an urgent need for public services and lengthy finalisation of major urban projects?
The urban fabric initiative projects, led by AFD, were designed to provide responses to these questions, drawing inspiration from transitory urban planning initiatives implemented in France, Europe and elsewhere.
Veritable citizen initiative laboratories, the urban fabric initiatives provide support to participative, innovative urban micro-projects, operating as a complement to major urban development or mobility projects funded by AFD.
The first urban fabric initiatives emerged in 2018, following the launch of two pilot projects in Ouagadougou and Tunisia by AFD to test participative, agile urban fabric approaches. Due to their success and the interest they generated, AFD replicated these projects in other African cities… (urban fabric initiatives network website)
