Who produces the city in Africa?
In cities, housing, transport, services, urban spaces and productive activities are the result of initiatives, investments and actions carried out by a wide range of players - institutional, formal and informal, public and private. However, in most African cities, the autonomous and incremental dynamics of the city 'from below' are very present, and the public authorities often struggle to keep up with, or even (re)get to know, those that are informal.
Sarah LECOURT trained as an urban planner and is a graduate of Sciences Po and ENS Rennes. She is interested in issues relating to the right to the city and the co-production of cities. In the various projects she leads, she is driven by the desire to put users -ers and inhabitant-is at the heart of the planning, design and management of cities, in conjunction with other stakeholders such as public authorities or private players. She joined GRET Senegal in 2020 and is currently in charge of urban projects.
MOOC Collective Urban Factory - Supporting multi-stakeholder collaborations, inspiring new ways of making cities
The online course "The collective urban factory" explores the potential and challenges of urban co-production. Using concrete examples, the MOOC looks at the possible relationships between public and private action, formal and informal, at every decision-making stage, from the design to the management of the urban environment. Aiming to explore new collaborative ways of doing things, it is made up of five modules, aimed at all urban practitioners and technicians wishing to open up to new methods and approaches to social and institutional intermediation.