Accueil » Areas of expertise » Cities for all and decentralisation

More than half of the world’s population lives in cities. Nearly two thirds—2.5 billion people—live in developing countries and one billion live in shantytowns. And urbanization will continue in the years to come.

Considering cities’ major role in development and the support and assistance needs made necessary by the pace and nature of urbanization, GRET has been active for 30 years in urban development cooperation. It supports the decentralization mechanisms at work, which are redefining territorial balances to more closely fit socio-spatial realities and actors in the field. It works in central or outlying poor settlements, generally in average-sized capital cities (population one million) or in secondary cities alongside local actors (mainly grassroots organizations, NGOs, small economic operators, local governments, and urban operators). GRET is guided by an ultimate goal: fight urban relegation and ensure a right to the city for the greatest number.

  • The poorest segments of the population are increasingly being excluded in the large cities of emerging countries. The challenge is to work for better acknowledgment of poor inhabitants’ place in the city and of the people’s dynamics and initiatives present in disadvantaged settlements, and for a redistribution of public investment to lessen inequalities in access to the city.
  • In least developed countries, notably in sub-Saharan Africa, and in medium and small cities, the priority is to curb urban growth, stem the rural exodus and ensure access to services for all. GRET acts to set up urban planning approaches, improve housing and access to services, and develop employment. Its methods combine suitable technical solutions, original financing mechanisms, and institutional management systems that involve the social actors concerned, technical operators and the national and decentralized public actors with the aim of ensuring lasting access to the goods and services created.

  • Precarious neighbourhoods: from denial to recognition


    | Gret | 2016/10 | Politiques et Pratiques de développement | 22

    While the population living in slums represents almost one third of the urban population worldwide, these neighbourhoods are rarely represented on maps of cities. This deliberate invisibility goes hand in hand with a deficitf knowledge and recognition, ...


  • Twize, 10 years of Urban Social Development in Mauritania


    Virginie Rachmuhl | Gret | 2012/05 | Politiques et Pratiques de développement | 5

    In Mauritania, urban growth has been spectacular since independence. In 60 years, the population of the capital, Nouakchott, has gone from 500 to nearly one million people. This growth has been accompanied by the rapid developement of precarious, under-equipped ...


Enseignement/recherche

Laboratório de habitação e assentamentos humanos (LABHAB), Saõ Paulo, (Brésil) ; Laboratoire citoyennetés (Burkina Faso) ; Centre SUD - Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture de Paris-La Villette, Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée – Institut français d’urbanisme, Université Bordeaux 3 – UFR de géographie (France) ; Université d’Etat d’Haïti (UEH) Faculté des Sciences Humaines (FASCH) (Haïti).

Institutions publiques et collectivités locales

Associations des maires du Burkina Faso, Bénin et Mali ; Commune des Aguégués et Comé (Bénin) ; Communes de Boromo, Réo et Kampti (Burkina Faso) ; Ville de Dolisie, communes d’arrondissement de Bacongo, Makélékél, Talangaï et M’Filou (Congo) ; commune de Saint-Georges de l’Oyapock, commune de Saint-Laurent du Maroni, Région Ile-de-France, Région Rhône-Alpes (France) ; Ministère des Travaux publics, Transports et Communications (MTPTC), Délégation Départementale du Sud, Direction Départementale Sud du Ministère de l’Agriculture et des Ressources naturelles et du Développement rural, Direction départementale Sud du Ministère de la Planification et de la Coopération externe, Direction départementale Sud du Ministère de la Santé publique et de la Population, Unité de construction des logements et bâtiments publics (UCLBP), mairies de Port-au-Prince, Delmas, Pétion Ville et de Saint Louis du Sud, Direction Nationale de l’eau et l’assainissement (Dinepa), Orepa (Office régional de l’eau potable et l’assainissement), CTE (Centre technique d’exploitation) (Haïti) ; Holding d’aménagement Al Omrane (Maroc) ; Communauté urbaine et communes de Nouakchott (Mauritanie).

Opérateurs/ONG/Bureaux d’études

ACT Consultants, Gerdal, Pact-Guyane, Tetraktys (France) ; Fokal (Haïti) ; Area (Maroc).

Organismes professionnels, groupements, organisations locales

AAISC, CCOD (Congo) ; Coordination des Quartiers Pauvres Port au Prince (Kokapop), Fédération des komite Dlo (FEKOD), Planteurs en Action pour le Développement agricole de Saint Louis du Sud (Padass), SNELAK (Haïti).

Collectifs et Réseaux

Partenariat français pour la Ville et les territoires, Cités unies France.

Entreprises

Suez Environnement