Abidjan,
the Afro global city

​​​​​​​Côte d’Ivoire’s economic capital and the planet’s third-largest French-speaking city is a never-ending work in progress, striving trying to correct the past while already thinking of the future, an urban planning challenge. A melting pot of cultures and peoples determined to forge a life in this megalopolis open to the wide world.

​​​​​​​Here it is, sprawling, organized and somewhat chaotic at the same time, set between ocean and lagoon, already populated by nearly 6.5 million inhabitants. Growing exponentially, pulsating constantly, undergoing perpetual construction. The past few weeks have been particularly busy in this respect. A new exhibition park, the only one of its kind in francophone Africa, opened near the airport on July 17. Architect Pierre Fakhoury designed the bold-looking, contemporary complex as a modular structure to host everything from world-class sporting events to concerts, fairs and exhibitions. In early August, the ribbon was cut on the city’s fifth bridge, which connects the Plateau and Cocody districts. The cable-stayed span soaring above the lagoon has already become a defining landmark, a bit like Sydney’s Harbour Bridge and the Brooklyn Bridge in New York. And few weeks from now, cars will start crossing the fourth bridge, between Yopougon and Adjamé. Meanwhile, work on the Akwaba interchange between...