Saudi Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences (SJHSS)
Volume-3 | Issue-02 | 189-199
Original Research Article
Multiplicity of Urban Fronts and phenomena in Cameroonian Cities: example of Douala the Economic Capital
Tende Renz Tichafogwe, Zephania N. Fogwe
Published : Feb. 15, 2018
Abstract
Good multitudes of Cameroonian cities are characterized by a strong
recurrence urban front issuant of combined population surge and industrialization.
Douala as a sub-Saharan millionaire city witnessed an accelerated spiral of
population increase and spatial sprawl in the wake of uncontrolled development of
fronts. The fronts depict dynamic limits of growth of urban perimeters with
uncoordinated urban physiognomy. The development of Douala is not homogenous
in its planning and infrastructural growth due to improper monitoring of
urbanisation process. This paper examines the modus-operandi of front
development in the city and explains the gaps that have led to an unproductive
dynamics of fronts in Douala. The study aims at mapping existing urban fronts and
introducing control strategies to reduce unproductive front development in Douala.
Field observations, interviews, on-the-spot appraisals, archival sources and
documentary research constituted significant data collection sources. The urban
space of Douala was determined from satellite images of two periods while the
population increase was treated through the Microsoft excel spreadsheet to obtain
results. Results revealed that urban front proliferation in Douala is triggered by a
rapid population upsurge representing some 405.87% increase in 40 years with the
population moving from 476.000 inhabitants in 1975, to 1.931.977 in 2015. The
urban space of Douala increased in 24,251 hectares for the past 44 years passing
from 3249 hectares in 1970 to 27500 in 2014. Douala is largely an archetypical
urban mismanagement territory of poor planning policies, uncoordinated spatial
layout of urban settlement and anarchical occupation of land. Legislation and
governance has not succeeded in shaping land ownership and buildings leading to
anarchy and unproductive dynamics of the fronts in the city. The paper suggests
that a participatory management approach involving the public and private actors
be used to implement control and address the anarchy that reigns in Douala.