Douala

Douala’s metropolitan growth is constrained by a low-lying coastal setting, recurrent flooding and a street network that struggles to connect rapidly expanding peripheral neighbourhoods with employment and port-related activity. Informal development has increased exposure to flood hazards, while congestion reduces access to jobs and services across the city.

Current urban programmes address these systems together. Cameroon’s Sustainable Cities and Land project targets climate-resilient infrastructure and improved land administration in Douala, while the PLIDY flood programme combines drainage channels, nature-based solutions, neighbourhood access and solid-waste improvements. This integrated approach is important because transport, land development and storm-water management are mutually dependent. Douala’s future urban structure will rely on directing growth toward safer, serviced land while improving mobility between residential districts, economic areas and the port.