Cotonou

Cotonou’s urban form is shaped by intense coastal growth, recurrent flooding and heavy dependence on road-based mobility. Low-lying neighbourhoods have historically been vulnerable to storm water, while rapid expansion across the wider Grand Nokoué area has increased pressure on transport and drainage infrastructure.

Recent investment addresses both systems. The Cotonou rainwater sanitation programme has built primary and secondary drains, retention basins, paved roads and public-space improvements in flood-prone districts. At the metropolitan scale, the Grand Nokoué Sustainable Urban Mobility Project is developing a multimodal public-transport network linking Cotonou with surrounding communes. Together, these projects treat flood resilience and mobility as structural components of the city, helping connect neighbourhood upgrading with a more reliable metropolitan transport system.