External publications

The popular appropriation of the airport reserve in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, and strategies to resist displacement

Ittner, Irit
External Publications (2024)

in: Irit Ittner / Sneha Sharma / Isaac Khambule / Hanna Geschewski (eds.), Contested Airport Land: Social-Spatial Transformation and Environmental Injustice in Asia and Africa, London: Routledge

ISBN: 978-1-00-349496-6
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003494966
Information

The airport land, which was declared a public domain in 1979, has since developed into an intensively cultivated and densely populated urban landscape. While the marshy west and the north of the airport have developed a peri-urban landscape, informal settlements dominate the east. The chapter interweaves colonial, immigration, and economic history of Abidjan with the national aviation policy and with the eviction of a settlement near the airport wall in 2020. It shows how various groups re-appropriated the airport reserve. An aerotropolis was suggested for Abidjan in 2011. The state struggles to implement new infrastructure and to demolish illegal buildings, even within the airport’s security zone. This is because the land use changes are upsetting the socioeconomic, multi-ethnic, and political fabric, which potentially leads to political instability. The municipality has been pursuing strategies for political integration, legal recognition, and improvement of housing conditions. The government of the metropolis, however, intends to transform the airport land into a high-priced business, residential, and tourism district. Locally mobilised resistance by residents did not prevent the eviction but the demolition of buildings. Many residents returned after 1.5 years. They now face worsened living conditions.