Legitimizing "Customary" Power in Land Management in Côte D'ivoire (Adiopodoume), the Challenges of Rurbanization

The galloping urbanization in Abidjan brings two modes of land management into confrontation. In this land practice, the actors play according to their own principles. Thus, the "customary" power and the modern power collaborate and oppose each other in the face of the effects of rapid demographic growth. In this game of actors, the peripheries are confronted with a deliberate urbanization, a source of frequent land conflicts, problems related to the risk of flooding and a degradation of the living environment of the population. In this study, we want to analyze the legitimacy of "customary" power in land management through the peri-urban area of Adiopodoumé, in the commune of Yopougon. To do this, we will use documentary research, interviews with customary and municipal authorities and a questionnaire administered to buyers to establish our methodology. It thus emerges that there is an entanglement between "customary" power and modern power in the practice of land tenure in Adiopodoumé. This leads the village community of Adiopodoumé to adopt strategies of circumvention, recuperation, and fragmentation of land. Thus, the rurbanization of the urban model that is taking place is taking place exclusively under the control of the village community of Adiopodoumé, with 72.6% by the village community as opposed to only 1.6% by the state and 25% by individuals. This entanglement between "customary" and modern power creates tensions and duality within the "customary" power in Adiopodoumé. In conclusion, the entanglement between "customary" and modern power in the peri-urban area of Adiopodoumé creates an impressive urban dynamic made up of stratagems with tensions over urban development.