IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i12p6908-d577666.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Revitalization and Branding of Rural Communities in Cameroon Using a Circular Approach for Sustainable Development—A Proposal for the Batibo Municipality

Author

Listed:
  • Mudoh Mbah

    (Department of Architecture and Urban Sustainability, The University of the District of Columbia, Washington, DC 20008, USA)

  • Anna Franz

    (Department of Architecture and Urban Sustainability, The University of the District of Columbia, Washington, DC 20008, USA)

Abstract

Rural communities in Cameroon have high levels of poverty, poor living conditions and lagging sustainable development. Lack of economic, social and physical infrastructure opportunities make these communities unsustainable and impact the quality of life for residents. Existing conditions render these areas unattractive for visitors and external and local investors. Initiatives to reduce poverty and improve living standards have had limited impact to reducing poverty or improving quality of life. The recent signing of Cameroon’s decentralization law, giving authority for planning and investments to local council governments now provides an opportunity to rethink existing strategies. Using Batibo, a representative community in the north western region of Cameroon, this paper examines the status of development initiatives and identifies new priorities for planning and steps to improve economic status. Guided by the Theory of Ecological Design and Five Pillars of Economic Development, and using a circular city approach, this paper outlines a concept for town planning and architectural flagship projects that can project the image, culture and heritage of the community and strategies for improving markets. With decentralized governance and re-envisioned priorities, Batibo has an opportunity to become a prototype for sustainable development and model of a quality future in rural Cameroon.

Suggested Citation

  • Mudoh Mbah & Anna Franz, 2021. "Revitalization and Branding of Rural Communities in Cameroon Using a Circular Approach for Sustainable Development—A Proposal for the Batibo Municipality," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-26, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:12:p:6908-:d:577666
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/12/6908/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/12/6908/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Belinga Thierry & Zhou Jun & Hu Guohui, 2017. "Government Expenditure on Rural Development and Economic Growth in Cameroon," International Journal of Innovation and Economic Development, Inovatus Services Ltd., vol. 3(1), pages 113-121, April.
    2. Luigi Fusco Girard & Francesca Nocca, 2019. "Moving Towards the Circular Economy/City Model: Which Tools for Operationalizing This Model?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-48, November.
    3. Yangang Xing & Phil Jones & Iain Donnison, 2017. "Characterisation of Nature-Based Solutions for the Built Environment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-20, January.
    4. Xabier Gainza, 2017. "Culture-led neighbourhood transformations beyond the revitalisation/gentrification dichotomy," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 54(4), pages 953-970, March.
    5. Joanna Williams, 2019. "Circular Cities: Challenges to Implementing Looping Actions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-22, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Francesca Ciampa & Stefania De Medici & Serena Viola & Maria Rita Pinto, 2021. "Regeneration Criteria for Adaptive Reuse of the Waterfront Ecosystem: Learning from the US Case Study to Improve European Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-19, April.
    2. Francesca Pirlone & Ilenia Spadaro & Cristiana Arzà & Giovanna Lonati & Piero Garibaldi, 2022. "Application Studies for the Implementation of the Sustainability Charter in the Metropolitan City of Genoa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-22, April.
    3. D’Amico, Gaspare & Arbolino, Roberta & Shi, Lei & Yigitcanlar, Tan & Ioppolo, Giuseppe, 2022. "Digitalisation driven urban metabolism circularity: A review and analysis of circular city initiatives," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    4. Federica Paoli & Francesca Pirlone & Ilenia Spadaro, 2022. "Indicators for the Circular City: A Review and a Proposal," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-28, September.
    5. Gaspare D’Amico & Roberta Arbolino & Lei Shi & Tan Yigitcanlar & Giuseppe Ioppolo, 2021. "Digital Technologies for Urban Metabolism Efficiency: Lessons from Urban Agenda Partnership on Circular Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-23, May.
    6. Alessandro Concari & Gerjo Kok & Pim Martens, 2020. "A Systematic Literature Review of Concepts and Factors Related to Pro-Environmental Consumer Behaviour in Relation to Waste Management Through an Interdisciplinary Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-50, May.
    7. Federico Cuomo & Stefania Ravazzi & Federico Savini & Luca Bertolini, 2020. "Transformative Urban Living Labs: Towards a Circular Economy in Amsterdam and Turin," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-19, September.
    8. Tetsuo Kidokoro & Ryo Fukuda & Kojiro Sho, 2022. "GENTRIFICATION IN TOKYO: Formation of the Tokyo West Creative Industry Cluster," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(6), pages 1055-1077, November.
    9. Carley C. Reynolds & Francisco J. Escobedo & Nicola Clerici & Jorge Zea-Camaño, 2017. "Does “Greening” of Neotropical Cities Considerably Mitigate Carbon Dioxide Emissions? The Case of Medellin, Colombia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(5), pages 1-16, May.
    10. Daniel Mora-Melià & Carlos S. López-Aburto & Pablo Ballesteros-Pérez & Pedro Muñoz-Velasco, 2018. "Viability of Green Roofs as a Flood Mitigation Element in the Central Region of Chile," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-19, April.
    11. Deniz Ikiz Kaya & Nadia Pintossi & Gamze Dane, 2021. "An Empirical Analysis of Driving Factors and Policy Enablers of Heritage Adaptive Reuse within the Circular Economy Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-24, February.
    12. Andreea Loredana Bîrgovan & Elena Simina Lakatos & Andrea Szilagyi & Lucian Ionel Cioca & Roxana Lavinia Pacurariu & George Ciobanu & Elena Cristina Rada, 2022. "How Should We Measure? A Review of Circular Cities Indicators," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-16, April.
    13. Pamučar, Dragan & Durán-Romero, Gemma & Yazdani, Morteza & López, Ana M., 2023. "A decision analysis model for smart mobility system development under circular economy approach," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    14. David Orta, 2021. "“Mexicans Built This Neighborhood!” Gentrification, Organizations, and the Role of Place-Based Identity in Latinx Chicago," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-16, August.
    15. Mohit Kumar Agarwal & Vandana Sehgal & Aurobindo Ogra, 2021. "Creating a Child-Friendly Environment: An Interpretation of Children’s Drawings from Planned Neighborhood Parks of Lucknow City," Societies, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-22, July.
    16. Ginevra Balletto & Mara Ladu & Federico Camerin & Emilio Ghiani & Jacopo Torriti, 2022. "More Circular City in the Energy and Ecological Transition: A Methodological Approach to Sustainable Urban Regeneration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-18, November.
    17. Maria Cerreta & Eleonora Giovene di Girasole & Giuliano Poli & Stefania Regalbuto, 2020. "Operationalizing the Circular City Model for Naples’ City-Port: A Hybrid Development Strategy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-26, April.
    18. Konstantinos Mantalovas & Gaetano Di Mino, 2020. "Integrating Circularity in the Sustainability Assessment of Asphalt Mixtures," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-17, January.
    19. Akvilė Feiferytė-Skirienė & Žaneta Stasiškienė, 2021. "Seeking Circularity: Circular Urban Metabolism in the Context of Industrial Symbiosis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-31, August.
    20. Pia Minixhofer & Rosemarie Stangl, 2021. "Green Infrastructures and the Consideration of Their Soil-Related Ecosystem Services in Urban Areas—A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-21, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:12:p:6908-:d:577666. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.