This project provided the opportunity for us to set up an ambitious participatory process for each of the municipalities involved, which took place over a period of 2 years. On the basis of a Stakeholder Commitment Plan, a framework document drawn up with the key players and detailing all the methodology planned as part of the project, dozens of workshops were held to carry out the various phases of the project: diagnoses in the neighbourhoods and districts, then on a municipal scale, territorial prospecting workshops, right through to detailed urban programming workshops and the co-development of urban zoning.

The long process has provided an opportunity to build a body of knowledge shared by municipal technicians, the many and varied representatives of civil society and the team of town planners and experts responsible for producing the town planning documents. The concomitant production of documents for 4 Beninese towns also enabled cross-analyses of the territories and their vulnerabilities, as well as the development of an integrated regional vision of urban and territorial development, based on the complementarity of cities and on a holistic understanding of the risks of flooding, rising sea levels, the management of catchment areas and wetland ecosystems and the preservation of natural areas.