Plantation economy and urban dynamics in the department of Soubr��

Plantation economy and urban dynamics in the department of Soubré. Unlike the forest regions of the South-East East and Centre-East of Côte d'Ivoire which saw the development of the plantation economy in the 1960-1970 decade the South-West to which the Department of Soubré belongs our study area remained behind for many years. Indeed the department whose economy was based on subsistence agriculture and export crops introduced during colonization (the coffee-cocoa binomial) was characterized by significant underpopulation. Thus as part of the policy to reduce regional disparities regional development projects including the ARSO project (Authority for the Development of the Southwest Region) were implemented by the Ivorian government. The implementation of this development project has triggered the transformation of the departmental urban space. This study aims to show how the plantation economy in a developing country leads to the demographic economic and spatial dynamics of cities particularly those in the department of Soubré.