Urbanization and dynamics of informal transports and mobilities in secondary cities in Senegal : cases of Touba, Thiès and Saint Louis
Senegal’s population grew in excess of 13 million people in 2009 from 2 million in 1950. The urban population growth led to the spatial extension and centralities of the cities. Half of the population, largely young, lives in urban areas like Touba, Thiès and Saint Louis. That gave a very contrasting urban landscapes and diverse urban functions. This shift has created very strong functional and geographical mobility needs. In urban unplanned areas and / or remote from centers, local mobility grew through walk and horse-drawn transport. Movements leading to the centers for reasons of work, commerce, education or access to various services abound via motorized transport.Clearly, the relationship between transport and urban planning are ambivalent. If urban development precedes the transport network in the suburbs, elsewhere, it plays a major role in the structuring of urban areas, especially in the historic centers and along major highways.Yet this informal transport is operating outside the rules, it meets the mobility needs of many low-income users. Thus, it is making prominent the role of the government to regulate the transports sector.